ROOZ NEWS Season 14 GT6 Round 2 Apricot Hill (Part 3)

Welcome to part 3 of the reports for Apricot hill. This time we will hear the Division 3 report, coming to you from Jamie (Ad2mny)



Race 1
GRID:
AERO_HDT, FloodSim, andrew_f_41, garyw61, hosie09, BERNSY001, X-3vi1m00n, whisky_kilo, Ad2mny, Stumbles01.


The grid got away to a smooth start, with only whisky_kilo and BERNSY001 managing to move up one spot each with a brilliantly timed start. andrew_f_41 hesitated slightly exiting turn 2 as he made contact with FloodSim's rear and found himself out wide at turn 3, losing 3 spots to garyw61, BERNSY001 and hosie09. Ad2mny put 2 wheels on the inside of turn 3, dropping 1 spot to last.

hosie09 was moving swiftly up the order, but his small infrequent lag spikes gave andrew_f_41 a few hefty whacks on the way past, causing heavy damage. garyw61 tapped the brakes entering turn 5 as he was running a little off line, and BERNSY001 paused slightly to avoid contact allowing hosie09 and andrew_f_41 past and setting up hosie09 for a move on garyw61 into the hairpin. Stumbles01 managed to slip past X-3vi1m00n at the hairpin, moving up to 8th. Both X-3vi1m00n and Ad2mny gained a penalty cutting the chicane, dropping 3 seconds off the pack. garyw61 managed to hold hosie09 at bay until the front straight, where hosie09 drafted past into turn 1 and 2.

Lap 2. Ad2mny drafted past X-3vi1m00n on the front straight, scraping past at turn 1 and 2. AERO_HDT, running in 1st, had a very wide exit at turn 5, touching the grass on the outside and ended with a huge slide across the track in front of FloodSim onto the inside gravel trap turn 6.



By the time he could rejoin the track he was a fair distance behind in last place. garyw61 ran wide exiting turn 5, running along the grass leading up to turn 6. He lost a lot of momentum and dropped 2 places as BERNSY001 and andrew_f_41 passed him on both sides.

Stumbles01 outbraked whisky_kilo into the hairpin and slipped in behind garyw61, but a fishtail by Stumbles01 under power slowed him on exit. whisky_kilo, who was right on his tail could only run into his rear and fall back with Stumbles01. Ad2mny took advantage managing to pass whisky_kilo at turn 9.



garyw61, BERNSY001 and andrew_f_41 ran 3 wide down the main straight starting lap 3. BERNSY001 was the first to blink and garyw61 ran very deep into turn 2, coming out ahead. He held off andrew_f_41 long enough for BERNSEY001 to find a way past at turn 6.

hosie09 was all over FloodSim lap 3 and dove up the inside at the hairpin. hosie09 ran in too hot and cut across the inside grass entering the turn. Floodsim got a good clean line, but hosie09 was struggling to regain his composure as FloodSim powered through his ghost. hosie09 latched onto his rear and stayed in his draft starting lap 4. As they entered turn 1, hosie09 lag spiked, slamming into the side of FloodSim and causing major damage. Then as hosie09 moved ahead exiting turn 2, another lag spike skipped him back to slam FloodSim's nose stopping him dead and turning him sideways on the track. By the time he got going he was some 15 seconds behind the tail with AERO_HDT.

Ad2mny ran wide at turn 5 trying to get a run on Stumbles01, just touching the outside grass and spinning 180. He recovered about 1 1/2 seconds ahead of FloodSim and AERO_HDT. andrew_f_41 caught a lag spike from BERNSY001 who was just ahead of him at turn 6. It didn't cause any damage but it pushed andrew_f_41 abruptly onto the inside of the turn into the gravel trap, losing 3 places to Stumbles01, whisky_kilo and X-3vi1m00n.

Ad2mny cut the final chicane again, gaining yet another penalty and falling just behind FloodSim and AERO_HDT.

Lap 5. Stumbles01 ran very hot into turn 1, running straight on across the turn and into the outside barrier. He rejoined the track 2 spots back in 6th, just ahead of andrew_f_41. By the hairpin, andrew_f_41 was close enough to make a pass. Stumbles01 was not going to give in easy, running alongside all the way to turn 10, breaking early to allow andrew_f_41 the line.

Lap 6. FloodSim ran wide exiting turn 5, touching the grass and fishtailing into a spin at the entry of turn 6.

