Jumped into my first GT7 Nations Cup race this afternoon with no practice and no way to predict whether it would rain or not. That being said, I found the wetter conditions in Free Practice more manageable than those in GT Sport's online lobbies, as well as to offer an extra layer of excitement which case a regular shadow over proceedings.
16:00 Nations EMEA
Like the last two Manufacturers lobbies, there was a hold-up early on which meant that qualifying didn't start until one of the 18 other drivers left. Witnessed a little bit of hilarity on the out-lap with the Italian in front of me losing it on his own coming out of the second hairpin, during which time I was convinced that it was already drizzling. Slotted in behind the Spanish MX-5 with a big wing and began setting times, expecting the rain to pick up at any moment. There was also a Greek driver right behind which made things a bit more tense, but we set a 1:12.924 and begin to chip away at this benchmark as the dark clouds loomed nearby.
Less than two minutes to go, and we cut that down to a 1:12.068. The better I managed oversteer and throttle, the faster we went. With a couple of hundredths off that, I was already in good shape for a potential top-10 start, but the best was still yet to come. The last lap I put in turned out to be the best - a 1:11.793. Five-and-a-half tenths off the pole-sitting Fanta car and 4th on the grid. Considering that I had only done a couple of Free Practice runs up to this point, I was well chuffed with that.
With rain still a possible variable, my main strategy for the race was to survive and drive as best as I can regardless of where I finished. Because of the staggered grid, I started off with a nice buffer over the Polish driver behind, so spent the first lap trying to follow the winged Spaniard as closely as possible. Cold tyres did make the MX-5 a bit less stable at that stage, and I wasn't prepared to drive harder than I needed to since there was very little light available. The gap between myself and the Polish player slashed significantly as a result. While the pressure was firmly on - and the chances of a late shower got slimmer - I kept my focus, kept my normal lines and didn't leave him a chance to sneak up the inside when he got closest on the final lap.
Coming out of the third hairpin, the Polish driver did lose enough momentum to get passed by a yellow French car down the back straight. I didn't realise until checking through my replay that he actually braked later and gave me a small tap, though this was hardly noticeable at the time. We didn't get rain, unfortunately, but we did get to keep 4th place for 236 points in my fourth GT7 championship start. As far as one-make races go, that was probably the best road car-based one I've had in a long time.
Say, does anyone know the chances of getting a sudden downpour at Suzuka tomorrow? Genesis X feels nervy round there in Free Practice so I'm again treating Manufacturers as a training session should I commit to it.
