Ok, so on to my Race report, and eventually my season report..
Hope my english is good enough for you guys to read this wall of text..
Let's start with the race..
Quali was ok. I ran 57.3's in practice, and in my test quali just before my real atempt. So was not entirely happy with the 57.8.. But it ensured me a spot in D1 (this was before we decided to go in 1 room) at least I thought.
Strategy: My strategy was to go for a 3 stopper, even though I knew a 2 stopper is doable.. At least in a GT-R (I did a 2 stopper back in WSGTC 1, and the race was exactly the same distance as this last one).
But I also knew that I would have trouble with my tires towards the end of the stints if I had ran an optimal "11 / 22 / 33" strategy. So decided to stay out as long as possible on my 1st stint. I knew I was going to have fast drivers ahead of my, where I could use the draft to keep up, save tires and short shifting.
Formation lap and start was flawless, and I sat on Tim's rear bumper thru the first lap. I got a good run on him out of Spoon, so decided to pass him since Nige and Rees had worked up a pretty good lead at this early stage..
Rees was driving a heavy car, so I knew it would be a matter of time before I cought him due to his tire wear. I just watched the distance to Nige at this point. It grew bigger from lap to lap, but not by that much, so decided to stay with my plan. After all, I knew I was going to get those seconds back in the end of the race due to my long first stint.
I'm not sure, but I also hoped that Nige was going to think that I was on a 2 stopper, just to put a log on the fire so to speak.
So while the optimal strategy would be to race 10 / 11 / 11 / 11 laps, I did 12 / 11 / 10 / 10.
The surcuimstances I was facing could help me to stretch my first stint so that I would not need to run on worn tires in the end of the race, and thru that gain a lot of time in the later part of the race when my opponents was struggeling.
So, on to the race again.. When I got out from the pits on lap 14, I managed to just enter T1 ahead of Eddie, and that was a key factor I think. Cause he was on worn tires, and I did not want to get caought behind him for a couple of laps before my tires was warmed up properly. So instead of beeing caought behind him, I could now push from lap 1. 👍
By lap 15, I was alone, and was starting to prepare for my come back. I had lost quite some time to Nige due to my long 1st stint, and now was the time for me to start gaining time back, or at least towards the end of the 2nd stint.
I had a lot of clean air to race in at this moment, so just kept on running consistant lap times. 57-58's from lap 2-3, then high 58's from lap 4-5.. lap 6 was in the 59's.. lap 7 as well.. Then my times started to end up above the 2 min mark. But I kept it consistant as I said, and I could see indications towards the end of the 2nd stint that I was on the right track.
I had no idea about Dom's strategy. At this time, it was obvious that me, Nige and Dom was the ones who would fight for the win.. I was in 4th on lap 17, and passed Dom when I started lap 18.. Was he on a 4 stopper? I had no idea.
On lap 18 / 44, I ran in 3rd, and eventually cougt up to Jeff, who had a terrible start (He "lag-crashed" with Minion07), and lapped him out of Spoon, and I was now running in clean air, about 5 seconds behind Rees who was running in 2nd at the time. Unfortenutly, he spun out in 130R, and I was now running in 2nd, and my gap up to Nige was 16 sec.
But as I said earlier, towards the end of my 2nd stint, I was hoping to start gaining some time back, due to my strategy..
So going out on lap 19: Gap: 16 sec..
Going out on lap 20: Gap: 14 sec..
Going out on lap 21: Gap: 6!! sec.. I was like "WTF!!, he must hae had an off or something".. And I knew that this made his last stint even longer than he had planned.. So at this point, I was sertain I was going to catch him towards the end of the race..
I was now running in 1st, about 10 seconds ahead of Tim, and 18ish seconds ahead of Dom.. I was pretty sure I was clear of Tim, cause I had seen him pit at a few times, so knew he was on a similar strategy as me.. But this guy Dom.. What was he doing? I had no idea..
Since we can't see exactly how far behind us other drivers are, we have to compare visual distances from time to time, but this is really hard when a driver is far behind.. But since Suzuka is a track where you can see other cars on totally different places on the track, I knew that Dom was gaining on me at he end of my 2nd stint.. And since my 2nd stint was 11 laps, I knew he would gain a lot.. I just wanted to get out on my 3rd stint now, to race 110%, and not in need to save tires and short shift..
By the end of lap 23, the gap down to Dom was 9,5 seconds.. And he was cosing in fast..
I knew at this point that if he was close enough, he'd pit right after me and hang on in my fraft.. So at the end of lap 24, I went in to the pits for the 2nd time.. And guess what.. Dom was only 7 seconds behind me now.. He kept on racing.. While I was in the pits, obviosly, Dom passed me, and Nige as well.. So now, I was out on my 3rd stint.. This was the real deal.. It was time for me to gain some serious time.. So I was now pushing 110%.. Dom and NIge was ahead of me, but I knew I had the upper hand on Nige, and also knew Dom would be in the run fr the win as well.. So I passed Dom as I was going out on lap 27 while he was in the pits. It seemed like I gained a lot of time on him by pitting a few laps earlier.. Perhaps his strategy was a tad off in the beginning. Hence my confusion about it..
Going out on lap 28: Gap up to Nige: 17 seconds, and Dom was 13 seconds behind me..
Going out on lap 29: Gap to Nige: 15 sec, and Dom was 12 sec behind me..
Going out on lap 30: Gap to Nige: 13 sec, and Dom was 10 sec behind me.. Things are tightening up...
