Well, that race was interesting to say the very least. Congratulations to everyone who stuck through until the end. This was certainly a race of attrition, and I'm sure a lot of had to make split-second decisions and recalculate gameplans at some point in the race.
This was the first
MASSIVE race I've done on the full Nurburgring track, and practicing for it was intense and extensive. Going into the race I felt confident in my ability thanks to the practice I've put in but the majority of my testing was me chasing the car around the track like:
But hey, it was best to get (most of) the incidents out of the way in practice rather than the race itself!
My stints I'd say were pretty good. I kept the car clean except for a few incidents where I was able to drive the car back at a decent racing speed, and I felt I have extracted everything from the car that I could despite my fastest lap only being a 8'21.968. I was a little disappointed in our car's lack of pace, and I have a feeling everyone at the Audi camp is, but we all performed the best we could and I'm proud of all of my teammates in both cars. Despite the lack of pace I genuinely feel we all performed to a gold standard and I hope we will see our practice and dedication be worth more in future events.
The Audi WRS North America team unfortunately were unable to get our fourth driver (
@OZ) into the car but it was through no fault of his own and we wish him the best of luck as he refrains from massacring everyone at his ISP and hopefully he can get into the car for the Spa 24. 👍
I'd say the best laughs I got out of the entire race were
@Heathenpride's comments when I got into the car for the last time and this:
My teammates had to ask why I was laughing so hard as they couldn't see it on the stream yet.
I was on the Dottinger when I was posting in the chat, I certainly wouldn't do it anywhere else. I just felt the need to have some banter, I was tired and our position was pretty much sealed, and I'm sure some fans on the YouTube stream were just as tired and eager for some fun. Apologies to AJ for that, I hope we don't see something in the rules about typing and driving as I'm certain that there's a number of teams that rely on that to communicate.
Apologies to the Green Hell Heathens #88 and the Reaper Online Racing #42 for our incidents on the track, and I've already sent out my "explanation" in a private conversation. You guys performed great even with bits of the Audi in the backside of your car, awesome job.
I would say congratulations to the podium finishers but for races like these, be it four hours or 24, everyone who gets it to the checkered flag deserves just as much respect and congratulations. So, if you participate in the race, top job to you and massive respect for getting a seat and finishing the race. Thanks to
@Gravitron of WRS North America for yet another opportunity to drive in these races and to my teammates (
@Bleached,
@OZ) and colleagues at Avalerion (
@PASM,
@skyline1683,
@Kjeld Lund,
@Friday_GTRP) for being great people to work with.
Also a big thank you and congratulations to the Race Director, Series Promoters, and Stewards (
@AJ,
@Peelster1,
@littleregret265) who helped running the race and making this all possible. I hope I've performed well enough over the season so far to land me a full-time ride next season as I'm interested in continuing my relationship with the series.
Here's to the N24 and future events which may take place!