17-06-2013, 08:26 AM
Qualy
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Very difficult to do a clean lap, it was bails and white poles everywhere the whole session. Managed a 43.7 which put me second even being a second slower than my best in the first sector. Anyway it was the same for everyone and I was relieved to be in the first raw.
Race1
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Not the best of starts (uncomfortable holding brake and throtle at the same time) but going safe through the first curves. Bart started strong but he pulled away a little leaving the classic threesome in the front. I tried to take it easy these first laps until we could build a gap to the others. Just kept avoiding risks behind DjC and Marcel's slipstream until when approaching the end of the second lap a bad coincidence took place. Nikos was recovering from and accident in a trafficless area and returning to track when we three appeared at very high speeds. Marcel and DjC took the worst and crashed into Nikos. I was lucky to enter the smoke cloud and leave unhurt. That brought me to the lead at what seemed to be a comfortable race on my own.
At the end of lap 3 I went for my scheduled pitstop. I entered the pits slowly enough, took 49 sec to change tires and refuel, and did not go over 100km/h untill way far from the orange line, but unexpectedly I got a speed penalty.
That was really annoying.
I saw DC was 5 seconds behind. I suppossed he had already done his pitstop (as he had) so I thought I really had to push to increase that gap if I wanted to have a chance after my future drive through the pits. Pushing harder and being a little disconcentrated after that speed penalty caused me to lose control and crash, losing a rear wheel and therefore retiring. >
Race 2
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Starting at third row I did a clean start and I was able to overtake a couple of guys who did start quite slowly. I was behind George after Eau Reouge. Being close to him I was expecting he could do an early braking but I didn't expect such an early one, I think we hadn't even pass the 200m marker (I don't have the replay after my CTD so I can't confirm it). Tried to avoid him through the left but my right front wheel touched his left rear and I ended in several spins through the grass.
Luckily I survived that and returned to the track in a surprissing thrid place behind Jesus and JP. Car was a little damaged but was still stable and driveable at high speeds so I decided to switch "Do not repair" to avoid extra time at the pits.
At lap 2 I catched Jesus who went a little wide at one of the final curves and overtook him there. At Lap 3 I reached JP and overtook him using his slipstream. We then both entered the pits together. My pitstop took 48 seconds and we both left the pits really carefully starting to accelerate really late. No penalties this time and time to push to make a gap to JP and end up winning at least one of the 3 races here.
Had a CTD when race ended.
Race 3
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Starting at the penultimate row, I went to the right side to avoid trouble. Keeping other cars' position in mind I went through T1 when I realised J Cook was there and crashed into him getting severe damage. After later watching the replay I saw John was recovering from a crash with DjC and that explained why I was unaware of him being there. Car was hardly driveable, trying to return to pits battling with the wheel at a medium speed. I saw a lot of cars at the sides so I guessed many were crashing too.
As I knew my pitstop was going to take really long I decided to set no refueling. That's when I realised I was in default setup and already driving a car full of fuel (After my previus CTD I had forgotten to reload my setup).
Car wandering constantly I lost control of it close to the end of the lap having my right front wheel being ripped into a fence. As I was close to the pits I managed to get there safely and do my pitstop which took 304 seconds. Even had to shut off my engine to prevent overheating.
After that, I went back on track and had to deal with a default setup car. Car was understeery, locking front wheels constantly and behaving uneasy at fast bumpy curves. Timing 3:53s was the best I could get in this setup, just making it to the end in 7th place.
It really feels great winning here, such a challenging beatifull track.
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Very difficult to do a clean lap, it was bails and white poles everywhere the whole session. Managed a 43.7 which put me second even being a second slower than my best in the first sector. Anyway it was the same for everyone and I was relieved to be in the first raw.
Race1
-------
Not the best of starts (uncomfortable holding brake and throtle at the same time) but going safe through the first curves. Bart started strong but he pulled away a little leaving the classic threesome in the front. I tried to take it easy these first laps until we could build a gap to the others. Just kept avoiding risks behind DjC and Marcel's slipstream until when approaching the end of the second lap a bad coincidence took place. Nikos was recovering from and accident in a trafficless area and returning to track when we three appeared at very high speeds. Marcel and DjC took the worst and crashed into Nikos. I was lucky to enter the smoke cloud and leave unhurt. That brought me to the lead at what seemed to be a comfortable race on my own.
At the end of lap 3 I went for my scheduled pitstop. I entered the pits slowly enough, took 49 sec to change tires and refuel, and did not go over 100km/h untill way far from the orange line, but unexpectedly I got a speed penalty.
That was really annoying.
I saw DC was 5 seconds behind. I suppossed he had already done his pitstop (as he had) so I thought I really had to push to increase that gap if I wanted to have a chance after my future drive through the pits. Pushing harder and being a little disconcentrated after that speed penalty caused me to lose control and crash, losing a rear wheel and therefore retiring. >
Race 2
--------
Starting at third row I did a clean start and I was able to overtake a couple of guys who did start quite slowly. I was behind George after Eau Reouge. Being close to him I was expecting he could do an early braking but I didn't expect such an early one, I think we hadn't even pass the 200m marker (I don't have the replay after my CTD so I can't confirm it). Tried to avoid him through the left but my right front wheel touched his left rear and I ended in several spins through the grass.
Luckily I survived that and returned to the track in a surprissing thrid place behind Jesus and JP. Car was a little damaged but was still stable and driveable at high speeds so I decided to switch "Do not repair" to avoid extra time at the pits.
At lap 2 I catched Jesus who went a little wide at one of the final curves and overtook him there. At Lap 3 I reached JP and overtook him using his slipstream. We then both entered the pits together. My pitstop took 48 seconds and we both left the pits really carefully starting to accelerate really late. No penalties this time and time to push to make a gap to JP and end up winning at least one of the 3 races here.
Had a CTD when race ended.
Race 3
--------
Starting at the penultimate row, I went to the right side to avoid trouble. Keeping other cars' position in mind I went through T1 when I realised J Cook was there and crashed into him getting severe damage. After later watching the replay I saw John was recovering from a crash with DjC and that explained why I was unaware of him being there. Car was hardly driveable, trying to return to pits battling with the wheel at a medium speed. I saw a lot of cars at the sides so I guessed many were crashing too.
As I knew my pitstop was going to take really long I decided to set no refueling. That's when I realised I was in default setup and already driving a car full of fuel (After my previus CTD I had forgotten to reload my setup).
Car wandering constantly I lost control of it close to the end of the lap having my right front wheel being ripped into a fence. As I was close to the pits I managed to get there safely and do my pitstop which took 304 seconds. Even had to shut off my engine to prevent overheating.
After that, I went back on track and had to deal with a default setup car. Car was understeery, locking front wheels constantly and behaving uneasy at fast bumpy curves. Timing 3:53s was the best I could get in this setup, just making it to the end in 7th place.
It really feels great winning here, such a challenging beatifull track.
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