NATION'S ROUND 2
Slot 1: This was the busiest I'd ever seen Nation's in this game. Several aliens got demoted to 2nd split with me because of how crowded Top Split was, and consequently I qualified P10 of 15, then finished P9 of the 12 that finished. After how well last season went, and how poorly the first race of this season went, 227 for not even finishing in the top half of the field wasn't good enough, so again I went.
Slot 2: There were still a couple aliens around, but I was able to qualify much better in 4th place. Unfortunately I didn't keep that place for long, as for some reason I decided to try exploring the outer reaches of the track and pick up penalty after penalty in the early stages, dropping me down to P7, where I languished for the rest of the race. This time it was worth 238 points, which was better, but I knew without my stupid mistakes I could've gotten more, so I decided to go again.
Slot 3: Miraculously I was still in 2nd split, and this time with no aliens at all. I was able to qualify P2 and stay in that spot for most of the race until the last few laps when I ran wide at the short bridge before the corner that leads to the back straight, letting through 1 of the 2 cars that had been on my bumper for the entire race. While that one was able to pull clear, I went back to defending my spot from the remaining opponent, and had a great race in which I was actually able to hold them off for 3rd and 274 points.
MANUFACTURER'S ROUND 2
Slot 1: The last time we had a championship race here, the Corvette (and anything that wasn't a Mazda, McLaren, or BMW) was woefully slow, so I was hoping for a better result this time (even though it still wasn't THE car to have). I would up in a lobby with
@Geauxgreddy and
@F1Bernardo, and we all qualified right next to each other...at the back of the grid. 🤣 😭 Greddy led our trio in 13th, Bernardo 14th, and myself in 15th with only 1 person starting worse than me.
Taking advantage of
@F1Bernardo's McLaren and its turbo lag, I picked up a spot quickly after the start, then another one near the end of Lap 1 as a Subaru that started further ahead served a penalty. The order was then
@Geauxgreddy, me, and
@F1Bernardo for the next 5 laps until I decided I wanted to try to lead our little train and pulled out to pass, then was the recipient of a very fortunately-timed lag spike in which Bernardo punted me so hard that it put me clear of their slipstreams headed into T1. They both quickly caught back up, and the 3 of us caught up to a Supra on Lap 8, as well as a McLaren that had a penalty. We all caught the McLaren at the worst possible place entering the final turn, and I had to check up to avoid putting him into the wall. We all somehow survived, and then attempted to pass the Supra. This time it was the McLaren's turn to get a lag-bump-draft (though not as extreme as mine) and he went sailing past the Supra at the same time on the outside before T1, at the same time an Aston up ahead got shoved into the wall, once again putting us in an awkward situation headed into T2, where we had to split the Aston on either side (me on the inside), and I was then on the inside for T2 and had to slow way down to avoid putting the McLaren in the wall yet again. That allowed the McLaren to shoot off into the distance, and allowed the Aston to blow past all of us headed into the esses. The Aston then served its penalty for hitting the wall that it was shoved into, and I was finally able to get P9 for the time being, with the Supra between myself and my 2 running mates until Lap 11 when it spun in T2, restoring the order to me,
@Geauxgreddy, and
@F1Bernardo in P9, P10, and P11. I elected to pit on Lap 12, and they followed me in and we emerged in P13-P15, where we started (in a different order). When the remaining cars pitted, we were back up to P10-P12, but the car directly ahead ended up with a wall penalty for grazing the final turn wall, which rounded up to 2s as he finished. I was less than 2s behind, so I was able to sneak a P9, with
@F1Bernardo in P10 and
@Geauxgreddy P12. I forgot what the points were worth, but I think it was in the low 220s. After getting 225 the previous round, I wanted to try for something better, so I debated whether or not to go again...
Slot 2: I'd been seriously contemplating wall-riding after seeing almost everyone that finished ahead of me doing it, but decided against it, at least for qualifying. I managed P10, over a tenth behind the other Corvette in P9, and with
@F1Bernardo P7. I moved up to P9 at the end of Lap 1 when someone ahead decided to pit early, and stayed there behind the other Corvette and Bernardo until an annoying Evo walled me at the final turn on Lap 5 before he and the Corvette pitted, leaving me well out of
@F1Bernardo's slipstream. I decided to cut my losses and pit the following lap in the hopes that I could latch onto someone's slipstream coming out of the pits. Unfortunately I wasn't able to, and even though I was sure the Evo and Corvette ahead of me were wall-riding, I elected not to, and was stuck running by myself for the rest of the race until Bernardo pitted on Lap 11 and then waved me by at the exit of T2. I finished P8 and he P9, for less points than we got the previous round (211 for me), so I decided to go again.
Slot 3: I'm fairly certain this was Top Split, and I qualified P12. For some reason, the game decided this time that it would start me on the rev limiter in 1st gear, so I immediately lost the slipstream to the car in front. At the end of the first lap, I saw 2 cars behind me dive into the pits, so I decided to pit too, coming INSANELY close to getting a pit line penalty (image below). The 2 cars I pitted with then got by me the next lap, demoting me to 16th. I knew they were both faster than me (especially with the WRX leading), especially in the final turn that I'd been struggling with all night, so I was more than happy to work with them to try to close the gap to those in front and leapfrog some people as they pitted. An Evo pitted on Lap 3 and joined the tail of our group, moving me up to P15.
@OutlawQuadrnt then pitted a lap later which moved me up to P14.
At the end of Lap 5, a Jag that had also pitted on Lap 1, but had been further ahead, had to serve a penalty which allowed our pack to overtake him. At T2 the following lap, he decided he was going to try to pass 3 of us at once, on the inside. I saw what was coming, so after he shot past, I moved away from the outside wall as he smashed the Atenza that had been in the middle of our original 3-car train into the wall, ultimately causing him to spin. The next lap he tried the same thing with the WRX, only he put himself into the wall instead and dropped back behind me. After that he thankfully didn't try anything else stupid, and was apparently content to ride behind me and the WRX until once again at T2 he went in too hot, only instead of shooting up the inside and forcing someone into the wall, it appears he was just caught out and braked too late, running into the back of me. That collision gave him a 2s penalty, but didn't do anything to me except force me to wall-ride as I was now carrying way too much speed. With the Jag now disposed of, it was now the WRX, myself, and
@OutlawQuadrnt in P9, P10, and P11 respectively. On the final lap I decided to take advantage of the Corvette's better top end and passed the WRX down the front straight for 9th, then managed to defend into the esses. A Mustang further ahead had to serve a penalty, allowing us to all move up a spot before the final turn. I was able to hold the WRX off to finish P8 once again, but this time for far more points - 264, which might be my best score in Manufacturer's at the rate this season is going...
This was how close I came to crossing the solid pit entry line and giving myself a penalty in my 3rd attempt at Manufacturer's...
So, I was able to pull a 1:15.6xx!! I thought for sure that would be good for a top 10 start. Newp. LOL. Good for Q13 with 
Finished where I started and didn't want to lose too much more DR in the Jag so put my kitty to bed and jumped on my alt. Oh, 174 points. Yay?
