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Post by Laird Cake on Apr 18, 2021 9:24:08 GMT
Q – 7th S – 2nd F – 5th The field consisting of eight cars was covered by 1.2 seconds with me being 8 tenths off of pole. A 1.29.4 was the fastest I’ve gone ever so I was pleased with that even if it was only good enough for 7th. New wheel and pedals still proving challenging. On the second restart for the sprint race we lined up and I got a good get away. I held back at the first corner and missed all the crashes to find myself into 4th with the Safety Car called. Will and I were then promoted to 1st and 2nd once all of the other cars stopped to repair damage. On the restart, Will got a good getaway with me nearly out-braking myself into the first chicane. From there on in Will and I pulled away and brought it home for out first 1 / 2 of the season and my 6th trip to the podium. I kept Will honest at the front but wouldn’t have caught him due to his better pace. Back into 7th for the feature race and the first corner proved to have some antics again. I was able to keep clear of it and avoid a very near miss with Will, but as I watched the stream back I see that he and Dan had a coming together giving Will massive damage. Knowing that we need the points to take it to Pete and Karl, I kept my head down and started to chase Ian. I got passed him as he ran wide which meant I was chasing down Bryan in 3rd. A few good laps behind him, I made a mistake meaning I dropped it into the last corner. I got it facing the right way and started to slow it down a bit to conserve fuel and tyres. Braking is still an issue  Another spin later, Dave got passed me. I boxed a few laps after him and came out around 4 seconds behind. I knew that I could catch him but a few mistakes from us both, meant we fought it out to the end. Ian had an off with only a few remaining meaning it was a three way fight for 3rd. With two laps to go I made a bold (stupid) move into the first corner which nearly cost Dave and I our races. Not sure what 100% happened but I think I was just locked up trying too hard. 2.17 in the stream to see it. Unlike me to go for a gap like that from way back but no harm done and apologies again mate. You held me off like a champ; great racing. Good points for me and in the team fight – I think Bryan managed to get more than me this weekend so will see where we are once the standings are out - nice podium on the feature mate. Unlucky to Will as you had a great first race and cheers again to Dave, Ian (great podium) et al for some great racing yet again. Pete having a replacement driver for the weekend calls for an investigation. Also – no more wine before the race. Mothers are sacred ha ha. |
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Post by XRF Lemarrrr on Apr 18, 2021 10:42:19 GMT
Q 4th
S 3rd
F 4th
We’d worked on our one lap pace in the week and I was pleasantly surprised to be fourth with a PB.
Sprint
We had created some good engineering solutions and our car setup was where we wanted it going into the race, hooked up a good start and was challenging for the lead going into the Tamburello chicane, I was in the middle of Karl and Will and Karl and I made contact which resulted in me falling back to P4 and some damage to Karl, I got my head down and began to push, trying to make up the lost ground to Ian in P3, the car felt good as the fog cleared and I began applying pressure to Ian and took P3 after his spin at Rivazza, worked hard to close the gap to Rich in P2 but I couldn’t close the gap enough and came home in third. Great result for Will and Rich for another 1-2.
Feature
Prepared the car well on the formation lap and made a decent start, took advantage of other people’s offs and after a few laps found myself in P3, the car felt good and as the fuel load burnt off we went quicker and at that point I thought maybe P2 was in reach. We went for a fairly aggressive shorter first stint and pitted on lap 13, after a good stop i rejoined in P5, on the fresh tyres the car felt good but the large fuel load restricted my laptime, as the strategy began to shake out I regained P3 but Ian was quick, Karl was running a very long 1st stint and I was surprised to get a blue flag on lap 25 which distracted me slightly resulting in a spin, i rejoined in P5 with a lot of work to do, I put in some half decent laps and retook Rich a few laps later after he had a half spin. Ian was almost 10 seconds up the road but I felt I could catch him with the time remaining but mounting pressure from Rich divided my attention, I could close the gap to Ian in sectors 2 and 3 but he was fast in sector 1 so the gap remained at 8 to 10 seconds across the stint with Rich closing to with a few seconds in P5. This battle went on until the last few laps when Ian had a half spin and I closed to within 3 seconds but couldn’t challenge for the podium. Congratulations to Karl for another masterclass and well done to Bryan and Ian for the podium finish.
