Division 3 - Season 6

Sorry about the start @Ad2mny, didn't mean to squeeze you out like that.
@Anthonyb got a blinder of a start and had the inside cut off, then @VARDZ was directly in front of me and the only place I could see a gap was to the left, so started creeping that way trying to leave a car width for whoever was on my left.
That video from @Bounty05 shows me trying to force you off, but that was never my intention.

Qualifying, thought I'd place around 6th or 7th but managed a low 55 on my last flying lap somehow to be best of the rest in 4th.
Before jumping on tonight, I figured a 5th or 6th place would be my target for the race. To get 3rd was a bonus (even if it was partly due to @VARDZ misfortune.. ).
Once the first lap mayhem cleared, I found myself in 2nd. @dj2ca in 3rd and eventually closing in on me.
Didn't put up much of a fight as I knew he had the pace on me and thought maybe he could drag me close to the front.
Managed to stick to his butt for a number of laps due to some uncharacteristic sloppy driving on his half, but he eventually settled down and started pulling away.
Sat lonely in 3rd for a bit until I could see @Bounty05 in my rearview mirrors.
He put the pressure on me, but I was able to maintain composure and keep him behind while the gap see sawed up and down. Eventually he pitted and that gave me more of an idea on who was behind him and the gap I had.
Kept an eye on the minimap to try and gauge where Bounty came out and saw that he was fighting with a small pack, so did what I could to up the pace and then pitted a few laps from the end.
This worked out extremely well as I exited the pits about 3 seconds in front of @webnomad with @Bounty05 and @Anthonyb all fighting for position.
Had a massive moment Curva Grande when I was hugging the inside line way too tight and the front right touched the grass.
Almost spat me out sideways but caught the slide and kept it planted.

All in all, a great 3rd place to cap off a great weekend.

Edit: Couldn't see any smoke from Col.

yes... you kept me honest to the end

No nothing from him at all and I was right behind you.

I had the same issue with Jim in a practice race..,no one else saw the smoke and I was driving through a dozen smoke grenades
Think it's just a poor connection between the two drivers involved

I was catching you for the first half of the race but had to pit to get out of the tyre smoke. a few laps later after the pits I was once again slowly catching you but eventually ran out of laps. Awesome race though. WD.

You had great pace mate.
I was thinking of pitting, but had no idea how far back the guys behind you were, and didn't want to get stuck behind them.
Was waiting to see whether you'd pit or not, and to my luck you did.
After not seeing your name behind me, I figured you got out of the pits battling, and it looks like my gamble paid off

Just wondering about Spa this weekend, seeing as though the first stint will be in the wet, does that mean qualifying will be wet?

Yep, qualifying will be in the wet.

This will be very interesting.....

Indeed. It's a handful in the wet at first but you'll get used to it. Gotta be careful because the rears will really heat up.

Thanks for the run

Good to have you on board mate.

All good mate, it didn't hurt me too badly in the end. Was thinking wtf at the time though!

Not great. I would make up ground then have an off. Gotta work on consistency. The sierra is a handful

Got 6th in qualifying got an absolute flyer off the start came to turn 1 in 2nd got tapped from behind giving @dj2ca a tap as well came out of the mess in 2nd and started the chase only to miss my brake marker by 2 meters at the next chicane running wide and 5 sec penalty back to 6th. Started following @BLUEBOUNTY stuff a bit busy thought I would pit early and get some clean track. This worked and set some consistent .54 laps. With pit stops starting to happen from about lap 10 i started to climb back up from 10th and got back to 5th with a few good battles with @bluebounty @webnomad.
Congratulations to @rossi0nsx @dj2ca and @ranok3n on the podium.

Can I just make mention that you can't win the race in turn 1 if you are behind the pack get out of the throttle early and roll into the corner you really won't loise much or anytime being patient.
See you on the track next week bring your rain jacket

Couldn't agree more. That first chicane was awful. I've had a look at the start from bounty's highlight reel and can see It was a concertina effect: Ad hit ranoken, ranoken hit you, and in turn you hit me. You can't win the race at turn 1 but you can definitely ruin someone's race. Not your fault at all mate, just got caught up in the mess.

Apologies for absence once again, but family comes first. I think I've managed to sort of all my family dramas for now, and I should be back on track for next week. Looks like there was a good race last night, real shame i couldn't be there as Monza is one of my personal favourite tracks, and a place i love racing around.

Hopefully see you all next week!