Argh…
Well, after a very fun race in slot 1 of the oceanic region, I went to bed for a few hours and woke up for the last slot of EMEA. No pictures, because it was a very lack luster result. Mid-A lobby, paired with a bunch of Spaniards. I’ll let you fill in the blanks how that went…
Slot 1 N/A region.
268 point lobby. 3 other Americans, myself, the rest Brazilian. Had an ok qually lap that was good enough for 5th. Come lap 1, T1…I got ping-ponged in the chicane that resulted me getting pushed into someone who spun out and went off. I got front and rear aero damage as well as left rear wheel damage…..and a 5 second PD penalty to boot. Got up to 2nd by the second carousel before the long straight, and then watched everyone go by me as I served the penalty. Worked my way back up to the main pack by the end of lap 2 and took mediums and repaired damage. Exiting the pits, a guy next to me started fish tailing going into T1 and I got knocked out of the pit lane exit….3 second penalty 😑
Throughout lap 3, I actually made up a lot of ground and cut my way through the pack, but true to form…many of the “other” drivers had plans of just crashing people out instead. Got rear ended into a fellow American. Front and rear aero damage for me and the poor sap who I hit race’ was essentially over.
The rest of that race was spent mostly trying to survive the “tropical melee” and getting passed - as I had zero top end speed.
Wanted to finish at least 8th so I wouldn’t lose DR, but the jerk in front of me rammed me into the wall just before the finish line after he messed up the last series of corners before the GP course and sustained significant damage. He’s now on my craplist
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Slot 2 N/A region. Middle of the road A+ lobby. Got paired with a GTP friendly
@D_Dragline 👍🏼
Pretty much Barney’d qualifying, and landed 11th or something like that. Survived turn 1, and found myself towards the front halfway through the first lap. Then as was standard of my previous 2 races, myself and others fell victim to people who were opportunistic of the conditions and short race, and got shoved aside and into walls, sustaining aero damage once again. Pitted at end of L2 for repairs and tires, and then got mugged again and had to do my best to survive with aero damage for the remainder of the race. Salvaged a “points paying” finish, but was honestly pretty bummed as it was very easy to get your race ruined by jerks.
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Looks like Dragline got rat-****ed worse than me.
Couple thoughts:
I really, REALLY liked this race. The ring’, the weather transitions, nightfall with the campfires, rave music and lights….it was friggin rad!!!
BUT…
In GT1, the race was too short with very little in the way of strategy. Sure, the rain was an equalizer and allowed you to recover from mistakes and catch back up. But a viable strategy started to develop throughout the day to compensate for the short race and general lack of clean passing opportunities….and that entailed ramming your way through and knocking people off the track - with little in the way of penalties given. It was a win-win for the perpetrator. You got a position, and the victim gets damage and effectively gets their race ruined.
This race needed at least 3 more laps, and either an additional weather cycle and/or multiplier tweak that brought a possible 2-stop into the fold. Heavy damage IMO, is a good thing, but a shorter rain-race at the ring makes it tough. It almost feels like this race’s TOD/weather cycle was a continuation of what would have happened towards the end of last season’s NBG race when we saw a storm starting to show on the radar at the end of lap 10 🧐
…can we please have a 15-lap version of this race PD? Pretty please 😎
Night races are fun. We need more of them.
X2 tire multiplier is a god-send for those of us who like twitchy MR cars. I knew my 458 was one of the least-suited cars for this track, or any race that has significant tire multipliers, really, However, with this track/multiplier combo… I never really felt like I was at a disadvantage, even on a dry track.