GT1 Americas | 9PM
Qualified P11, managed to quickly make my way into the top 4 in the chaos of the opening laps, despite P2s (who will be referred to as "Dirty Driver" for reasons that will become obvious) weak connection causing P1 to gain a head start. After pitting for softs, I even managed to squirt into the lead as the leader went off at T4, and Dirty Driver punted the new leader off at T6 before losing it himself in the wet. I managed to hold the lead all the way to the next pitstop, when P2 ("Red Bull," for his livery) dove into the pits at the end of lap 14, while I stayed out.
That may have been the wrong move, as I spun out of T4 and handed him the lead, and nearly lost P3 to "Falcon". However, the rain stopped, the track dried out, and Falcon and I elected to stay out for a few more laps. We nearly managed to reel in Red Bull before pitting on lap 17, which we both managed to screw up. I went wide at pit entry and copped a 3-second penalty, and Falcon lost it and spun immediately after, earning a 4-second penalty. Serving my penalty also put Dirty Driver ahead of me, before he went wide at at the final turn and earned a penalty that put me back ahead. So he spun me at T1, and, of course, got away with it, while I picked up wing damage. (Thank god damage was set on light.)
Sadly, I wasn't able to catch up with Dirty Driver (who later punted Red Bull and took the lead), and ended up having to fight Falcon for 3rd. The closing laps of the race shook things up. Dirty Driver decided to pit for softs again on lap 25, while Falcon, Red Bull, and I elected to stay out on our inters and coax them to the end. Red Bull ended up spinning at T4 on his worn tires, letting Falcon and me past. On lap 27, I decided that I wasn't dragging my tires to the end, and pitted for softs myself. Falcon stayed out. However, that pit stop put Dirty Driver on my rear wing, so he predictably put himself in my rear wing at T5. After that, I tried to catch up to Falcon, but that forced off was too much, even despite Dirty Driver punting Falcon off for the lead. Ended up P3 with 167 points, so not a bad result, but still a little miffed that the cheater managed to win, and how I could have fared if not for him.