Late report as I attended a huge carmeet (possibly one of the biggest in Western Europe if not Europe this year) with some friends and my E36 and went to the Nürburgring for the second time this month today (I live a 2.30 hour drive away from the Green Hell).
I only had time for one race which was GT1 EMEA Slot 1 in my AMG.
I don't have a lot of experience on GV and didn't have a lot of time to practice. Luckily the softs made life easier. I had a lot of fun as this track often feels like a rollercoaster on Softs.
As Qualifying started, i was pretty confident. Unfortunately i picked up a penalty on my 1st lap which meant the lap i had to set my time on was going to be slower than normal. I served my penalty and ended up in
12th even though i was quite fast. I had only one chance today though so i was going to give it my all! The top 5 were some insanely fast aliens in their 911's so i wasn't hoping for a top 5.
I start on Hards as i figured a 1H-10S-11S-10S would be most viable. In the first corner, 4 cars hit eachother and while 2 spin out, I speed right through all four of them, Lightning McQueen style.
I'm in 8th but i pit for softs. Some in front of me pit too, but the field behind me doesn't, leaving me in last place when i exit on lap 2. First stint begins. On my own power, i
overtake 4 cars during this 10 lap stint which felt really good. Overtaking opponents due to raw speed is fantastic. As i visit the pit on lap 11 for another set of tyres i'm in 8th but get overtaken by someone which means i'm in 9th as i leave the pit exit.
Someone in a Supra pits halfway the race and i take 7th as i had overtaken 8th earlier. The Supra comes out 4 seconds behind me though. I'm creeping up on 6th and 5th, with a distance of 2 seconds. Around lap 17 though, i hear an extremly
loud bang outside my bedroom window. This really startled me, my windows were shaking too. I look out my window and see a wave of smoke rising on the main road. This is what we Dutch dub a "Vuurwerkbom", literally: Fireworks Bomb. It's a geniune small bomb made out of fireworks. Not only are these heavily illegal as they can cause damage to property, vehicles and human hands, fireworks used for private uses are generally only legal during New Years Eve in the Netherlands.
This caused me to lose focus and i lost the pace i had on 5th and 6th. The Supra closed in on me too, closing the gap to less than a second by the time lap 21 rolled around. My tyres were gone so i pitted, still in front of the Supra, for a new set of softs and refueled on that lap. This meant i had to do 11 laps on softs this final stint.
For some reason, i lost all my race pace in this final stint. I'm still not sure due to what exactly, either i lost all my focus or the temperature was playing with my tyres. Either way, the Supra pits on my out lap but exits in front of me and he speeds off. Around lap 28 i lose my 8th position and by lap 31 - with a GT-R right behind me - my
front left is gone. I understeer and pick up a penalty, serving it on the final lap. The GT-R unfortunately passes me right before the final sector and i settle on a
10th position. As i look at the intervals, i had lost about 20 seconds of time in these 11 laps on the Supra. As the race end timer rolls on, 2 Volkswagens with blue lights flashing park in my street, with officers searching the location of the explosion lol.
I didn't feel too bad though. I gained 2 positions and had a fun race with quite a few overtakes, save for the last stint. Last weeks victory during Nations Cup at Le Mans was definitely better but i did what i could this race. I was just bummed i lost so much pace and gave up a possible 8th place. Then again, i can't complain about a incident/damageless race.
Enjoy some pictures of my AMG in custom race as i forgot to save the race replay.
Pretty sure it was a 10/4 strat; minor fuel savings required but nothing too detrimental.