Great racing throughout but I think we’re having a few too many Safety Cars at the starts, of course it’s difficult to overtake on a circuit like this and the start is often the best opportunity but try to be aware of other cars that may have had a better start.
That said the championship has been exciting up till now and as we move into the last races let’s keep up these standards.
Cheers
Dave
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Post by csbryan on Apr 18, 2021 15:34:49 GMT
Q – 7th S – 2nd F – 5th The field consisting of eight cars was covered by 1.2 seconds with me being 8 tenths off of pole. A 1.29.4 was the fastest I’ve gone ever so I was pleased with that even if it was only good enough for 7th. New wheel and pedals still proving challenging. On the second restart for the sprint race we lined up and I got a good get away. I held back at the first corner and missed all the crashes to find myself into 4th with the Safety Car called. Will and I were then promoted to 1st and 2nd once all of the other cars stopped to repair damage. On the restart, Will got a good getaway with me nearly out-braking myself into the first chicane. From there on in Will and I pulled away and brought it home for out first 1 / 2 of the season and my 6th trip to the podium. I kept Will honest at the front but wouldn’t have caught him due to his better pace. Back into 7th for the feature race and the first corner proved to have some antics again. I was able to keep clear of it and avoid a very near miss with Will, but as I watched the stream back I see that he and Dan had a coming together giving Will massive damage. Knowing that we need the points to take it to Pete and Karl, I kept my head down and started to chase Ian. I got passed him as he ran wide which meant I was chasing down Bryan in 3rd. A few good laps behind him, I made a mistake meaning I dropped it into the last corner. I got it facing the right way and started to slow it down a bit to conserve fuel and tyres. Braking is still an issue Another spin later, Dave got passed me. I boxed a few laps after him and came out around 4 seconds behind. I knew that I could catch him but a few mistakes from us both, meant we fought it out to the end. Ian had an off with only a few remaining meaning it was a three way fight for 3rd. With two laps to go I made a bold (stupid) move into the first corner which nearly cost Dave and I our races. Not sure what 100% happened but I think I was just locked up trying too hard. 2.17 in the stream to see it. Unlike me to go for a gap like that from way back but no harm done and apologies again mate. You held me off like a champ; great racing. Good points for me and in the team fight – I think Bryan managed to get more than me this weekend so will see where we are once the standings are out - nice podium on the feature mate. Unlucky to Will as you had a great first race and cheers again to Dave, Ian (great podium) et al for some great racing yet again. Pete having a replacement driver for the weekend calls for an investigation. Also – no more wine before the race. Mothers are sacred ha ha. Hope you get your pedals calibrated before the next race, was a lonely one yesterday for me, missed the fights  |
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Post by csbryan on Apr 18, 2021 16:13:07 GMT
Qualy P3
Sprint P4
Feature P2
Q - Best qualy of the season by far. Managed to put some decent laps at the first 10 minutes of the session. Did a 29.0 in lap 1/2 (put two laps of fuel to let the tyres heat properly) but then messed it up in the next lap, was 2 tenths up so a front row start was on the table. After that tried some flying laps with just one lap to put heat on the tyres but it wasn´t a good choice, the car slided a bit still on S1 so wansn´t able to improve from there on. Happy with that effort. 4 tenths of pole.
S - Dave got a great start, jumped me and saw in front 3 cars going wide into T1. As the three of them were trying to gain track position we at the back 'concertina' at the chinane. Coudn´t brake early because Rich was in my gearbox so extended the braking point just as much as the top 3. Karl was the car that backed from the duel, he braked early than I expected to have him a bump (Sorry Karl) that gave us both some damage. Peter also touch me a bit from the back at T3 so SC was called and limped the damaged car to the pits.
