ROOZ news Season 13 Round 2 Rome

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Welcome to another round of league racing, with room stability and network issues a hot topic. We even have drivers who may/will be retiring until GT6 and hopefully more stable servers. Hopefully it is something that can be improved in the near future, but for now we'll have to go with what we have.

Stuart (stucar17) brings us our Division 1 report.

Round 2 saw drivers take to the narrow, fast and concrete lined Rome circuit in what many saw as an opportunity to cement their championship position, or make amends after round 1.

10 cars took to the grid, with qualifying throwing up some gremlins that saw Mustafur out of position in grid slot 7, Warrior on pole again and Anon putting his car on the outside of the front row. They were followed by N64, Corzza, Cyber, Stu, Gary, Tek and Gary.

When the lights went green warrior was threatened briefly by Anon, but managed to slot into P1, N64 had a great start and was up to P2 with Mustafur the big mover, up to 4th at the end of the first Lap. Things settled down over the next few laps, with the majority of the field getting into a groove, with Stu and Corzza having a close clean battle.


By lap 4 Mustafur was up to 3rd, and the field was spreading as drivers tried to conserve tires and confirm their strategy. At the start of L5 cyber had an unusually untidy lap which cost him a few spots and he found himself back in 6th, fighting with Corzza, Stu a few seconds up the road.

With the start of Lap 6, Mustafur was showing his true pace and was pushing N64 hard for 2nd place, Anon right behind and all drivers going toe to toe.

Lap 7 and Corzza and Cyber fight past Stu pushing him back to 7th, while out in front Warrior is cruising with a 5.5 second lead and giving himself options on strategy.

Lap 10 and its Warrior from Mustafur, N64, Anon, Cyber & Corzza still in a close battle, Stu falling back into the clutches of Vendalism, and Gary and Tek who are looking after their tires for the strategy which would be revealed later.

Lap 14 saw the first of the 2 stop strategy drivers and it was Cyber and Anon who pitted, putting them to the back of the field, before N64 pitted on Lap 15. Vendalism had his only real hiccup of the night with a spin through the back chicane letting Tek through to 5th, and Gary to 6th.

In a decision that i am sure both drivers would like to have again, Stu and Corzza pitted from 3rd and 4th on lap 17, both with reasonable tires, and only 5 laps from half race distance. This proved critical to their final race positions.

The one stoppers filled the top 4 positions on lap 18, with Warrior and Mustafur holding station and Tek and Gary nursing their tires. By Lap 20 Anon had caught Gary, with Cyber and N64 closing fast.

On lap 21 all hell broke lose when Gary, on worn tires, made a mistake at the back chicane and found himself across the track. N64 came through the chicane unsighted, and t boned Gary's stricken car, giving both fairly substantial damage. To make matters worse, Stu came on the scene, and again unsighted, also hit Gary who was trying to get going again. Stu copped heavy damage, and a collision penalty which saw him drop to the rear of the field. On the same lap, Warrior pitted from the lead, which briefly put Mustafur in P1

By lap 24 the pit stops had shaken out and the one stop guys were looking the goods. Anon was in second, but had Mustafur coming quick on fresh tires in 3rd, Cyber and Corzza still at it, N64 was starting to have electrical issues, Vendal, Stu, Tek and Gary. On Lap 26, Musta took 2nd from Anon and was setting some impressive lap times, while N64 had a spin in turn two, Stu was again unlucky to be collected as N64 re-entered the track. Unfortunately for N64, the damage was too severe, and his car was retired to the garage.

Lap 29 and Anon had his second stop from 3rd, Warrior and Musta going toe to toe on lap times up front.

Lap 34, With 9 laps to go it was Warrior out front by 9.5 seconds, with the rest of the field fairly evenly spread. Tek was the big mover, His strategy paying up big with a comfortable 4th spot, cyber about 6 seconds back.

The Final lap saw warrior with a 10 second lead from Mustafur with Anon taking the Final podium position. Tek was 4th, followed by Cyber, Corzza, Vandalism, Stu and Gary, with N64 in the pits.

