GT Sport Season 8 Division 2

That first turn at monza was taken to perfection my friend! I actually lol’d

I told you rode it hard

Man, speeded up those cars sound like the F1 cars of old.

Close your eyes and you don't have to look at a goofy beetle too

Hey

Don't worry Jono, it's still better looking than that volkwagon vision gt3 monstrosity

What an eventful race!
Qualified 2nd last but I had trouble throughout the session trying to find my groove. A practice session during the week saw me get a personal best in the mid high 52s. Here at quali i failed miserably and i think i had to settle with a low 53.

Grid start. Started cautiously and without incident but maybe too cautiously as i lost a place in the first set of corners.
Then made a slight mistake coming onto the back straight and went a little wide and lost all my momentum as luurox was lagging all over the place. Was quite hard behind him trying to stay focused. This meant I already started to lose touch of the pack by a good few seconds. Not an ideal start at all now. But it was a good focus adjustor as i set my sights firmly on catching the cars in front of me. Bluemoon? Had an incident with Lux i think (my memory isn't great) into the downhill hairpin. Up two places but my focus was still to catch the battling pack ahead of me. Lux shortly disconnected as it definitely looked like he was having connection issues.

Finally started to find my groove and lap by lap i started to catch whiz and nitro. All the while bluemoon was catching myself. I think by lap 6 or 7 I caght them but bluemoon had just latched onto me also. I and bluemoon had a great run onto pit straight. We went 3 wide into the first corner with i think whiz? (Again my memory is rusty lol). I was the tasty meat in the sandwich and I came out the worst behind everyone as i had to try and stay neat and tidy between two cars in that tight sector. Well done to all there. Very clean.

This started the epic battle between myself nitro and whiz. Probably to the delight of Bluemoon who happily pulled away from the close fought battle. I made a pretty lame attempt at a pass on whiz into the 4th corner. I thought i could squeeze my nose into the apex as everyone goes pretty wide early there. But kinda didn't get far enough ahead and whiz turned into me. I pushed him wide a bit. He was ok. I lost a position to Nitro. So karma all sorted out. For the next 6-7 laps we all sea sawed back and forth trying to get the upper hand as we were all better and worse in different parts of the track. My sector 1 was pretty strong but my sector 3 constantly let me down. Nitro had his wide load signage on. I could not find a way around. He defended like a champion. Whiz would have had a great laugh at all my failed attempts at getting passed nitro.

Again my memory isn't great but i think by lap 13/14 I had finally found a way through but Nitro was all over me back, and I knew come the pitstops i just may create a gap for breathing space between us as I had sneakily fuel saved on the straights if i knew i didn't have the legs for a lunge into the hairpin.

I think it was at lap 14/15 that Whiz got a great run onto the pit straight to take the inside of the hairpin to overtake Nitro. But I was already hitting the apex just in front of them. Whiz had nowhere to go and absolutely murdered me. Thus came the end of the amazing battle we were all having. Whiz thankfully waited for me while i figured out which way was up. I just managed to get going in front of emmo who just emerged from the pits and was probably hoping we wouldn't hold him up too much.

emmo got past me after a miner mistake from me in the final set of corners. But it was pitstop time at the end of lap 15. 10 laps to go and i was a solid 10-15 seconds behind nitro. Pretty sure i wasn't going to surmount that task. But i pushed on anyways to try to break free of whiz. My fuel strat at least looked liked it worked as i think i pulled 2 seconds on whiz from pits. Free air is a marvelous thing. I was able to put in some decent times for myself and slowly catch the guys in front. But it wasn't going to be enough.

But i think it was on lap 20/21 Nitro made a mistake into the first corner. This put me right on his bumper coming out of the 2nd corner. Racing is back on the menu boys!

The next 5 laps was utter class from nitro and a lot of sweat from myself. I think i tried almost every trick in the book to get around him. He just wouldn't give up his spot. Even when i had a superior inside line on him, he'd just hang it around the outside and hold me off. I tried going around the outside of him. He'd hold me off. I tried outbreaking. I tried the ol switcheroo. Nada. He just held it.
Then finally by the end of lap 24 i got the better run onto the pit straight. Chucked my car on the inside. I had to make this stick. Broke at the threshold. Pulled it in and nitro slotted in behind me. He almost got me coming out of the 2nd corner though as i kept it tight as i thought he might have a go on my inside but he went to go wide back around me instead but i think he touched the grass and lost a bit of traction and a bit of time. That was enough for me to put my head down and hit my lines. I knew he would catch me on the back straight if i did the slightest mistake. I nailed my lines and breaking points though for the rest of the lap and came home strong with a pb lap of a mid 52.

Well done nitro on making me work the hardest I've ever fought for a 10th.

Well done to the podium. You guys had some absolutely blistering pace. Also a big up to moozer my team mate. Great race and I'm happy i recommended you to risky for our joker pick! Go BHR!

First of all it was great to see so many people turn up for round 1, particularly knowing there were a few that were always going to miss the first round or two. Absolutely stoked to get a win after so many second-place finishes last season. The first 6 laps apex was behind by more or less 1 second while I was trying hard to break the tow. From there until lap 15 when we both pitted it there was less than 3 seconds between us and it was all about not making any mistakes. Knowing apex was right there made it super stressful and although there was no wheel-to-wheel racing it was still very intense.
Respect to apex on one of the early laps when you had a run on me down to the back hairpin and rather than take a dive you pulled in and we both got on with it. Congrats to the podium, and looking forward to what I am sure will be a tough season with many round winners.

You helped suck me away from the pack, so I wasn't going to risk our early beak on the pack. Especially as I owed it to you for me acquiring that gap. From there you were just a bit too quick, I had a gap to 3rd, so I hung on hoping for an error from you which never came. After pitting I was no threat to you as the car felt like a mack truck and wouldn't turn, you just pulled away into the distance. A great, fast, clean consistent drive Moozer

Giggidy

Well if we all get in line we can all get sucked at the same time

I have to watch my phrasing.
I can see this misunderstanding has caused far too much enthusiasm and I apologize to Moozer for possibly bringing your name into disrepute and any unwanted propositions.
Lucky I didn't say it is gr8 to be back, and I really enjoyed the race

Still can't believe I got third after that battle lasting virtually the whole race. Kudos to @Pubs16 and @TasTim2. Best race ever, clean too