Opinions on this incident

[Elvio_Lento]

This is lap 1. The RS5 is on slicks. The CLK is on inters.

 

[eran0004]

The CLK is at fault for not leaving sufficient space for the RS5.

 

[Zorz]

Lap 1 racing incident I reckon, leaning slightly towards the CLK at fault.

The RS5 had already picked up damage from the GT-R's rejoin and was struggling with the slicks at the limit of their capability. The CLK keeps their foot in whilst going up the inside and nudges the RS5 onto the wet kerb, pushing the RS5's slicks well past their limit.

Would likely have come to nothing if not for the RS5's high risk choice using slicks in those conditions, but the CLK delivered the killing blow with the slight contact.

 

[Chewiechu]

Really no point in blaming anyone in mixed conditions with people on different tires on the first lap. Racing incident.

 

[benjoi84]

Really no point in blaming anyone in mixed conditions with people on different tires on the first lap. Racing incident.

Yeah, this would have been a non-event in pristine race conditions.

Almost impossible for the Audi to do anything about it on that part of the track once the very slight side contact was made

 

[BangsMcCoy]

Not fair that 13th place CLK got to drive straight through the RS5 as though it were a ghost. Both cars should’ve been totaled and race done for them.

 

[Elvio_Lento]

Thanks everyone for your feedback. I was driving the CLK. I’m not fast (C/S), but I always try to drive cleanly and I give back positions if I feel I gained them unfairly.

As I was braking into the first chicane, a message popped up in the chat accusing me of a dirty move. While I wasn’t too stoked about having made contact, I definitely didn’t feel like I’d done anything especially dirty, but I decided to save the replay and review it. I also sent the preset apology message to the Audi driver at the end of the race, hoping he would stick around and chat about it, but he dipped out of the lobby seconds later.

After watching the replays and listening to your feedback, I think there are a couple of things I could have done better. Even though I had a massive speed difference entering the corner as the Audi braked extremely early, I was never fully alongside, which meant the contact landed in a bad position for the Audi driver. You can see that I was slow on the throttle and never opened the steering, but I should have got out of the throttle even more in order to give the Audi more space. I didn’t need to complete that move right there, because with the tyre difference, I would have got him sooner or later (I was 4th by the end of the lap and stayed in 4th for the rest of the race).

However, I still believe it was a racing incident for a few reasons. Firstly, the Audi driver was on the wrong tyres, and this totally affected the outcome of the incident. It caused the big speed difference, it caused him to drive erratically, and it is the reason he spun out on the kerb. I always take that outside kerb when I’m in clean air with no problems, and I did so later in this race. I didn’t realize he was on the slicks until I watched the replay. The contact that we made was very small; if he were on the right tyres, nothing would have happened. He was also driving erratically, almost made contact with me at the apex (which I think was mine fairly) and after that swerved left and right which exacerbated the impact when we finally made contact.

So my conclusion is that there are some things I would do differently on corner exit next time in order to avoid contact, but I’m not going to blame myself for ruining this guy’s race.