Indianapolis 500 post race reports and discussion

I have the one S and the problems aren't as consistent as they would be on the original but it's definitely something ill have to look into in the future. Wish i would've jumped on it when they had all the deals for trade in around its release date

Quali P3 - 38.599
Race P2

Myself and Karl were trying to get some drafting going but it just was not working other than one run when I managed to pull Karl along for his best time but I just never seemed able to get on track at the right time. My best time which was still good enough for the outside of row 2 was done all alone on track. One of those where I just hooked it up nicely and briefly held second place before slipping to 3rd in the closing lap or two. l did have several shots at improvement subsequently but each one the lap time fell away through turn 4. But I was happy with 3rd tbh as without the draft I was expecting to be much further down the pack.

Race start was solid and I settled in behind Adam and Dan and was pleased to see we all go away without too much trouble. I had Dave behind me and pressuring and we went side by side into turn 1 on several occasions and he was able to make the move and hold third place through the first period of the race. I was content to stay there for a while and save a bit of fuel but then around lap 9 as I closed quickly on him into turn 1 the back-end just got loose and I headed towards the inside wall. Thankfully I only took a slight bit of front aero damage (5) and 1 on the left side front suspension. I dropped to 5th place and then 6th but managed to keep a bit of a draft on those going past to keep as close as I could to the race pace. Once I fell back I went from mid 40's to mid 41's but figured it was better to keep going until the fuel window opened than have to do an extra stop. I pitted at the end of lap 22 which turned out to be just about right to enable me t make the race distance. Another lap would have been more comfortable but it proved to be good enough. Yet another pit stop problem with the team having wheelnut problems yet again, the game definitely has this completely wrong and Dans early stop theory was blown out of the water as I was amongst the earliest to stop this time!! Amazingly I rejoined the race having not lost a spot and was able to then start getting my head down for some solid laps and to try to find the consistency I would need to claw back the 2 laps that I was down on the leaders.

The race from this point went about as smoothly as it could go.I was matching the leaders pace and by the time all the first stops had been taken I was just over a lap behind Dan who was leading. I kept him in front of me for lap after lap with our pace pretty much matching tenth for tenth. I did get a chance to go past at one point but lapped traffic made it a bit squirelly so I held back and just resolved to save some fuel as I was not 100% sure I could make it to the end without an extra stop. It was going to be tight so I had to maximise my stints each time. I was having a good battle at a distance with Tyler in second place who held a 25 second lead but with a penalty to take into account so any problems for him and I was in with a shout of second place.

After the second last stops I knew that second spot was mine after Tylers second pit lane speeding penalty so I just had to keep it consistent and not take any chances. The win was probably beyond me at that point but I knew I could get the lap back at the final round of stops and then any problems suffered by the leading Ganassi would see me in the box seats but I was already delighted to be looking at 18 points from this one after my early incident. Once the final stop had come and gone smoothly It was just a case of was there enough fuel. I had a safe 25 second gap to Tyler in third and with the added cushion of 55 seconds of penalties so second was all mine bar any incidents or running out of fuel. Actually I could even afford a stop and still take second but with the pit stop errors haunting me every race so far I didn't want to take the chance. I had been comfortably on the lead lap and pulling away on the track inch by inch from Dan but dropped the mix down to try to ensure the fuel would last which enabled him to get close and almost had a run on me. I wanted to stay on the lead lap but was aware that allowing him past would guarantee me making the end but once we hit the 190 lap mark I knew all was good and I was able to run a bit more confidently and the times picked back up allowing the gap to build again.

Very happy with second place and solid team points. Congrats to Dan for the win, well deserved for a mistake free race. Tough one for Tyler but good job on securing that third place. My team mate had a torrid time with the incorrect tyre pressures but did a great job to secure the fastest lap bonus points which are big for us on team Schmidt Peterson and can go someway to countering the lack of an extra driver. On the subject of the tyre pressures I do wish there was a way to have them adjusted for the next pit stop. You can of course do this in your pre-race strategy but there are plenty of times when you just don't know pre-race what will happen during a race and it would be nice to have the facility to make this sort of change. The track temp went from 50 to 54 from the start of the race to the finish. Not sure what if any effect that 4 degrees change would have overall.

Well done everyone for making the race. Only 7 finishers from the 1 that started but still a lot of fun.