Another Dominant win from Warrior, although if Mustafur had a clean run in qualifying there was the very real chance of an upset.
On to Laguna Seca, where the sprint rounds might throw up a few surprises.

What a great read. Now to move on to Division 2/3, with our report coming from Derek (DekGT5mad/Dbn26).
ROME 43 laps
Div 2/3 Season 13 Round 2

GRID:1: Leeboy910 2: Stumbles01 3: Dbn26 4: Overdrive 5: emmo46 6: Ad2mny 7: Bjh1012 8: X-3vilm00n 9: HazeOne68
10: Darkace_123 11: Clevohead 12: perry586 13: disturboed
The start was fairly even for the front six or seven, but down behind there, a fair few people unfortunately had their early race compromised by a severely lagging disturboed who initially missed the jump but then was mega accelerated back and forwards at ridiculous speeds, off walls and catch fences, through others causing damage to many at many points throughout the first lap, with him eventually passing through the pits at 580odd km/h. He saw sense and pulled out on lap 2 at the outside of turn 2 exit and was dsc'd not long after.
disturboed is thrown all over while suffering lag problems
At the front leeboy had got a good start to hold position, with Dbn pulling alongside Stumbles, then not wanting to go to the outside of turn 1, early braked & ducked to the inside, almost past leeboy, but had to withdraw or get his nose chopped off at the 2nd apex. Meanwhile Stumbles had run the wide line and slipped back in between Dbn & leeboy who had got the power down first and led on the run through turn 2 down to the turn 3 hairpin. emmo46 had held his grid position, as also did Overdrive, Ad2mny & X-3vi1m00n thru turn 1, but exiting,Ad2 got past Evil, with Bjh1012 following in 8th, all having been missed by turbo. Clevo then followed, with Hazeone, perry & Darkace, and turbo jumping all over the place. Heading to turn Ad2 jumped inside Overdrive, but had nowhere to go. Down the back straight for the first time & through the chicane nothing changed except for turbo shooting from 13th to 5th, damaging more people along the way. The order shook out as leeboy, Stumbles, Dbn, emmo, OD, Ad2, Evil, Bj, Haze, Darkace, Clevo & perry, who's practice had been in a tuned car, & to compound things when resetting he forgot to change to softs and was struggling.
Over the next few laps things settled a bit with the top 8 staying in contention, but the rest dropped back a bit, although Clevo had caught perry after falling 10 secs behind writing a couple of messages. On lap 4 Ad2mny dsc'd once again after running fifth.
At the front leeboy had held a 3s gap to Stumbles, & Dbn had closed up on him after opening the gap back to emmo, who seemed to be settling into a pace strategy. Behind 5th-8th were still shadowing each other, unable to pass. Dbn got past Stumbles after he bounced of both chicane walls, getting some minor RF damage, but crucially slowing him to 101km/h. By lap 8 leeboy had a 3s lead, which grew to 3.8s by lap 12 over Dbn, Stumbles another 4.8 back, but menacing him to the point of overcooking his rears on lap 13 that he got loose exiting T3 and handed 2nd back, also giving leeboy a 6s lead. emmo was 5s back from Dbn, a similar gap to OD, 10s to evil, with Bj right behind. Haze was a further 10.5s away, while Clevo had pitted permanently on lap 10. Darkace had pitted on lap11, losing his first lap to the leaders. perry was still circulating for experince in the car and the points on offer if there were anymore PSN issues for people, 2 laps down. This was when the strategy dice was rolled by one of the leaders, with Dbn pitting after lap 13,dropping to 7th. emmo and evil were in next lap, then Stumbles and Haze came in the following lap, no.15, on which leeboy unfortunately suffered a dsc as well, after spinning at the chicane.(THANKS FOR YOUR ONGOING SUPPORT PSN)
This left OD +2.6s, leading from Bj, with Dbn right behind in 3rd, his undercut successful on Stumbles, giving him +3s, Then it was emmo about the same behind, then Haze, evil, Darkace, perry & clevo.
5th thru 10th charge to turn3
