3 accounts, 3 races. Sounds like I got lucky with no hanging lobbies to speak of
I had been been working on alternate strategies all week to figure out what to do if I qualified mid pack and wanted to get off the main strategy…mainly for my N/A main as this was going to be my first FIA race in A+. After a lot of testing, I settled on the offbeat strategy of 2-3H,16M,16M. In all my testing this week, it was only a few seconds off the other Alpha strategies, but I figured I’d be out of traffic the majority of the time. Did a bit of suspension testing last night, to get a tad more bite into the front tires on turn in. After a bit of fiddling, I found that simply adding 3 clicks of rebound damping was enough to keep some more weight on the front. Sweet…that was much easier than tuning for Suzuka.
Woke up at 0440 “good guys” time for the second Oceanic slot. Hadn’t done much TT or Softs testing all week, and Q’d 3rd with a low 1:38. Started on hards - which threw a lot off people off behind me, and goal 1 of backing up the pack in hopes of provoking a bit of carnage was accomplished. Pitted at the end of lap 2 expecting to be at the back of the pack, only to come out in 9th!! I was kinda bummed as now I was stuck in traffic mid pack against guys on hards that were struggling. At about lap 10, I got clean air. Took the lead at end of lap 15 when the different strategies started going through their pit cycles, and then it was a pretty lonely race from there. My lap times on the mediums were right where they needed to be, but I was concerned about my total finish time, as I probably lost at least 10-15 seconds from battling mid-pack guys on RH’s. Got 189 points I think.
Had a cup o’ Joe, a PB&J, quickly followed by a BM, and decided to do the first slot of EMEA which…oddly enough is at the same time as the last oceanic slot - which was 0700 for me. Made an adjustment to my strategy and decided to go 3H,16M,15M in an attempt to get shuffled further down the order after my first stint. Qualified well and once again, confused people by starting on Hards. The plan went even worse this time, as I came out in the thick of a bunch of window-lickers, and lost a ton of time trying not to intentionally and unintentionally get taken out by them. Took the lead at lap 15, and it was a pretty lonely race from there.
Decided to do a one and done on my EU account as I was bit frazzled from manhandling 20nm in VR after only a couple hours of sleep. Took a picture of one of my dogs who was waiting to be fed after my 0700 slot.
Alright, I need to figure out another strategy for my main N/A account if I somehow qualify well in my first FIA race in A+. Decided on the meta “3 stop strategy”, and did some suspension testing to see how RS would react with fuel load and tire wear with my current tune. I settled on taking a click of rebound damping out of the rear - as I no longer needed as much weight on the front to get the Softs to bite.
First slot - N/A:
To my surprise, I actually Q’d well. Sub 1:38, but still 3/10ths off pole. I’ll take it….but this means I now gotta do a strategy I only tested once during the week, with the 3-stop.
Started on Softs this time, and the leader and I pulled a gap from 3rd, but he was slowly pulling away from me. We both mirrored each other pitting at the end of 11 for Softs, but I couldn’t close the gap - which I’m guessing was ~ 1.5 seconds. Exiting pit lane from my first stint, I got a STUPID ON MY PART pit lane penalty as I tried to cut right at the very last pixel to get a better approach and exit out of T1. 3 second penalty!!
….Further along, I had it my mind that I was going to do my RH lap after my second Softs stint… mainly because I didn’t want to forget. But secondly, I was guessing that the leader had pulled probably a ~ 7 second gap on me, and I figured my only chance at him was to get him on the last lap when he pitted for Hards, in hopes that he would screw up or something.
…he didn’t.
With the penalty line being at the start of the finish straight, a 3 second penalty probably netted you 5-6 seconds. Was kinda bummed, but kind of relieved. Not sure how much fun a battle on worn Softs would have been had I not got that penalty.
All in all, it was a fun day of racing. Would have been curious to see how my “alternate” strategy would have worked in a fast lobby, but that’s ok.
Bring on the Ring!!!!!