Ended up doing 3 races tonight. Race A I already mentioned above. The second rate was at blue moon that was a disaster. I crash twice and came in last. Then I entered race C...
Wow oh wow, what a race. I started P4 but some action on the GP part put me to last after being hit. The nice thing with this race I knew I didn’t have to panic as there was lots of race left.
Towards the end of lap one I had climbed back up to 10th and I was looking at the radar and the rain was still a bit away, but I thought it would hit during the lap, so I dived into the pits. I was the only car to do so and I put on intermediates and splash of fuel to get me to the end. I did that then not knowing if I would end up doing the second pitstop.
I came out in 12th and three people had already quit by this stage so I was second to last. Immediately coming out the pits it started to rain but it didn’t rain hard and after a bit it stopped. With no one else in front I was beginning to think I made a mistake, especially when I got passed by 13th who was still on RHs so I was down till last.
Then the rain came back and hit hard in the second half of the lap. In that second half I went from 13th to 2nd. By lap three, it was getting hard to drive on IMs as the rain gauge was above the second bar and then P1 in front of me spins out and I take the lead.
I managed to drive smooth and keep it on the track and the radar showed it was going to continue to rain so I decided to come in again and this time change to wets.
Coming out the pits on lap four I was down to fourth and by this time only seven people remain on track.
I caught up to the 3 in front of me who were all on wets, but they appeared to be struggling more than me. I had dialed up my TCS to 3 to help and I think that helped me. Also looking at the replay, I had forgotten I had done this, but I had CSA to strong. That was working overtime, but it was keeping me stable.
By the long straight, I had got to P1, but then I was passed again by two and three on absolute outright speed. Perhaps I should be driving in 5th for max speed and not 6th? But one of them crashes out in the last corners and the other one dove into the pits so on lap five and I was back in the lead.
At this point it has stopped raining and the track has begun to form a dry line. I questioned if my wets were the right tire at this stage, but I pressed on. Second comes back and manages to pass me as we enter the Nordscheifer. It then becomes a very close race between myself in 2nd, P1 in front and P3 behind we were all fairly close.
At this point, I think it was a game of who could make our wet tires last longest on the drying track. Halfway through the lap, P1 crashes out, and I take the lead again.
Last lap and I started to pull away from P2, who seems to be having trouble, but P3 is gaining fast on intermediates.
P2 was actually doing me a favor by holding up P3, but eventually he loses it, and P3 jumps up to P2 and start chasing me down as we approach the last quarter of the lap. The P2 loses it as we enter the final straight, allowing me a final easy run to take the finish. If it wasn’t for that, I might’ve lost the lead.
In the end, it was an incredible race. I thoroughly enjoyed it even though it was a lowly B ranked race that only had seven people finish at the end.
All the top four were respectful of each other as far as I could tell, and we all tried our best to not hit each other or be overly rude in overtaking on this track. Good show by the B crowd there.
In hindsight, based on the way the weather played out, I think it would’ve been better if I had come in for full wets at the end of lap one, done 3 laps on wets and then switched to intermediates for the last 2 laps of the race. The fuel top up should have been that second stop. Even though I did well, I think that strategy would’ve nailed it completely.
. This may be the week I get to really learn the finer details of the ring.