Lap 7. garyw61 was lag punted by BERNSY001 at turn 9, pushing him into the barrier. whisky_kilo and X-3vi1m00n swept past as he rejoined, and X-3vi1m00n passed a late braking whisky_kilo exiting the chicane. BERNSY001 slowed to redress his lag on the main straight starting lap 8, but by the time he got back up to pace andrew_f_41 managed to slip up the inside at turn 1, moving BERNSY001 into 6th.

hosie09 now had a comfortable 10 second lead, while the battle for 2nd was being contested by 6 cars in a convoy. Ad2mny had fallen 6 seconds behind them, FloodSim was a further 9 seconds back in last.

Lap 11. Stumbles dove up the inside of whisky_kilo at turn 1 to take 5th. andrew_f_41 threw himself down the inside of garyw61 at the hairpin, pushing him wide. andrew_f_41 slowed to redress, giving back the position. Lap 12, BERNSY001 passed whisky_kilo at the hairpin.



Lap 13. garyw61 tried a move on X-3vi1m00n, running up the inside at turn 2, then staying on his outside at turn 3, but running wide and spinning in the gravel. He pulled out of his spin just as andrew_f_41 dove up X-3vi1m00n's inside at turn 6. X-3vi1m00n tried to return the favour at the hairpin but ran wide letting andrew_f_41 back through.

andrew_f_41 ran wide exiting the chicane, losing momentum and dropping 1 place to X-3vi1m00n. Stumbles01 was right on his tail in 4th with BERNSY001 just behind him. garyw61 was leading the battle for 6th, just ahead of whisky_kilo and AERO_HDT. Ad2mny in 9th and FloodSim in 10th were running very lonely races.

Lap 14. Stumbles01, while trying to keep BERNSY001 at bay and move up on andrew_f_41 ran too deep into turn 1 and lost 4 places to be 8th. AERO_HDT snuck up the inside of whisky_kilo at turn 6 to take 6th.



On the final lap, hosie09 had a 13 second lead, and the battle for 2nd was between 3 drivers, X-3vi1m00n, andrew_f_41 and BERNSY001. X-3vi1moon protected his inside line at the hairpin, and andrew_f_41 fishtailed out of the turn trying to get the power down early. BERNSY001 took advantage of his slow exit, running alongside all the way to the final chicane, where BERNSY001 had to drop back on exit to avoid running wide. garyw61 had caught up and managed to take advantage of his slower exit, as too did AERO_HDT, just managing to pip him on the line and dropping him to 6th.

Race 2

GRID:


FloodSim, Ad2mny, whisky_kilo, Stumbles01, BERNSY001, AERO_HDT, garyw61, andrew_f_41, X-3vi1m00n and hosie09.



As with all 2 part races, all the drivers were up and ready to go straight off the bat, and garyw61 was the only one to move forward 1 position by turn 2. Stumbles01 dove up the inside of whisky_kilo at the hairpin, as did andrew_f_41 on AERO_HDT. He argued with andrew_f_41 for the next 2 turns but andrew_f_41 had better drive and pulled ahead.

Lap 2. BERNSEY took advantage of whisky_kilo losing traction exiting turn 2, moving up to 4th. garyw61 tried to squeeze up his inside too but had to drive onto the grass on the inside to avoid turning whisky_kilo around. garyw61 had a huge moment and lost 4 places to last, but recovered well regaining pace quickly. Stumbles01 had a huge lunge at both Ad2mny and FloodSim at the hairpin, ghosting through both and running wide, but managing to recover and slot in between the two into 2nd. X-3vi1moon cut the final chicane, gaining a penalty and dropping behind garyw61 into last.

andrew_f_41 drafted whisky_kilo starting lap 3 with hosie09 in his toe. hosie09 came alongside at turn 1 and whisky_kilo trail-braked up to andrew_f_41 but made contact with his rear. hosie09 cut to the inside as whisky_kilo slowed and whisky_kilo swerved away as if surprised he was there and had a little wobble slowing more.

Stumbles01 touched the rumblestrip on the inside of turn 5, having a slow-motion slide and ending in the barrier. He recovered 10 seconds behind X-3vilm00n in last. garyw61 moved ahead of AERO_HDT at turn 6 into 7th place. hosie09 cut the final part of the chicane,gaining a penalty and dropping him from 5th to 7th just behind garyw61.



