16-06-2014, 11:22 AM
After a terrible weekend at Monza, Malaysia was the next race in line.
Didn't have much practice and my only practice laps were on a more or less green track where I had to fight to manage a 2:19.X. So when I checked the live timing before yesterdays race and saw the fastest lap being a 2:10.X I wasn't very optimistic. Malaysia not being one of my favorites didn't help either. Joined sever at the end of practice session and asked for setup and my teammate (David Hart) was so nice to send me his. Also somone else sent his setup, but can't remember who (sorry /: ) , but thanks
David's setup was awesome and really suited my style of driving. It was so much fun going round that I even started to like Malaysia
So big thanks to David!
First lap being a 2:14.2 restored my confidence and managed a 2:12.2 at the end which put me in 5. spot, right in front of my teammate, so great Qualy for Team SpRindt!.
The feeling of the car and my pace in Qualy made me optimistic for the race too.
1. Race
Lost some places at start and found myself behind my teammate. Lot of fights going on in first lap and going into last turn I tried to overtake my teammate who went a bit wide. I chose a tight line but didn't anticipate the lack of grip I would find on the inside of the turn. Lost car under acceleration which send me into the inside wall doing damage to suspension. So went for early pit-stop but soon realised I didn't make myself familiar with pit-entry. Missed it once driving in no-man's-land and second attempt wasn't good either but at least I managed to pit. 78secs due to damage. Tried to do some good laps afterwards which I manged ok, having a few mistakes. Found myself behind Cosimo near end of race and due to him making a mistake I managed to get by in 12 spot. But he was right behind me going into last lap. Second corner he propably didn't think I would slow down that much and he touched my rear. Not much contact but just enough to send me spinning. He immediately stopped and waited for me to recover and let me retake the place, great move by Cosimo and big thanks :-*
So managed to get 12 place in the end, not really what I hoped for, but was fun nevertheless David made it to 6. place grabbing good points for our team! Well done teammate 8)
2. Race
Due to reversed grid not working for some reason I found myself in fourth place but with chatting going on if we start like this my concentration dropped. Moved car before green, not much but was expecting a jump-start penalty but I didn't get one. When it went green I totally messed up start giving drivers behind me hard time getting by, sorry guys /: Think my teammate was right behind me and he did great to avoid my slow car! Lot of fighting going on through first corners and I had a perfect view of David Coyne (I think) having a BIG slide at 6. corner which he managed to recover, well done 8). Fighting for position I lost another place and found myself behind slower cars. Not really confident with overtaking I decided to pit early and try to get some fast laps. Now one would assume I used Warm-Up of second race to make myself familiar with pit-entry. Well, I didn't ;D This struck me while driving towards last corner and yeah I missed pit-entry again, running in the gravel. Next lap I managed a (for my standard) perfect pit-entry, 48sec stop and a clean track in front of me. Now was the time to push and make up for the lost time. Succeeded in doing so until lap 8 where I lost the rear of car going into turn 12 and had to run real wide, cost me a few seconds. But got back to speed right away and due to other drivers doing there pitstop gained back position after position. Found myself behind my teammate after he recovered from an incident going into turn 1. He pitted at the end of the lap and I once again had a clear track in front of me. Edwin got out ~4s behind me after his pit-stop, him being the guy in front of me before my pit-stop so it seemed that my strategy had worked. At this point I found myself in 5. place 18s behind DJC. Him having a drive-through the gap went down to 5s but I never found myself in position to challenge him. So 5. place in the end a bit disappointment as I probably could have made it to 4. without pit-entry mistake and going wide. But happy to get some points in at least
Thanks Paul for hosting and I have to say I'm really impressed by the level of awareness for other cars shown throughout the race and especially first few corners! Great stuff
And one other thing that impresses me every time is watching the fast guys (Rikard, Robert, Marcel (hope he will be back soon) and so on) doing their qualy-laps. They look so at ease with the car, not fighting it, calm driving but impressively fast! Awesome guys
Didn't have much practice and my only practice laps were on a more or less green track where I had to fight to manage a 2:19.X. So when I checked the live timing before yesterdays race and saw the fastest lap being a 2:10.X I wasn't very optimistic. Malaysia not being one of my favorites didn't help either. Joined sever at the end of practice session and asked for setup and my teammate (David Hart) was so nice to send me his. Also somone else sent his setup, but can't remember who (sorry /: ) , but thanks
David's setup was awesome and really suited my style of driving. It was so much fun going round that I even started to like Malaysia
So big thanks to David!First lap being a 2:14.2 restored my confidence and managed a 2:12.2 at the end which put me in 5. spot, right in front of my teammate, so great Qualy for Team SpRindt!.
