So here's my report on the race, bit late, but yeah:
First of all, I was chuffed to be starting 4th, in front of so many fast drivers. I honestly thought my last quali was a one-off and that'd I be at the back of the pack this time round. Instead I somehow achieved the opposite and managed a personal best time, I don't know how but my qualifying form has really improved. Anyway, before the race we were having room problems. I tried resetting my router before I joined which seemed to make my connection more solid, but like others have said, GT5 seemed to be having server issues, and anyone was at risk of dc'ing.
Managed to get a good start, just after sector 1 in the first few corners, seemed to be a minor incident between Red and TA (I think), as Red slowed down a lot, which I only noticed when I passed him
Sorry if I took advantage there, wanted to slow back down but by the time I got past slowing down I felt would have lost me a few positions. Tony managed to slip past as well, so the aliens were together again, and I was just holding onto their draft as I hadn't got up to speed yet. As the laps progressed, the aliens gradually pulled away, while I kept Red and Welsh a good distance behind me, but not really pulling away. Eventually I saw one of my pursuers, Welsh, slip up on the dirty stuff at the end of the long left-hander in Sector 2, giving me a little bit of space to flex my wheels
I kept Red at an arm's distance from me, out of my draft, up until around lap 7, where he was just starting to use my draft. Eventually I reached my first pit stop on lap 9, just ahead of Red.
For my second stint, I tried to use my tires to their full potential as I had one less lap on them due to my strategy. Unfortunately, just after I was starting to churn out some good sector times, I put a wheel on the kerb on the outside of the right-turn just before the start of Sector 3 (a corner I have had a number of problems with during practice), which for some reason made the car unstable and start to spin into the gravel. Red was way past me but I had just started to get back on track as Welsh caught to me, slowing down so he did not hit me, whilst Denilson flew past. I felt pretty degraded after that, when I was in such a good position. GV27 caught up, so me, him and Welsh had a small battle in the coming laps. Eventually we came up to the right-left-right at the start of Sector 2 on another lap, and just as I had my nose to the left of Welsh's rear, he turned in and gave me a slap on the front, causing me to plough into the gravel. No ill feelings but I was just really gutted and felt like this was another race I had wasted. I found the motivation to keep going though, and tried to track them back down. I pitted on lap 17, 1 lap after Welsh and 1 lap before GV. My memory is a bit hazy here but I think I had a short battle with GV after our pitstops, and managed to get past quickly. Then, my aim was to chase down Welsh with a number of consistent laps. And I almost did it. I pushed myself to the edge at times, although backing off sometimes as well as I did not want to have another spin. I could see I was catching up fairly quickly, until the last lap where I was around 2 seconds off him. Capped off a frustrating race really as if I pushed a little harder and was more consistent I may have caught up to Denilson as well, as he was not far ahead of Welsh. Congratulations to Timeattack on the win anyway, and another great drive from the aliens đź‘Ť My sympathy goes out to Red, who dc'd midway through in a great position.
Second race I made a stupid mistake early on, spinning Welsh out on Eau Rouge, I just didn't anticipate him being slower than me. I maintain that I am willing to take a penalty for that. I slowed down a bit after that anyway and allowed the aliens at the back to pass me easy. I saw Aderrrm pit early, and guessed that everyone else would follow him in within the next few laps. I decided to stay out as my tires were still in good condition until around lap 5. This worked out very well, as except Aderrrm, I was in front of the pack, but only just. That only lasted very shortly though, as in my naivety I took the right-left-right corner with too much speed, sliding and catching the dirt, resulting in a spin. Again, gutted, but I kept going. I knew I could still catch back up, but once again, I would need some good laps. Eventually this time I caught up to Denilson and managed to pass him on the last lap to take 5th.
Anyway, I'd like to apologise to everyone who has endured my constant moaning over the past few weeks. I've had some tough races recently in different series', and I've just found it tough seeing people have great races while I've had mine either spoilt or messed up by my own mistakes. It has really lowered my motivation recently. Yesterday however, despite the mistakes, I feel has been a step in the right direction. I'm starting to get gradually faster every week (in no small part thanks to NOSS' great tunes), and my racing prowess is starting to improve. My consistency was by no means perfect this weekend, but it was better than it has been in a while. Looking forward to Nurburgring GP next week, a track I kinda dislike but at which I've had some good races, hopefully I can finally get the good result I've been craving. See you all next week đź‘Ť
jk buddy
Did turn a LOT of Viper ACR laps last night though, best car nobody is making a series with. So Im gonna make one sometime after all the current ones take a break. Stock/Spec/Tuned series, mixed. Groundbreaking ideas, hope people will like it.