P7 at the restart with 18 minutes to go and started a great battle with Peter. He stood in front for 3 laps but he made a little mistake in Rivazza 2 and got a toe from him, launched to the inside at T1 doing a risky move but watching it back on stream it was awesome (hats off to Peter for the awareness). Karl pitted to repair his damage so was up to P5. Managed to create a gap to Peter so started go gain time to Ian and Dave. Ian made a mistake in the last corner and dropped to P4, ahead of me. Put some pressure for a couple of laps and then he got in an unlucky spin. With P4 secured started to close the gap to Dave but times were kind of similar. With 5 minutes to go he made a mistake in S2 and started to battle with him. Had a couple of close calls in the braking zones so decided to not risk it a lot and maybe force a mistake. Went a bit wide in the last lap before Tossa that prevented me to make a final lunge. Congrats to Dave for dealing with the pressure and securing a fine P3, also to the Panasonic boys for the 1-2.
F - Another bad start from me and a great one from Dave made me lose a position before T1. Cleaner start from everybody we formed a single file when Dan had a semi-spin in Tamburello so went back up to P5. A lap later Dave got into a spin as well before Tossa so started to close to Pete, Karl and Ian. Karl passed Ian for the lead but the three of them found Will damaged car before the main straight to we all bunched up. At one point we almost went 4 wide into T1 (LOL) but backed out of that as there was no way. Ian missed the apex and overtook him round the outside of T2, risky move on the limit but it was crucial to my race. Peter was not finding the grip at this stage to started to put some pressure on him to try steal P2. Went side by side with him at T1 again but he outbraked me and missed the apex as well. He spun and had to take avoiding action and in my view we didn´t touch. (Watching the stream it seems as Peter said that contact was made as he got damage but I didn´t had any,maybe it was the front wheel that caused him damage or lag really no clue). You can see that incident at 1:23:00 on stream.
After that the race was quiet, Karl all the rest of the race was .7 faster than me and 1.5 sec faster from P3, that made the gap increase at the same rate from P1 to P2 and to P2 to P3. First stint was bad, had a lot on tyre deg on both fronts for the first time so I kept loosing the car in S1. Forwarded my pitstop into the 30min mark when I saw there was no reason to risk a mistake with worn tyres. Car felt better in stint 2 and with 15 minutes to go started to have some fun on my own trying to beat my PB until that race, did it twice but then had a big big momment in the braking zone before Rivazza, putting all tyres on the kerb and the floor of the car stuck by like 2 seconds on the braking, loosing the rear and almost going into the barriers haha. Thought about the championship and slowed down to take the points and P2. Good unexpected result, this being probably my weakest circuits on the cal. Still more to improve in the consistency, being 39 seconds away from the lead was not ideal. Congrats to Karl masterclass from him.
Happy to get closer to P2 and P3 in the standings but annoyed to have caused a contact in lap 1, don´t like to take people out and always try to be careful and respectful in wheel to wheel racing so taking notes to avoid it next time. Top 4´s in 5 of the last 6 races have given me some confidence at there is more to come, that win in Monza feels like ages ago, will try to go one better at Hockenheim. Congrats to all on again a very close qualy.
Cheers.
- Bryan -
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Post by iang0355 on Apr 18, 2021 22:12:50 GMT
Q 8th
S 7th
F 3rd
Not much to say about qualifying here. Just managed to squeak into the 29s at the end but it still wasn't enough to make it off the final spot. No matter what I did to this car through practice sessions, I couldn't find much single lap pace. Seems like I've usually got a good quali car and a shit racecar or the other way around as of late
Sprint race was heartbreaking to say the least. After the big incident at the start I made it up to P3 and knew I had a hell of a racecar to challenge for another podium and was easily keeping or exceeding Rich's pace but ADHD poked it's head out and I just couldn't keep my focus, not sure what happened but my head wasn't where it needed to be. Missing braking points, apexes, all sorts of crap. I just couldn't regain my focus and it ended with a spin at tamborella. Didn't collect anyone and kept my wings intact luckily, and started making ground again towards the end but it was too little too late. Great stuff from Will, Rich and Dave, all of you had great pace.
In the feature, I got a hell of a getaway and managed to get Karl around the outside and pull away slightly but the car was twitchy on full fuel so he came back for me sooner than later. Add in a couple more mistakes and I was eventually in I think 6th or 5th behind Dave. As incidents happened we were in 3rd and 4th respectively and he dove in early for the pits, considered going the next lap but the car was coming into it's own so I went on for about 4 laps. Nailed the strategy call/setup and came out about 3-5 seconds up in 3rd I believe and just kept on going. Had a challenge from Rich for a little while but he fell back and ran with Dave for the second half.
