D1 RESULTS
D1 FAST LAPS
Yep, it's my birthday all right. I somehow got the final spot on the podium which, considering who finished ahead of me, might as well count as a victory.
Seriously don't know how I did it. Got by my teammate, PASM, on Lap 1 but on Lap 2, I tapped hasihno at T1 just enough to cause front end damage. PASM got by me and I held on for dear life just to keep 7th with my wheel wobbling all over the place. Took me a while but I got the hang of driving the wounded Z to where I stayed pace with the 3rd-6th pack. One by one, they peeled off early for a 2-stopper strategy which I all but decided to do but since Spurgy stayed out, I chose to leech off his draft.
Worked okay only to see two banshee Lexus coming up fast from the rear; Tony and J-Town had gone with a two-stopper as well and were coming up fast. Tony got by me and J-Town tried outbraking me into the chicane. Played it safe and cut it to avoid any contact but at that point, thought it was best to pit. It was too early for me
(Lap 18) but I needed to jump that bumblebee car and if there's something I love about this track was that I have a knack for nailing the pit entry and gaining 3-5 seconds on the field.
When I came out, I just got ahead of my teammate who was overly courteous in not trying to run me over while my tires warmed up. Together, we began pulling a gap on then 9th place R3CO but at the chicane, he tapped me a bit on the entry. No real harm for me but he went wide on the exit and spun out at the last corner. A shame because I think with my fresher tires, we could've finished 3rd and 4th.
After that, I was flying with a few low 55s but sadly, no 54s. The damage on the first run had made me too cautious but I think that helped me save the tires a bit. Felt confident Spurgy wouldn't catch up but I was worried about anyone that was doing a two-stopper. Hasihno was in the best position to reach me but caught a big break when Nissman caught up to Spurgy and served as a roadblock. That was the kind of scenario that was the biggest drawback to a two-stopper; even a minor holdup in traffic will be costly.
The Z tried to send me around the last five laps but I babied her to the finish without drama. All the action was ahead and behind of me. Gonna take a while to point out all the exciting moments for this one. 👍