Race Report:
Wait? I'm driving a school bus?
Nope. It was the Yellowhat GT-R, and no, it wasn't a pig like the Lambo I drove yesterday. However, it wasn't that fast either, thanks to odd handling behavior through Ascari that made carrying speed without being dirty quite difficult. I wasn't concerned since this is Monza, after all, where the draft served as a double-edge sword. I could allow a faster driver to tow me around, but the opposite was also true.
From the 8th spot, the start was surprisingly clean, and everyone behind me started falling back, relieving me of defending my position. Thanks to dirty air, handling was all over the place, with the car either over-rotating or not at all. Also, my tires took quite a while to warm up, about six laps. However, all the time gained on everyone behind me got wiped out at Parabolica. I saw smoke, then a car crossing the track, before getting nailed by another. I backed off, allowing both myself and Dom, who I was trying to follow, to get through. Dom surprised me by pitting, even though he had no apparent damaged, leaving me on my own with no draft help. Within a lap, Jason and Johnkiller had caught up to me. Whatever hopes I had to catch up to the leaders vanished.
For a few laps, it was a fierce, but clean battle with Jason's Z and John's GTR. Our times didn't suffer much, and I was able to save some tires and fuel. That proved pivotal as pit stops began, with my two competitors going in at the same time. I said no, believing my Yellowhat still had speed, which it did with consistent 46.5's. For a moment, I had the crazy idea to keep going until the very end, going with a fuel-only stop. Reality set back in, as I realized that a splash and dash wasn't an option. Reluctantly, I pitted from the lead for a service, overruling my crew chief who told me I only needed 10 liters. I got 15 instead.
As I came out, I saw two HSV's flash by me driven by Dom and Dennis, following by Jason. Perfect! I ran extra laps, and I didn't really lose time with the extra laps. Unfortunately, that proved quite wrong. The HSV's tires were worn, and they proved to be a rolling roadblock. Jason got past Dom, who promptly spun right in front of me exiting Ascari. Again, no drafting help and worse, Jason got around Dennis, who then decided he was simply going to follow him rather than race him. That pretty much allowed Jason scot-free while I struggled passing the tire-worn HSV. Once I finally got around, there was no hope for getting 4th, while a freight train was catching up to me in a hurry.
The next few laps was all 45s, but shockingly, those cars in my rearview was coming closer. It never came, much to my relief, but I then saw something surprising, Nige's car crawling down the front stretch on the final lap. I demanded more power from the engine, but there was no more, much to Nige's relief as he crawled past start-finish first.
5th was a good finish considering Monza's unpredictability. The more important thing was that I finished in the first place.
