GT6 HI-TEC OILS Super GT Series Bronze

My race was a little lonely at times as I ran at the rear of the field for most of the race. Had good scraps with Mario and then with CAGM at the end. They both were about a second to a second and a half quicker than me but they kept falling back into my clutches at various points in the race.

You have given myself and CAGM one too many points, I was 11th and CAGM 12th, that should be 5 and 4 points. Pykey would be 3 points plus his pole bonus.

I am upset I forgot to save the replay, because excuse me for tooting my own horn but I was awesome that race. The RX7 was absolutely hopeless on the straights but a demon on the brakes and mid corner. Somehow TTR_joe90 made the skyline run long and took away the advantage I had running long. Qualified 6th to my surprise just behind Hatfield in another rx7 but was unable to better my time in q2 probably should have stayed on the tyres I was on, because even when my fronts were down to 6/7 my rears were still on 9's. Great battles early on, tanktek was always threatening me in the mirrors while I tried my hardest to move up the field. Flashfirst did his best to stay ahead but in both stints made little mistakes to let me through. Saw pykey's last straw just before he bailed out in frustration. Had a great dice with SPL early too, taking full advantage of my weight advantage on the brakes into the turns, then getting retaken on the straights. I wish I had the replay because I think he ran wide onto the start straight and fell back but I can't remember exactly. I remember watching joe90 pull away into the distance in the final stages, and WTF dropping back towards me. I looked at the timer and saw 6 mins left and realised that it was gonna come down to the wire, which it did. 2nd last lap I was looking for a weakness while still ready to pounce if the door opened. I had the advantage at turn 3 and through s-curve and into v-corner. Final lap and I was right there, so much so that WTF was hugging the walls to keep me from his slipstream. A pointless exercise as the Mazda gained no advantage from the slipstream unless it was behind another Mazda. Turn 1-2 I was able to get good drive while WTF stuck to the centre. I jammed on the brakes and watched WTF go very deep and I was at his inside rear wheel as he started to turn in so I had to knock another 5 k's off to avoid turning him around. We bumped with a loud thump anyway but he pulled out without any drama. Another dive at turn 5 as WTF was desperately trying to stay ahead, running deep again but I was only able to ride his bumper on the way out through the tunnel. Up to S-curve and got my usual good run into first part, then right on his bumper again exiting the second part, and again he took a defensive line down the middle of the track, but this time I was really close enough to have a good crack, so I hugged the inside and jammed on the brakes. I was momentarily ahead but we were both ghosted on the same part of the apex, and the bmw just drove out ahead. That was my last real chance for a pass, and I was praying he wouldn't realise and make a mistake. Despite his late braking, to WTF's credit, he stayed within control and held me out from my desperate dives. Through the final chicane though, a glimmer of hope as he was a little slow onto the straight, but again he hugged the wall, actually losing drive from swerving over, and again I closed a little but not quite enough, missing a podium by .2 of a second.

Well done to AOCleaner for a brilliant win, and also to joe90 and WTF for the final podium places.

I still feel the RX7 needs maybe 5% more power but my result suggests that it's actually pretty spot on. Even with my power penalty from my 4th placing, I think Spa is gonna show the Mazda's true advantage more than Motegi could, and am really looking forward to it. I hope we can get the same size grid again that was freaking awesome with all the different cars and sounds and different advantages/disadvantages.

Thanx Gary.

Table is in next post, S54VED has moved up three places.

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