SR4L F1 League Race Reports Rnd 11 Putnam Park

[Lecram]

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[Txus]

Hi all, pole?

Qualy: really happy, did a 1:09:25 very close to my pb and several 1:09:3xx.

first race:
very nervous at the start, during the week wasn't able to do a clean start. After 3 laps chasing Hectari nervousness went away Hectari also went away...well, wide on a corner and I passed him. That was not the best thing to keep calm, Hectari is able to brake very late on every corner so it was not easy to have him behind. He did another mistake and that made my life easier for a while, I was driving alone several laps before my pit stop and after...but Hectari showed again and I was not able to hold him. Two laps to go and he overtook me. 6th, not bad.

Second race:
The weirdest thing happened. I am the worst driver ever on the the starts but when already in second gear, on the rubbered side of the track I had to hold the throtle a bit too much because Mel in front didn't accelerate. Why Mel? Several drivers passed us on the green side of the track...and then, in T1 something happened, didn't see anything but felt a bump. Front suspension damage, tried to go on, a couple turns later, I had to brake too early and someone bumped me from behind (Marcel I think) and I was sent out of the track. More suspension damage, on the rear this time.
I was able to get back in the track in last position. Tried to be focused but couldn't avoid some mistakes. I catched Mel at some point, he did some direction changes and I thought he was in trouble, so I tried to take the inside, bad decision, I bumped and sent him away, sorry about that Mel.
Then I saw Nikos spinning on the track in front of me but I didn't have anywhere to go (had some drivers right behind) I hit Nikos and I was bumped again from behind...undrivable car this time, entered the pits, 110 seconds, not too bad, back on the track, finished two laps behind.

I like this track but I think I had some bad luck on second race shit happens, right?

[Hedlund]

[big]QUALI[/big]
I knew it was going to be really tight in the top, and that it also could be hard to find room for hotlaps. I was first to leave pits and my first laptime was 1:07.7. Only 3 tenths slower than my PB, so that was a good start. But then I couldn't improve it. The track felt less grippy than in practice. I was trying low fuel, and race fuel but I couldn't improve. Marcel was only 0.08 slower than me, I think, and he could improve anytime. So it wasn't good enough for pole. Towards the end, I finally managed to improve to a high 1:07.5. It was just a little slower than my PB, and luckily enough to put me in pole position for 6th time in a row. And for this track it was really important.

[big]RACE 1[/big]
A good start for me, and I think Marcel was busy trying to hold Robert or DJ behind so I instantly got a small gap. No one breathing down my neck as expected, and that really helped me to relax and concentrate on putting in some fast laps. My two first flying laps was both 1:07.7 and I think my four first laps were all below 1:08, so that was a really good start for me and I saw the gap increase. The rest of my first stint was low and mid 1:08's and when my pitstop arrived I had a quite comfortable gap. I saw Marcel pitting the same lap as me, end of lap 13, and I left pit with pretty much the same gap, I think. It was a good stop, 48 seconds. My second stint was mostly about lapping cars, and my laptimes were not very good, but I knew Marcel had to do the same so I was not very concerned about that. No problems and I finished 1st

[big]RACE 2[/big]
A good or a bad start, I don't know... All I knew was that I had Marcel on my left side and DJ right in front, and I was going to take it easy in T1. Unfortunately I had some bad luck when two or three cars in front collided and one of them spun and crashed into me. I was pushed out on the grass but quickly recovered. Maybe I lost 3-4 positions but towards the end of the lap I was already 6th again, behind Robert and Marcel. Robert made a bad exit at the final corner and lost all speed, so I could easily overtake him. Soon I was right behind Hectari in 3rd, who had already been passed by DJ and Marcel. I stayed behind him for one lap, and then he let me past or had a bad exit at final corner, I don't know. But I was 3rd and a a few seconds behind the leaders. Already a very good race, much better position than expected after only a few laps. But I decided to push and try to catch DJ and Marcel. Lap 8 I was right behind them and for the moment I was happy with that position. I was thinking about how to get past them... obviously pitting earlier or later. I still had quite good tires, so maybe the best thing had been to stay out a few more laps, but I decided to pit at the end of lap 12, if not both DJ and Marcel was going to do the same thing. Marcel did, but DJ continued one more lap. I braked a little too late for the pit entry and lost one second or two... Then I missed my pitspot just slightly (really bad brakes on these machines), and got a 49 sec stop. Marcel left pit before me and when trying to get away I had no gear (don't know what happened tbh), and lost maybe two more seconds. Joined track in front of Mel Fisk, and I took the defensive line for T1. But his speed was too high and he was first into T1. That first lap was really painful and I lost a lot of time Robert also got past me because of my bad pitstop. Next lap I managed to overtake Mel on the s/f straight, fortunately. I was a bit frustrated but continued to push. Soon, I catched Rob, and I decided to try to get past him as soon as possible. He made the same mistake in the final corner as last time, but not as bad this time, but I got slipstream on him and took the inside... However, he was still a little in front of me but for T1 he braked too late and slided out on the grass :-\ At the next corner one more surprise was waiting for me... DJ on the grass and I got past him too, and now I was 2nd. I couldn't see Marcel at all but after all a 2nd place was really, really good. With two more laps I touched the curb on the outside of the final corner and spun. But I only lost a few seconds and I could keep DJ behind... pheew : :-\


