28-10-2013, 01:56 AM
QUALI
I had been doing a lot of laps in the practice session just before quali, with good flow and no crashes. So I decided to be first driver out from pit when quali started, and I was. I was lucky to have no drivers in front of me when accelerated out on my first flying lap. I wanted to set a good laptime right from the start, so I could relax and take greater risks the following laps to improve. I made many small mistakes and had not the front grip I had expected, but was suprised set 1,22,9. Perfect start. Slower than my best practice time, but I knew only Marcel had been faster, so I felt quite safe. Following laps was really bad, as I had bad luck with traffic. Marcel did 1,22,4 after a few laps, and to be able to take pole I had to set a new personal best. I never managed to do that, but improved my time to 1,22,6. I was happy with that and I felt that our front grid positions was never threatened. 2nd place on grid, on the inside, is not that bad after all :
RACE 1
A good start from all top 4-5 drivers as far as I could see. Slightly better start than Marcel, and the inside helped me to 1st after T1. First lap I was really struggling with bad front grip... Big difference in grip compared to quali. Marcel was much faster in the slow part of track (just like he had been all weekend). After first lap I found a better rhythm and Marcel appeared to be quite happy with 2nd for a while. We both took it much easier through the chicane than in quali, but as he was faster in the slow part I had to compensate and try to be a bit faster through there. A bit risky... But after 10 laps I decided to pit. I had a good stop, 46 seconds, BUT my brother Robert came in to the pit and parked his car right in front of me, so when I was going to leave, I first had to reverse before I could go forward. This obviously cost me a few seconds, and no better that my first laps were quite bad, with many small mistakes and once again I experienced bad front grip. Marcel pitted a few laps later and came out right in front of me. He was faster than me and build up a small gap but had some bad luck with traffic a few times so I could catch him again. He had a small gap with only a few laps to go, when I suddenly saw him wreck his car at Tabac corner. I took it very easy the remaining laps and could take a comfortable victory, in my comeback 8) 8)
RACE 2
I'm always afraid of these reversed grid-races. I took it easy in the start, only to see djc and nikos make contact in front of me and throw themselves into the barrier.. I managed to avoid them but lost speed. Djc and I made contact and he spun (I saw it first when I watched the replay, didn't knew he was beside me after his crash with Nikos). When throwing my car into the first corner there was suddenly a wall of cars... I smashed the brakes but could not avoid to gently touch the car in front of me, however that was enough to send him flying (sorry whoever it was!). I spun and had to turn around... Continued with minimum damage. I was already far behind, and after the chicane someone had left a present for me - a lot of haybales... I spun again, but was lucky to get away with minimum or no damage. I pitted on lap 2... Everything went fine and altough my bad start I found myself on 6th place or something after my pitstop. Not bad, but I had to drive over 20 laps with same set of tires. Gorka appeared behind me, and I knew he was in the lead, almost about to lap me. I didn't want to let that happen in case he would slow me down later. He had good pace and we drove pretty much identical laptimes for several laps until he disappeard. I fought my way up to 2nd... somehow. All the time I was expecting to soon be caught by faster guys on fresh tires... But that didn't happen. After many laps, with many blue flags and stuff, I suddenly was behind Gorka... who had some really bad damage, it seemed. He managed to hold on to his first place for a lap, but then let me pass (probably realized he had too heavy damage). To my surprise I could take my second win (only 3rd in my sr4l career) ;D
Thanks to SR4L and all who participated in this event. It was sweaty, frustrating, exiting and fun. Thanks to Marcel, you did a good job, everything ran smoothly. But bad luck in the race, better luck next time.
![[Image: uvsk.png]](http://imageshack.us/a/img823/4870/uvsk.png)
I had been doing a lot of laps in the practice session just before quali, with good flow and no crashes. So I decided to be first driver out from pit when quali started, and I was. I was lucky to have no drivers in front of me when accelerated out on my first flying lap. I wanted to set a good laptime right from the start, so I could relax and take greater risks the following laps to improve. I made many small mistakes and had not the front grip I had expected, but was suprised set 1,22,9. Perfect start. Slower than my best practice time, but I knew only Marcel had been faster, so I felt quite safe. Following laps was really bad, as I had bad luck with traffic. Marcel did 1,22,4 after a few laps, and to be able to take pole I had to set a new personal best. I never managed to do that, but improved my time to 1,22,6. I was happy with that and I felt that our front grid positions was never threatened. 2nd place on grid, on the inside, is not that bad after all :
RACE 1
A good start from all top 4-5 drivers as far as I could see. Slightly better start than Marcel, and the inside helped me to 1st after T1. First lap I was really struggling with bad front grip... Big difference in grip compared to quali. Marcel was much faster in the slow part of track (just like he had been all weekend). After first lap I found a better rhythm and Marcel appeared to be quite happy with 2nd for a while. We both took it much easier through the chicane than in quali, but as he was faster in the slow part I had to compensate and try to be a bit faster through there. A bit risky... But after 10 laps I decided to pit. I had a good stop, 46 seconds, BUT my brother Robert came in to the pit and parked his car right in front of me, so when I was going to leave, I first had to reverse before I could go forward. This obviously cost me a few seconds, and no better that my first laps were quite bad, with many small mistakes and once again I experienced bad front grip. Marcel pitted a few laps later and came out right in front of me. He was faster than me and build up a small gap but had some bad luck with traffic a few times so I could catch him again. He had a small gap with only a few laps to go, when I suddenly saw him wreck his car at Tabac corner. I took it very easy the remaining laps and could take a comfortable victory, in my comeback 8) 8)
RACE 2
I'm always afraid of these reversed grid-races. I took it easy in the start, only to see djc and nikos make contact in front of me and throw themselves into the barrier.. I managed to avoid them but lost speed. Djc and I made contact and he spun (I saw it first when I watched the replay, didn't knew he was beside me after his crash with Nikos). When throwing my car into the first corner there was suddenly a wall of cars... I smashed the brakes but could not avoid to gently touch the car in front of me, however that was enough to send him flying (sorry whoever it was!). I spun and had to turn around... Continued with minimum damage. I was already far behind, and after the chicane someone had left a present for me - a lot of haybales... I spun again, but was lucky to get away with minimum or no damage. I pitted on lap 2... Everything went fine and altough my bad start I found myself on 6th place or something after my pitstop. Not bad, but I had to drive over 20 laps with same set of tires. Gorka appeared behind me, and I knew he was in the lead, almost about to lap me. I didn't want to let that happen in case he would slow me down later. He had good pace and we drove pretty much identical laptimes for several laps until he disappeard. I fought my way up to 2nd... somehow. All the time I was expecting to soon be caught by faster guys on fresh tires... But that didn't happen. After many laps, with many blue flags and stuff, I suddenly was behind Gorka... who had some really bad damage, it seemed. He managed to hold on to his first place for a lap, but then let me pass (probably realized he had too heavy damage). To my surprise I could take my second win (only 3rd in my sr4l career) ;D
Thanks to SR4L and all who participated in this event. It was sweaty, frustrating, exiting and fun. Thanks to Marcel, you did a good job, everything ran smoothly. But bad luck in the race, better luck next time.