Well done to
@Ozglenn,
@F1R3W1ND and @SPMotorNZ on their win and podium finish. Judging by the party chat it was a close one. This matches nicely to the results above. 7s seperating
@Ozglenn and 6th.
Qual
As normal, got a low qualification spot, even with a PB of nearly a second off my time. Qual'ed 12th from 13th racers.
Race
We started and when the race screen popped up, we heard the infamous connect / disconnection sound from someone joining or disconnecting from the room.
@LITTLEBLACKO942 had lost his connection to the room.
We restarted, manually reordered the grid (which gave me the chance to put the right tires on
), then gave it another shot. By the end of the first straight
@LITTLEBLACKO942 had dc'ed again. We decided to continue.
Kudos to all, We survived the first corner!! So much better than last week.
I kept my position, however I reached for my mike to turn it off or on to discuss if we were going to reset again or continue at the top of the hill climb and lost control of my wheel, slamming into the wall.
Into last I go...
From here I just settled down into my laps and started to make some ground.
@incey had an off (1 of many by the times above
) and I made some ground to
@Se7endan ,
@Hihatjoe,
@COME_AND_GET_ME7 through various off's they had all experienced.
Around lap 8 I started to see people pit and this got me thinking about a different strategy.
My original strategy of a 1 pit stop (RH, RM) seemed like the best way to go, however as time went on and I neared the mid point, I changed strategy and pitted on Lap 15.
Took RM for a 7 lap stint and then went like a bat out of hell. Got my best time of 1.25.000 just after and kept those times cranking, not losing but not really gaining.
After a few laps I started to see the gains and I remember having a good little battle with
@COME_AND_GET_ME7 and
@Se7endan at various points. I took both of them, but since I was on RM, I knew that I needed to pit again.
Pitted on 22 for another set of wheels and a spot of fuel to ensure coverage and
@Se7endan overtook me just as I was entering the exit lane.
Kept on him for the lap and he had an off on the next.
I saw the gap to
@Hihatjoe and
@Luke was 6s+ and was OK with that as I had clean air front and behind.
Through low fuel and fresh wheels, I smashed out the laps.
I found a groove where this car on low fuel and fresh wheels it just sings.
I noticed that with 2 - 3 laps to go that I had narrowed the gap to
@Hihatjoe to ~2s and could visually see the gains. I started to throw the car around the track by this point, attempting to maximise my advantage of fresh wheels and low fuel and this paid off as I caught them 3/4 through the final lap.
Sadly, it was a matter of too little too late as I just couldn't pass on the final stretch to nab a slightly higher position.
Would a 3 stop made a difference... We might never know..
Anyhow, Wall of text finished.
Looking forward to the next track. Dragon Trail.
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