By lap 16 OD noticed the leaders that had pitted closing fast so at end, pitted, coming out behind emmo with a 5s gap to Bj,Haze & Darkace a half a lap back. Things started to spread out a bit now with Dbn at the front +3.6->Stumbles +7->emmo +6.5->OD +6->evil->+6->Bj +29->Haze & Darkace, who were having a good battle, but ultimately slowing each other down, seeing them lapped on lap22. Dbn had started to put the pressure on, eventually bringing the mistake from Stumbles, with him hitting the wall and spinning exiting the chicane, dropping him to 3rd while recovering from damage, when emmo passed him up the hill into turn 7 around the outside on lap 18. He tried hard to get back past on lap 19, but despite some light contact and ghosting, emmo held on, settling down and holding him until lap 25, when Stumbles brushed 1 or 2 walls and lost a few seconds. Meanwhile though that fight had played into Dbn's hands allowing him to open the gap to 13.5s and also to do a longer 2nd stint, running to the end of lap 29. emmo followed suit, leaving Stumbles in the lead from OD. Stumbles pitted at the end of lap 30, suffering his 2nd undercut of the night. OD stayed out in the lead till end of lap 31 when he was caught by Dbn, and so pitted. Then the run to the flag was on. Dbn only had to hold it together for the win coming out 13s up on emmo, but he kept going pulling out to an 18s lead, leaving emmo & Stumbles to fight for the podium, and a good fight it was.
emmo initially had the high ground after the 2nd pitstops, but Stumbles wasn't done with yet. He composed himself for a few laps, saving his tyres sitting static 5s back. On lap 35 he made his move, taking 1.5s out of emmo, followed by 1.4s on lap 36, partially due to a mistake in sector 2. Stumbles pulled into range at the end of lap 37, then it was on! 1st emmo would eek out a tenth in 1 sector, then Stumbles would pull back 3/10ths, then emmo 3/10ths and so on until the last lap when a big dive by Stumbles at turn 1 payed off with them both ghosting, Stumbles passing through to his outside & 2nd place heading to turn 3. emmo late braked and closed right onto Stumbles & also got a better exit, pulling alongside heading to the chicane, but not far enough & so had to pull in behind Stumbles, tailing him through the chicane & around turns 6 & 7.Into turn 8, the entry of the last corner. Stumbles came in a miniscule amount to hot, opening a tiny gap as he drifted out to the rumble strip. emmo didn't need an invitation and dove inside. Stumbles now was struggling for traction as they rounded the exit side by side, got a slight wiggle on and the correction turned him towards emmo, but this time there was to be no ghosting. They touched & it was too much for Stumbles, who bounced off & spun after clipping the outside wall, giving emmo 2nd from Dbn. Stumbles got going and held on for 3rd. A little way back at the chicane, evil and OD were nose to tail, evil in 4th after a successful undercut, although OD had come at him hard in the closing stages. Bj had a pretty lonely last stint, the lapped cars being the only ones he saw, but he put the clean air to good use, picking up the fastest lap point for a 1.02.235. Hazeone followed in 7th, from Darkace, perry & clevo sitting stationary in the pits for 33 laps.
After a short post race discussion,between emmo & Stumbles,the podium remained the same, with Stumbles not accepting emmo's offer of swapping, citing his loosenes. Great ROOZ sportsmanship guys!

emmo46 & Stumbles01 battle it out on the last lap
Congrat's to Dbn on his first ROOZ series win, emmo on a great steady drive for second, Stumbles for a low practice run to 3rd, leeboy on his pole position, & Bj his fastest lap, beating all the div 2 runners by a tenth or more.
On to Laguna Seca for 2 x 17 lap sprint races where tyre wear will be key.

Dbn26 celebrates his first ROOZ win


Another great report. Next time we will be reporting from the racing at Laguna Seca, with alot of the drivers commenting that it will be a very difficult first few laps until the tyres warm up, so should be action aplenty!! Hope you can join us then.

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Division 1 Reporter - Stuart (stucar17) Photography - Warrior
Division 2/3 Reporter/Photographer - Derek (DekGT5mad/Dbn26)
Editor - Jamie (Ad2mny)

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Might have to talk to someone who knows more about this stuff than me but good idea. Maybe something to compile then put into the archives?