That final race was really action packed and very uncertain from start to finish. Very exciting
In summary, I lost race 2 in the pit... I was right behind Marcel but after my pitspot I was several seconds behind. Robert got past me, and Mel on old tires got past me too... That's where I lost the race. Fortunately 2nd place anyway

[edwin]

Qualy:

0:00:2 off my pb....not bad : Just like Rikard tried several fuel loads but couldn't improve. if i recall right start position 11.

Race 1:

After the start i was behind the complete Narts team who where pulling away at times but then again i managed to get back into the 2 exhaust pipes of Mel. Could do nice consistant laps without making to many mistakes. In lap 13 Mel went in for his stop and i was behind John and while pushing him he made some mistakes (i think due to worn out tires) and i overtook him putting me in 9th place. Made my stop in lap 15 and the pitcrew gave me a 48sec stop. rejoined behind Mel and in front of John. And that was to the end of the race. finished 9th and happy with that.

Race 2:

Second on the grid (omg :-[) on the green side of the track with all those fast guys behind........made me realy nervous :-[ :o
But i practised starting with Jesus last week and that payed off. Fell into the green light and managed to start without wheelspin so at turn 1 i was in front hehe ;D. In the mirror i saw Cosimo and John in some sort of crash and thought that it would make my race somewhat more easy because i thought i would get some gap. But knowing that made me more nervous as i was already because i wanted to drive as clean as i could but when you think to much about that you unfortunatly will make more mistakes than ever and so i did :'( leaving me in 6th place after 2 laps. Managed to stay there for the rest of the race with no danger from behind.

Happy with the result tho, VVV Team being 3rd now 8)

Great event again, trucks already loaded and on the way to Brianza 10k. Hope to see you all there

[DJCruicky]

Was a good night for me,
Qualified 4th. I knew I had no hope against Marcel and Rik. I had my sight on RobertH. I managed to overtake him off the line into 3rd. As Marcel and Rik disappeared off into the distance I managed to keep Robert behind on this hard to overtake track. At no point in the race did swap places, he had a go on last lap but failed. I good solid 3rd place for me,

Race 2, I was lucky to be in the fast right hand lane and overtook a few people. There were crashes in front, so I found myself 3rd already. Hectari let me passed easy (thank you). so coming up to Edwin. Edwin said in his report he was nervous (m8 you not get your pre-race 10 mins of boobies? ). So he makes a boob on track giving me his 1st place. Cheers
Was not long before Marcel was on my tail soon followed by RikH. I did a good job of holding them both behind me until the pits. I had planned to pit a lap before the one I did but I was thumberling with the pit request button, the computer must have already requested it for me so when I pressed it it un-requested my pits instead of requesting it. I only noticed 2 corners to the pits so had to do another lap. Marcel pitted while i was doing that lap and jumped me as i exited my pits. Maybe a blessing we never pitted together as my pit stop was right at the entrance of the pitlane and I have to brake a lot early to get on my spot, would Marcel have crashed into me?.
After all drivers pitted, found myself in 2nd, but lost that by driving off the track. Car got in a bit of a wobbe and I over corrected off the track. A Hedlund car overtook me, I thought it was Robert as he was behind me, but turned out to be Rik. Them 'R Hedlund' name tags always confuse me .
Finished 3rd, could have been 2nd, maybe even 1st if i pitted same lap as Marcel. Next time .

Thanks for hosting again Marcel.

[edwin]

m8 you not get your pre-race 10 mins of boobies? ).

I knew i forgot something

[jerry 33]

view from the back..

MAN - are you guys FAST.. wow
first race I was able to get a good start and coming out of turn one I found myself in 11th place, shorty after that I was spinning into the grass. got nudged I guess?? re-entered the race in last place and tried to stay out of everybody's way - hope I did
2nd race, I got up to 7th place with all the carnage in front of me, that's a good thing and bad! a lot of very good and very quick drivers behind me. I did my best to be Mark Weber, but ran out of talent (more than once) sorry Giorgio, I managed to bump you in the tight turn on the back of the course. you ran me clean - I appreciate that! alas, much to Giorgio delight I managed to go off into the haybails on turn one. bent the suspension, didn't want to try and limp to the pits and spoil any body's race so I clicked out.
I went inside the leaders cars (so, if you felt extra weight, it was me ;D) I can not believe you can get your cars to stick in the corners - if I did that - I would be in the haybails - hey wait, that IS where I went
congrats to the podiums - I am in awe