With a few minutes left I went deep at T1 and had an excursion through the gravel, losing a good 6 seconds to Dave and Rich but their incident a few laps later brought me back up to where I was and it was a cruise home for my first feature race podium.
Great stuff from Karl in the second race, another clinic from him, good race for Bryan and thanks to everyone for the comments at the end, I really appreciated it. Unfortunately I had managed to mute my mic somehow and couldn't properly thank you all, probably for the better though as you didn't have to listen to me screaming like an idiot as I crossed the line!
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Post by wonkamandan on Apr 19, 2021 6:40:23 GMT
Oh boy where to start...
This is prob one of my fav circuits having raced here In a charity sim racing event for 24hrs through day snd night. My pace in practice well the two small times I managed to get would of easily put me on the front row however a solid week of job interview after job interview far and wide killed any real practice. My wife also decided Saturday would be the day to go visit family in Southampton 165 miles away, so my prep was 6-7hrs driving and we got home around 7pm and I was knackered.
Onto the race....
Qualy- think I was 6th I literally couldn’t get the start of the lap right was almost a second down in the bits I’m normally good at, my best lap was the first lap
I did on cold tyres and I did mistake after mistake and it’s worse when you start a lap and see 1.5s up and can’t finish it 🤬🤬 this happened all
Of quali.
Sprint - it was over before it began- during the run down to the first corner someone hit me in the rear and I had instant 100% damage on rear so no rear wing (again). Safety car was called and I tried to make it back but the car was so so bad I spun again and lost the front wing 😞 made it back and all the damaged cars got out and I still had over half to repair, by the time the race restarted I was still 20s off the pack. Only managed to get 6th due to Karl and Ian’s misfortunes.
Feature race- another shit show at the start, I’m beginning to hate the start on the feature due to the way I feel some are getting mega starts and I wondering if I’m too honest with the go go ? Anyway run down to first corner ones mid pack snd not sure how but in turn 3 will collided with my side causing mega front damage and then I carried on trying to get to at least a good pit window but about 5 corners later Rich dive bombed me and overtook and took slightly more of my wing off again. Tried to drive round with 30ish damage for A few laps but was pointless.
Decided to pit and put some fresh tyres on but watching the pack drive by while sat repairing is becoming a horrible feeling it’s like you watch the victory go past.
Went back out car had mega pace but I had no heart again at one point I did come out in front
Of Bryan and thought I’ll push a little to see if I was even in the hunt had things been different and for 3 laps I could easily stay ahead so the pace was def there. I eventually pulled over and let Bryan past and just drive the lonely laps home.
All in all another disaster 4 races in a row I’ve had collisions when I’m trying to not be anywhere near people. I literally powered down the console afterwoods and just thought what a waste of my life....
I’m gonna have a think about hockenheim see if I can stomach another round as I’m losing heart lately. It may just be me but the starts are becoming crazy like everyone wants to win in corner one it’s prob just bad luck but it really is a gut killer knowing another weekend wasted.
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Post by niblips on Apr 19, 2021 13:05:57 GMT
Q - 1
S - last
F - first
Quali was fun in the fog. It's harder to see your brake markers. 1:28.6 was almost a PB. I had a 1:28.4 earlier in the day but couldn't replicate it online.
Sprint race - Had a poor start and found myself on the inside going into the first turn. Thought i was giving enough space for others but i got tangled with Dave and went into the gravel. I thought i hadn't taken any damage so when others went ahead to the pits to repair I stayed out. Then, just as we were set to go green, i noticed i had some rear wing damage. When we got going full speed i could feel it was effecting my driving so rather than try to fight with it for the race i decided to pit. That effectively put me last but gave me lots of clean air to put in the fastest lap of the race 1:29.479
Feature race was better. Had a decent start and didn't make any mistakes. Started with 80L of fuel and prettymuch stayed out until i couldn't go any further on it. Pitted for another 60L on lap 24 and then tried to set the fast lap as Peter had said it was only a 1:30.3. Put in some quick times and did a solid run of 7 or 8 laps in the 29s but untimely it wasn't enough because Will had set a 1:28.8. Great lap Will.
