I went McLaren for this season, and definitely liking the car. I had to replace the rim on my Fanatec wheel a few months back during the main season and picked up the McLaren one since it looked good. It seemed fitting to use the car it comes from. I've had a lot of misfortune with MR cars in the past but I like this one. It really doesn't have the loose rear end like the Ferrari - I actually have confidence driving the thing!
Today I rolled up to Suzuka feeling incredibly anxious since it's one of my weaker tracks. I've also not raced since the last season so I was scared of being rusty. It turns out this was going to be a rollercoaster ride and I'm very glad I did it. I'm now not sure whether this or the dynamic weather Nurburgring Endurance round from last season is my favourite of all time.
I started P9 with a 2:01.987 and prayed to survive turn 1 since I've binned myself there at the start too many times in the past. Thankfully no such misery today! Unfortunately I really, really couldn't find my rhythm in the melee. I did move up to P8 after going around the outside of a BMW at the hairpin as he seemed to be struggling hard off the line, but being ultra cautious due to heavy damage and just failing to find my pace meant I started falling down the order, eventually moving down to P13 before the rain came.
After discovering that this race was a copy of the Amsterdam final, I had been checking over the stream. I'm very glad I did! I pit at the end of lap 12 knowing that Spoon would be difficult on lap 11, very difficult on lap 12 and lethal with slicks on lap 13 and that completely turned everything around.
I entered the pits for Inters in P10 after getting past some people going ice skating at Spoon (although I did nearly join them on lap 12!) and was up in P6 after going past the pits on the following lap.
Surviving the wet stint went well. I did have some moments, but nothing critical - just a little bit of lost time at most. Now for the bit about this race that really, really amuses me. We had Coque Lopez in our race. I thought it might be a really fast fake, but I checked his Twitch stream and it was actually him.
He was doing a last-to-first challenge and had absolutely blitzed his way through to the front long before the rain arrived. Except... it turns out somebody forgot to buy wet tyres.
He ended up DNFing.
I've
technically beaten Rick Kevelham before after he got matched into a low A+ lobby for some reason and decided to just quit rather than taking part in the race. Now I've technically beaten a sitting Nations champion. Let's just ignore the fact it took him not having wet tyres.
After 76 minutes of sweat and nerves, I ended up P3 for 236 points. That's
DEFINITELY a one-and-done!