And now for a belated
quick recap
I already knew our numbers would be smaller for this race because both
@PANDACoff33 and our french friends couldn't show up. In any case I was sent a PM stating a renewed interest from hellraiser (american) and so I was counting on 7 racers (Duarte, raeggee, Ricardo, myself, Paul and half and finally hellraiser).
However ... hellraiser never showed up and Duarte had connection problems that made him give up. And then there were five
This meant that, especially at Le Mans of all places, I couldn't ditch the AI cars, even if that meant me risking the wrath of
@half_sourly
After a few failed attempts, trying to get Duarte and Ricardo to keep a connection to the lobby, we finally started our race with a random grid, not respecting the qualifying results.
@half_sourly even asked if we should consider them and make a formation, but in a quick and probably not well thought manner I decided against it, considering the race was long enough to even the odds between us all. I would live to regret that decision, LOL
In any case, a reference should be made to the amazing qualifying lap that
raeggee pulled off. That 3.33,0 was very impressive!
So I was placed at the back of the grid, we started and as is becoming usual for me in this championship (that's 3 out of 3) my first few laps were a disaster. This happened (times mentioned are from the video above):
4:30 - got brake-checked by
@half_sourly and was demoted to 15th with last place 16th all over me
7:00 - Same ... he's out to get me!
14:10 - by the 3rd lap, being already 5th (but with some 12 seconds lost to raeggee in the lead), and after some cautious driving that would prove valuable later on ... I locked the rear tyres on the approach to Indianapolis and spun!
Rejoined the race in 12th positiom, with another 12 seconds lost to the leader (now some 24 seconds in front).
After this I just got my head down and tried to drive as best as I could. I'm not going to do a lap by lap account of this (it's called a
quick recap
) but my moving up the order was as follows:
16:10 (lap 4) - I overtook a BMW and Paul and got to
10th at the start of the Hunaudiéres straight (slipstream to the rescue, and I suspect Paul was racing with a greater downforce level so suffering in top speed)
16:40 - I suspect
@IfAndOr tried to accelerate sooner than he should to get my slipstream after the first chicane (where his greater downforce level gave him some advantage). At least I hope I wasn't the cause for that spin
I ended lap 4 in
5th position due to 3 overtakes on AI cars and because 2 more AIs pitted at the end of that lap, can't imagine why ...
Still, raeggeee out in front with 25+ seconds on me, followed some 11 seconds behind by Ricardo, than
@half_sourly already more than 20 seconds adrift in 3rd, one AI 4th and me close to both of them
20: 30 (lap 4) - another slipstream overtake (AI car) and get to
4th, close behind
@half_sourly. Followed him for the remainder of that lap (similar pace) until ...
23:23 - DISASTER again, I spun for a second time at the Tertre Rouge! I don't even understand exactly what happened there, watching the replay I think I turned too early, got afraid of getting a penalty for cutting the corner so corrected and then ... lost it!
Thankfully the car stopped pointed in the right direction so I didn't lose more than 5 seconds (and lost no racetrack position). But now I was (20 minutes in, with 55 to go) already over half a minute behind raeggee, doing a flawless drive up front.
During lap 7 I managed to "reconnect" with half and meanwhile Ricardo must have had his own costly spin because suddenly we were all 3 very close to each other (2nd, 3rd, and 4th). Then comes ...
29:30 - ... where Ricardo (
@GTP_RPREGO ) lost his car in the Porsche Curve and was then collected by
@half_sourly that spins after hitting him. I know Ricardo very gentlemanly already took the blame for this but after watching the scene a few times I must stress that we should refrain from using the reset button unless we are absolutely certain no cars are approaching, to avoid these consequences. I'm not setting a rule here, just asking everyone to do their best in this kind of situation.
So, after that moment at almost half-race I ascend to be
2nd on track, still some 30 seconds behind the leader. And I worked hard to reduce that difference for a few laps where nothing relevant really happened. Until ...
47:40 (lap 12) - ... the moment that I noticed a sudden drop in ragggee's advantage (still close to 20 seconds in lap 12) that was caused, as I soon realized, by him pitting. I still had fuel for one more lap so I decided to stay out and experience being in 1st place for a change
49:40 - And then it happened. During lap 13 my radio engineer tells me rain is expected and this was music to my ears! Adjusted the pit strategy to fit wets in my upcoming pitstop, and thought
"not sure about others, but raeggee surely fitted slicks and he will have to pit again, so I'm keeping the lead".
52:20 - Only to watch, a litle bemused, raeggee go by when I was pitted, with rain already falling. Talked to him later and he said he only noticed the wet track and raindrops when it was already too late to pit.
54:40 - I didn't even need a full lap to get to raeggee, caught him on the exit of Mulsanne corner, he just couldnt get traction out of there. And that was when I got to 1st and never lost that place again. Nice victory, with a lot of help from the changeable weather (that you can't predict because of the random slot policy) and also from my earlier misfortune, that made me save fuel while behind AIs in the first few laps.
Now, onto Fuji, to be run on the weekend of June 28th to 30th. Will try to come up with settings for this (my main concern being the AI of course), and I need to test if we can keep the random slots or if, as it happened in Bannochbrae, the track becomes undriveable after rain hits.
If anyone has preference (or impediment) for a particular day during the above mentioned weekend, please state it here.
One thing is for sure, and this will be a relief both for me and for
@half_sourly: there are no doubts on what car will be used!