Looking forward to the next race. Maybe it'll offer some better racing. We had excellent close racing in Nürburgring, but i did see much of that here in Imola.
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Post by XRF Lemarrrr on Apr 19, 2021 16:56:42 GMT
Q - 1 S - last F - first Quali was fun in the fog. It's harder to see your brake markers. 1:28.6 was almost a PB. I had a 1:28.4 earlier in the day but couldn't replicate it online. Sprint race - Had a poor start and found myself on the inside going into the first turn. Thought i was giving enough space for others but i got tangled with Dave and went into the gravel. I thought i hadn't taken any damage so when others went ahead to the pits to repair I stayed out. Then, just as we were set to go green, i noticed i had some rear wing damage. When we got going full speed i could feel it was effecting my driving so rather than try to fight with it for the race i decided to pit. That effectively put me last but gave me lots of clean air to put in the fastest lap of the race 1:29.479 Feature race was better. Had a decent start and didn't make any mistakes. Started with 80L of fuel and prettymuch stayed out until i couldn't go any further on it. Pitted for another 60L on lap 24 and then tried to set the fast lap as Peter had said it was only a 1:30.3. Put in some quick times and did a solid run of 7 or 8 laps in the 29s but untimely it wasn't enough because Will had set a 1:28.8. Great lap Will. Looking forward to the next race. Maybe it'll offer some better racing. We had excellent close racing in Nürburgring, but i did see much of that here in Imola. I agree, the circuit is very narrow and doesn’t really promote good racing, Hockenhiem should be much better |
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Post by XRF HammerPH on Apr 19, 2021 17:50:05 GMT
Weird night for me..
Qualifying 6th 1:29.385
Sprint 5th
Feature 7th
Quali was ok but I expected to be in the 1:28's and after my early run I just never was able to hook it up for some reason. Regularly up until Variante Alta but it kept slipping away there or over the final two corners of the lap.
Sprint race was solid enough but I could feel the grip was way different to my practice race early in the week. Then I was consistently in the 29's and able to push throughout but Saturday it just felt on edge and I couldn't even get in the 30's. After I had a moment on lap 7 when close behind Bryan I decided to just play it safe and bring the car home for the 5th place points. Every lap then was within a few tenths and knowing Karl had the pole and fastest lap points in the bag it was important to keep in those double digit points to minimise the damage from Will and Rich's one/two performance.
Feature race started well and once we got past Ian we were running one/two and were looking good. Coming across a slow car on the start finish straight made us both jump off the throttle and that allowed Bryan to close up and start to put in a challenge so I was content to just let Karl pull away and play the rear gunner. Then that strange incident happened on lap 6. Taking my usual line through the Tamburello chicane the car suddenly snapped sideways and on my screen Bryan then smashed full speed into my side. I got thrown up in the air and way back onto the gravel and he managed to get back on track and get back under way. I assumed he was in his way to the pits so was amazed when he reported no contact!! I had full aero damage plus major suspension damage too and limped my way back to the pits. After my long stop I rejoined in 7th place just over 11 seconds behind Dan with him needing another pit stop. Initially I was going to go the distance so took it easy for a while to save the tyres but then decided that I could close him down and either get past on track or in the pit stops. Over the next half a dozen laps I dropped the gap down to just over 3 seconds without having to push too hard but then going into Tosa on lap 19 the car snapped again and and I spun and ended up in the wall. Another trip to the pits and this time a 4 minute stop meant any thoughts of taking 6th place were gone. Wills bad start meant I was still ahead of him when I came out and I just concentrated on coming home with the 6 points. The handing was awful for the rest of the race and more spins ensued but not enough to bring the place under threat.
No idea what went wrong here in the feature in particular but onwards and upwards to Hockenheim.
The constructors looked like it might get a bit closer after that sprint race double for our nearest rivals but we ended up in an even stronger position. Losing just 7 points was well short of what Panasonic needed to put the pressure on. Six races left and an average of 11+ points advantage per race needed for them for that title to slip away from us. They're on a roll but we know exactly what is needed and look forward to the the run in.
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