I knew that Nige was going to do 12 laps for his last stind.. So I knew I was going to gain a lot of time towards the last 3-4 laps of the race.. I was also a tad concerned about Dom at this point..
Going out on lap 31: Gap to Nige: 10 sec, and Dom was 8 seconds behind me..
Going out on lap 32: Gap to Nige: 7 sec, and Dom was 7 sec behind me..
So at this point, I knew Nige was on his way to pit, and the gap was 7 seconds, and even less once he reached the pits.. Around 4 seconds by the end of lap 32 when he eventually pitted..
That kind of time gain was perfect, cause I just knew at this point that I'm going to catch him.. All I needed to do now was to keep it together, and not let Dom get to close before it was time for me to pit at lap 34.. But going out on lap 33, Dom was only 6 seconds behind..
Goin out on lap 34.. Gap to Dom was 3!! sec..
I was thinking that he will pit at the same time as me, and just stay in my draft.. Cause he must've also felt that we had the upper hand on Nige at this point..
And so he did. I managed to pull a good gap down to Dom in the beginning of the 4th and final stint, but lappig a GT-R in the twisty sector 1 made Dom catch up to me again, and from here on, I was just trying to stay consistant to keep on gaining time on Nige who obviously had passedme while me and Dom was in the pits on lap 34..
So going out on lap 35, the Gap up to Nige was 12 sec.. Which felt great.. Because I knew I was going to gain on him a lot from here on.. Dom was 1 sec behind me at this point..
Dom was just cruising behind me, cause he knew that we was going to catch Nige..
Going out on lap 38, the gap up to Nige was 11 seconds..
Going out on lap 39: Gap was down to 6 seconds.. I noticed he made a mistake, going out in the sand in Degner 1.. No damage, but he lost 4 seconds..
Going out on lap 40: Gap: 5 sec.. Dom still on my tail.. GLUED to my tail..
Going out on lap 41: Gap: 4 sec..
From now on, I knew Nige was struggeling hard, while me and Dom only stayed consistant to close the gap.. Our tires was in much better shape than Nige's..
Going out on lap 42 (3 laps left), we was in a 3 car group.. 2 sec behing Nige.. ok..
I wanted to sit back and wait for Nige's wheels to be completely worn before I made a move, but Dom wanted to attack sooner.. So he tryed to pass me going out on lap 43.. But did not get the run he wanted on me.. Thru the 1st sector, he was really up my rear, and breaked late going into the hairpin, and the pass was complete.. I was struggeling to just wait for Nige's tires to wear out totally.. But now, I had to pass Dom as well.. And we was just heading out on the last lap..
I thought that the battle between Dom and Nige was good for me, cause I could sit back and await any mistake.. And going in to Spoon on the final lap, I could see that something was going to happen.. Dom and Nige breaks very late, causing Dom to hit Nige, and both are going very wide in Spoon.. So I'm able to sneak past on the inside..
CHARGING TOWARDS THE FINISH LINE!! WOOHOOOOO!!!
I have to say, one of my best races ever was complete.. The strategy, the consistancy, the clean and really good driving.. I'm super happy. I could not have asked for a better end of the season!! The battle between me, Dom and Nige was on from lap 1.. In some parts of the race from a distance.. But the nerve was always present.. Just awesome!!
All in all, my objective was to finish behind the aliens.. Since tony was the only one who stayed the entire championship, 2nd was my goal.. And I did it.. Super happy with that!! 👍 👍
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And on to the season as a whole:
The majority of you guys have lived up to the expectations! Our goal with this championship was to gather a group of drivers that we knew we could trust to stay the entire championship.. The season started out awesome at Suzuka in late November. Great race, and the 3 aliens snatched the top 3 spots ofc..
We then raced at Spa, and we had some connection issues.. Dom had to drop the race.. El Aliens got DC'd.. MULE had major troubles as well.. I think Rees also had a bad race here.. Then on to Nur GP/F where me and Aderrrm got DC'd.. So the connection issues kept on giving us hard times..
We then reched round 4, the last round before christmas and new years.. It went fine as far as I remember.. It was also a race to be dominted by the YELLOWHAT SUPRAS and NSX's.. Big round of applaudes to Paginas for a superb race in his GT-R here! This is really one of his best tracks, no doubt.. He's like a robot here..
After new years, we have a lot of drop outs (Disapointing ones imo), so we tweaked the tables, and made some structural changes.. 12 car grids etc.. This was pretty lucky actually, cause exactly at this time was when the "BUG" was noticed.. Ok, it was noticed before, but the big troubles had not been seen up until now..
So Monaco, Monza, Spa, Nurburgring, Indianapolis and Suzuka all went pretty good connection-wise.. And the last race, we tryed 16 cars, and it went really well!!
Me and Eddie want to thank all of you who raced here thruout the entire championship. Aweosme racing, awesome experiance! 👍
Next season will start in the end of March as it looks.. Or perhaps in the middle of April.
Cars will not be SGT's for season 2.. Let's just say that the cars will be heavier, have more power, and less DF.. In other words, the skill it requires to drive the cars will increase.. But with this season in mind, I have no doubt that we'll have an awesome season 2.
We'll also start up a series with LMP's.. It might sound crazy for now, but me and Eddie are 110% sure it will be awesome.. 👍
Stay tuned!!
Cheers
I damaged my car with 3 laps remaining, so it gave me a chance to grab some fresh rubber and try to set a fast time.