The feeling of the car and my pace in Qualy made me optimistic for the race too.
1. Race
Lost some places at start and found myself behind my teammate. Lot of fights going on in first lap and going into last turn I tried to overtake my teammate who went a bit wide. I chose a tight line but didn't anticipate the lack of grip I would find on the inside of the turn. Lost car under acceleration which send me into the inside wall doing damage to suspension. So went for early pit-stop but soon realised I didn't make myself familiar with pit-entry. Missed it once driving in no-man's-land and second attempt wasn't good either but at least I managed to pit. 78secs due to damage. Tried to do some good laps afterwards which I manged ok, having a few mistakes. Found myself behind Cosimo near end of race and due to him making a mistake I managed to get by in 12 spot. But he was right behind me going into last lap. Second corner he propably didn't think I would slow down that much and he touched my rear. Not much contact but just enough to send me spinning. He immediately stopped and waited for me to recover and let me retake the place, great move by Cosimo and big thanks :-*
So managed to get 12 place in the end, not really what I hoped for, but was fun nevertheless
David made it to 6. place grabbing good points for our team! Well done teammate 8)2. Race
Due to reversed grid not working for some reason I found myself in fourth place but with chatting going on if we start like this my concentration dropped. Moved car before green, not much but was expecting a jump-start penalty but I didn't get one. When it went green I totally messed up start giving drivers behind me hard time getting by, sorry guys /: Think my teammate was right behind me and he did great to avoid my slow car! Lot of fighting going on through first corners and I had a perfect view of David Coyne (I think) having a BIG slide at 6. corner which he managed to recover, well done 8). Fighting for position I lost another place and found myself behind slower cars. Not really confident with overtaking I decided to pit early and try to get some fast laps. Now one would assume I used Warm-Up of second race to make myself familiar with pit-entry. Well, I didn't ;D This struck me while driving towards last corner and yeah I missed pit-entry again, running in the gravel. Next lap I managed a (for my standard) perfect pit-entry, 48sec stop and a clean track in front of me. Now was the time to push and make up for the lost time. Succeeded in doing so until lap 8 where I lost the rear of car going into turn 12 and had to run real wide, cost me a few seconds. But got back to speed right away and due to other drivers doing there pitstop gained back position after position. Found myself behind my teammate after he recovered from an incident going into turn 1. He pitted at the end of the lap and I once again had a clear track in front of me. Edwin got out ~4s behind me after his pit-stop, him being the guy in front of me before my pit-stop so it seemed that my strategy had worked. At this point I found myself in 5. place 18s behind DJC. Him having a drive-through the gap went down to 5s but I never found myself in position to challenge him. So 5. place in the end a bit disappointment as I probably could have made it to 4. without pit-entry mistake and going wide. But happy to get some points in at least
Thanks Paul for hosting and I have to say I'm really impressed by the level of awareness for other cars shown throughout the race and especially first few corners! Great stuff
And one other thing that impresses me every time is watching the fast guys (Rikard, Robert, Marcel (hope he will be back soon) and so on) doing their qualy-laps. They look so at ease with the car, not fighting it, calm driving but impressively fast! Awesome guys