I wasn't sure what the conditions would be like for this afternoon's Manufacturers run, so bought myself sets of Intermediates and Wets for the sponsored Genesis just in case. Turns out that I didn't need them in the end, but it still didn't mean that the car was any less twitchier through low and mid-speed sections, especially Dunlop Curve and the exit out of the Casio Triangle. Thus, it was especially important that I kept snap oversteer to a minimum if I was to keep the good form I had been building up for the Hotel Bellevue squad.
17:00 Manufacturers EMEA
Full 20-car grid with no delays or problems getting into qualifying. Met Wifi Password for the first time on GT7 and made it out on track under darkening skies.
Right off the bat we set a 2:02.054 even with a slide through Dunlop, which is just over seven-tenths off my overall fastest time in Free Practice (2:01.400). Second lap I had to abort to avoid a recovering Nissan who went off at Degna 2, but already I was in a good position to start right behind the other Genesis in the lobby. Was surprised to find that I had still enough time to set another lap, though I couldn't take advantage of this by losing time in the first sector and running wide out of Degna 1. While I saved myself from going off, that was apparently enough to constitute a track limits infringement so lost the chance to build on a gradual improvement in sector 2. Lined up 10th behind my teammate and an M6.
The race played out just as safely as my now-regular strategy for the X GR3 - contain the snap oversteer as much as possible and get it home in one piece. Same couldn't be said for the silver and green Jaguar starting in 4th, who after running wide at Turn 2 would bin it just as we got to the end of the 'S' curves. Lighting was so limited that for the photo above I had to up the exposure so that the cars didn't blend in with the tarmac! Didn't want to overdrive the car just in case I would end up doing the same, but had plenty of pressure from another M6 in the third sector and almost threw myself off completely at 130R. Fortunately, the M6 had also done the same and his threat was quickly nullified as he slammed hard into the tyre stacks on the other side.
A Finnish Porsche also gained on us from that point on, and by the end of Lap 3 I had dropped back a fair distance from the M6 in front following sketchy runs through Spoon and the final right-hander. My exits from the hairpin weren't as good as those in Deep Forest, either. Still, did what I could to nurse the Genesis around, and a twitchy exit from the Porsche at the hairpin gives us the buffer we need. Enjoyed my fastest run through 130R all race to come home a solid 9th. Another 176 points added to my overall table.
Like at Deep Forest, I'm finding the X GR3's handling more manageable in lobby conditions than in Free Practice, and believe that there's still more speed to extract out of it in qualifying. That being said, it still doesn't feel entirely settled through mid-speed corners and I even binned it in a test lobby after trying to correct two consecutive bouts of oversteer through Dunlop. Short-shifting and partial throttle inputs seem to mitigate this somewhat, though at the moment I can't say that it is more comfortable in that area than a comparable naturally-aspirated FR car like the Mustang.
Laguna Seca gave me one of my biggest surprises last year with 4th place in the WRX, and the G70 seems to work very similarly to that in the one World Circuit Gr.4 race there. Hopefully there's a chance I might get it to work just as well in BoP settings as it does with a good tune...
does it rain in your races?
