21-01-2019, 12:13 PM
Held up the Rat Racing flag one more time, not too much time for training but got below 1:30 on saturday, so I was confident to not be dead last on race day. Qualified 6th ("best of the rest", 5th was around a second faster). Never tried a race simulation so I started off fuelled to the finish (I thought).
Got somewhat clean through the first laps, despite pressing the wrong button which reset my VR position right after the start. Also my pedals lost one of those rubber things it stands on, so I had to live with some instability down there. At one point I made it up to fifth place! But after lap 17 or so it dawned on me that the tyres would not last the distance, so I decided to pit early and try to be kind to the rubber afterwards to the finish. Pitstop was unremarkable, but I got a few seconds on the car behind me that pitted at the same time. Things settled again, I tried to not take too many curbs, not locking up and keep a consistent lap time. At some point I realized that I did not have enough fuel to make it to the end (I calculated it with an old setup that did not rev as high, appearantly), so I had to do another fuel only stop.
Running confortably in 6th, that was... tough. Well, only myself to blame. I did it and after things settled down to the end I managed to bring it home in 8th. Not bad for the lack of training and the fuelling mistake. Other than that, this is a fun little track, tiny + tricky. I did not make serious mistakes, only going wide a few times.
Team mate Ramon did not show up because his home is being renovated so he had to move out into a temporary location, wheel and everything packed up in boxes. He did do a few laps though during the week, so not all is lost. After the next race I will be gone to Lisboa for three months, so no racing for me, but I should be back towards the end of the season.
Got somewhat clean through the first laps, despite pressing the wrong button which reset my VR position right after the start. Also my pedals lost one of those rubber things it stands on, so I had to live with some instability down there. At one point I made it up to fifth place! But after lap 17 or so it dawned on me that the tyres would not last the distance, so I decided to pit early and try to be kind to the rubber afterwards to the finish. Pitstop was unremarkable, but I got a few seconds on the car behind me that pitted at the same time. Things settled again, I tried to not take too many curbs, not locking up and keep a consistent lap time. At some point I realized that I did not have enough fuel to make it to the end (I calculated it with an old setup that did not rev as high, appearantly), so I had to do another fuel only stop.
Running confortably in 6th, that was... tough. Well, only myself to blame. I did it and after things settled down to the end I managed to bring it home in 8th. Not bad for the lack of training and the fuelling mistake. Other than that, this is a fun little track, tiny + tricky. I did not make serious mistakes, only going wide a few times.
Team mate Ramon did not show up because his home is being renovated so he had to move out into a temporary location, wheel and everything packed up in boxes. He did do a few laps though during the week, so not all is lost. After the next race I will be gone to Lisboa for three months, so no racing for me, but I should be back towards the end of the season.