Lap 4. FloodSim, Ad2mny and BERNSY001 were running line astern on the run to the hairpin, but a lag spike from Ad2mny stopped BERNSY001 in his tracks on exit. He dropped back 3 places by the time he got to turn 10, just as hosie09 made his move on garyw61 into 4th.



Lap 5. Ad2mny moved ahead of FloodSim, drafting past him into turn 1. garyw61 drafted past hosie09 into turn 1, and BERNSEY001 copped another lag spike as he moved onto hosie09's tail, stopping him dead again and dropping him 3 spots to 9th. whisky_kilo copped a shortcut penalty at the final chicane, and AERO_HDT got all out of shape as he ran wide on exit, fishtailing wildy on the edge of the grass but recovering well. BERNSY001 could not avoid his swerving car however, and was penalised for ramming. AERO_HDT slowed to give BERNSY001 the place (very sporting of him) and both ended up losing places to a recovering whisky_kilo with Stumbles01 on his tail following him through. X-3vi1m00n now had a healthy gap back to 7th and was moving up quickly on 5th.

Lap 6. BERNSEY took back 8th from Stumbles01 at turn 6, and then 7th at the hairpin from whisky_kilo with Stumbles01 following him through. hosie09 gained a shortcut penalty at the final chicane, dropping closer to X-3vi1m00n.



Lap 7. garyw61 drafted andrew_f_41 into turn 1, but then ran wide at turn 2 giving the place back. FloodSim lined Ad2mny up for a pass into the hairpin but Ad2mny held him out on the brakes. As they both entered the hairpin Ad2mny lag spiked and rammed FloodSim to a dead stop. garyw61, trying for an inside move into the hairpin on a wide running andrew_f_41, could not avoid FloodSim and rammed him heavily. andrew_f_41 got through cleanly and started to pull away in 2nd. hosie09 and X-3vilm00n closed up on the two recovering cars, with hosie09 splitting them down the middle coming up to turn 10. X-3vi1m00n snuck past FloodSim entering the chicane. garyw61 ran wide exiting the chicane, putting a wheel on the grass and spinning out, recovering in last.



Lap 8. Stumbles01 and BERNSY001 were coming up fast on FloodSim, with Stumbles01 passing in turn 1, then BERNSY001 into turn 2.

Lap 9. AERO_HDT drafted whisky_kilo on the front straight, moving up to 8th at turn 1. whisky_kilo gave AERO_HDT a good nudge at the hairpin which nearly turned him around, but he slowed to let AERO_HDT recover.



Lap 11. Stumbles01 puts 2 wheels on the grass and gets a bit wobbly. BERNSY001 gets through, moving to 5th just behind X-3vi1m00n, BERNSY001 got a good run out of the chicane and powered past X-3vi1m00n onto the front straight.

Lap 12. Stumbles01 and X-3vi1m00n make side on contact exiting turn 5, slowing enough for FloodSim to pass Stumbles01 then stick his nose up the inside of X-3vi1m00n at turn 6. Stumbles01 retakes 7th from FloodSim with a pass at the chicane.

Lap 13. Ad2mny, andrew_f_41 and hosie09 were holding the top 3 places, with a gap of around 4 seconds between each of them. BERNSY001 was 4th, 1 1/2 seconds ahead of the X-3vi1m00n-Stumbles01-FloodSim battle. AERO_HDT was about 4 seconds further back in 8th, while whisky_kilo and garyw61 were duelling for 9th. Stumbles01 came up the inside of X-3vi1m00n at the hairpin, and they ran side by side all the way to the final chicane, where on exit Stumbles01 got the better drive and moved ahead.

X-3vi1m00n ran wide on exit of the chicane starting Lap 14, and by the time he got to turn 1 he had lost 2 positions to FloodSim and AERO_HDT. X-3vi1m00n tried one last lunge at the hairpin on AERO_HDT, but he held his ground until the final chicane, where X-3vi1m00n got a better drive and powered past.


Ad2mny took victory but after seeing what his lag caused, there was disappointment and frustration. andrew_f_41 had a good run at Ad2mny in the final laps and had halved the gap in those laps by the time they crossed the line, and hosie09 cruised home into third.

Next round is at Spa, and here's hoping a solution to the lag can be found.

Another action packed round. Stay tuned for part 4