I know its a bit late... But I thought I would go ahead and write my race report from Indy last week.
Going into the race, I did not have much practice with the NSX as Indy. Luckily, I had just run a race with Mule and Wardez in their Lotus series not too long before at the same track.
With only a few hours to practice, I dialed down the looseness of my NSX. I figured with tighter settings I would be less likely to crash during the race. I went ahead and qualified with these tighter settings and was stoked on my result. My practice was quite inconsistent, and thought it would be a miracle to make the top 7. I was shocked when the timer went off at 1'28.xxx..
Race day.. I was to start 4th, behind Joker Swede, Cfal, and CSL. Pre-race I was a bit worried about CSL as he was struggling with his connection. I was hoping he would get it figured out and would get to race with us lag free. Leading into the race it didn't seem like his connection was improving. Big 👍 to CSL for being such a gentleman to pull out of the race so as not to effect our race with his connection. Thank you my friend.
My early race plan was to just try and hang with the leaders. Try and stay toward the back for the most part, no big mistakes, and get a good feel for how the car behaved as the tires wore down. After a few laps I found myself in 4th with Cfal, Joker and Wardez leading the way. Chorda and Remy were right behind me.
We lost Chorda and Remy right before the long left sweeper at the beginning of sector 2. I was braking just a hair(1-2 ft) shorter than most on the entry of this corner so as not to scrub my front tires. While watching the replay I noticed why we lost Chorda and Remy. It looked like Chorda braked later than me there, and avoided rear-ending me and went a bit wide. If that was in any way my fault Chorda, I apologize.
The rest of the first stint consisted of Cfal, Joker, Wardez, and me running in a fairly tight group. Joker and Cfal led most of these laps. Chorda and Remy were no where to be seen.
The group I was with pitted on (I believe) laps 14 and 15.. Since I had been in the back, my tires were a bit fresher, and I decided to stay out until 17.
When I got back on the track Cfal and Wardez had about a 2-3 second lead on me, and Chorda and Remy were ahead of them. I just kept trying to keep it to that gap and not fall further behind. Cfal and Wardez were running some quick laps.
Eventually Cfal and Wardez caught Chorda and Remy (who I assumed neither had pitted yet), and that allowed me to rejoin the group.. Joker must have been pushing pretty hard, because he was multiple seconds behind me and caught the group as well.
Shortly thereafter Chorda and Remy pitted, and Wardez and I were able to break free from Cfal and Joker. Wardez, who is always a joy to race with, did a great job in helping us open a bit of a lead up.
Somewhere around lap 30, Wardez and I came into the pits together. At this point I was in first. His pit was in front of mine, and the game slowed his car while my car was pulling in. I must have gained at least 1-2 seconds on our pit stops. As I pulled out, I was able to go into turn 1 just before a couple of the GT300 cars. Wardez and the others came were behind them. That was just enough to be able to get a big enough lead to keep them out of my draft.
When I came out, I noticed I wasn't in first... Chorda and Remy were. I saw the splits and realized I had over 14 seconds to make up to catch them. I was amazed they had pulled that far in front. Hell of a pit strategy. They actually pitted on lap 3 (and 20?)and worked amazingly well together to run clean fast laps.
With the open road in front of me, and some space behind, I just tried to run the fastest controlled laps I could. I went back and watched the replay, and looked at the lap times and gap between me and Chorda/Remy. Obviously there tires were worn quite a bit more than mine. Here are the laps to the finish.. Mine in green, Chorda's in red -
29.4, 29.4, 28.8, 28.7, 29.0, 29.6, 29.7, 29.8, 29.8, 30.0, 30.1, 30.6
29.7, 29.7, 30.6, 30.5, 31.1, 30.8, 30.8, 31.7, 31.5, 31.7, 31.6, 32.1
I think i manage to pass Remy and Chorda with 2 to go. At that point my tires were in far better condition than theirs were... Especially Remy's as he was carrying quite a bit of ballast. Chorda hung with me for a bit, but his tires just weren't up to the task.
I was able to run a safe final lap and finish with my first WSGTC victory. Super stoked, I ran a full lap around the house. Like I said earlier.. the effect of the ballast and the lucky pit stop gave me a chance against the great racers here. I don't think I will be seeing the top spot on the podium again this season, but it was a blast to get to stand there for a second.
I also must say - From my perspective, the GT300's did a great job in this race. I can't say they ever held me up once. I ran a race at Suzuka last year as a GT300.. A bit disconcerning when the GT500's come flying up. Good job guys 👍
As always.. thanks again to Chorda for putting all of this together. Your dedication makes for a great series. Also thank you to Wardez, Masi, and all of the others that work so hard for what we all get to enjoy.
Oh.. And of course.. Congrats to the very speedy Aderrrm on winning the GT300 class.
Edit -
Congrats to Supra as well for the D2 win. Also congrats to Wardez on his epic 3rd place finish, just inching out Remy and Cfal at the line. I believe this result puts the ever consistent Wardez at the top of the leaderboard. Great work Eddie!
First person perspective. Might wanna turn the sound down cuz its just wind! Wind tunnel flying
👍
