Welcome to Part 2 of our League races coming to you from Trial Mountain. In this part we will give you our Division 3 and 4 reports. Without any further ado, here is the Division 3 report: GRID Stumbles01, BennyBagems, razor4797, BERNSY001, FloodSim, hosie09, andrew_f_41, X-3vi1m00n, Ad2mny, whisky_kilo, garyw61, AERO_HDT. Stumbles01 took full advantage of his pole and started to pull away. BERNSY001 found himself beside BennyBagems at Turn 1 and ran out of track on the inside, slowing and losing 2 places to FloodSim and Andrew putting him 6th. hosie09 and Ad2mny were side by side through Turns 2 and 3, hosie09 dropped back through Turn 4 then dove up the inside at Turn 5. Ad2mny got a little wobbly on exit and X-3vi1m00n moved back up past him. Down the back straight, FloodSim drafted past razor4797 into 3rd but found himself stuck on the outside at Turn 9 and having to drop back again. X-3vi1m00n ran very deep into turn 9, hitting the outside barrier and dropping all the way back to last. andrew_f_41 got loose exiting Turn 13, losing 5th to BERNSY001. Ad2mny got very sideways exiting the final chicane, slamming into the outside wall and skewing sideways into traffic. Before he ghosted, garyw61 came flying through the chicane and with nowhere to go T-boned into his side, dropping back to second last ahead of Ad2mny but just behind X-3vi1m00n and AERO_HDT. Lap 2. Stumbles01 ran wide exiting Turn 3, spinning out and dropping all the way from 1st to 2nd last. FloodSim got very sideways exiting Turn 4, losing his 3rd place to BERNSY001 and hosie09, who got tangled up with him losing his spot to andrew_f_41. razor4797 drafted past BennyBagems down the back straight and took the lead at Turn 9. There was already groups forming with the two in the leading group, followed by BERNSY001, andrew_f_41 and hosie09 thrashing it out for 3rd. FloodSim, whisky_kilo, X-3vi1m00n and AERO_HDT were battling for 6th while garyw61, Stumbles01 and Ad2mny were pretty spread out at the back of the field. hosie09 bumped back past andrew_f_41 at Turn 12, but andrew_f_41 repaid the compliment Turn 13. Lap 3. whisky_kilo got squirmy exiting Turn 4, ending in a spin as he crested the rise, losing 4 places and recovering just ahead of Ad2mny. X-3vi1m00n hesitated slightly as he passed through whisky_kilo's spin, missing his braking point, which let AERO_HDT right up and draft past down the back straight into 7th. Lap 4. X-3vi1m00n drafted AERO_HDT down the front straight to pass into Turn 1, and garyw61 seemed to come from nowhere and passed AERO_HDT at Turn 2 but cut the corner slightly and let him back through. Stumbles01 closed up on garyw61's rear and dove up the inside into turn 5. garyw61 turned in on him causing a little squirm from Stumbles01, and garyw61 slowed again to let him through into 9th. whisky_kilo also passed garyw61 as he slowed to let Stumbles01 through. hosie09 slipped up the inside of andrew_f_41 at Turn 8. Lap 5. hosie09 had a look up the inside of BERNSY001 as he exited Turn 12 but tapped his rear and slowed allowing andrew_f_41 to drive his way back past hosie09 at Turn 13. hosie09 jumped the curb in the final chicane, clouting the wall heavily and losing some ground. Lap 6. AERO_HDT was looking for a run on X-3vi1m00n running just a little wide at Turn 3 just missing the grass on the outside. He lost a little ground as they entered into Turn 4 and looking for early drive caused him to slide over the crest. AERO_HDT recovered but was out too wide into Turn 5, touching the grass and spinning out. He recovered just behind Ad2mny in last. whisky_kilo mounted the inside curb at Turn 7, causing a slow motion fishtail back into the middle of the track. Ad2mny passed through his ghosting car but AERO_HDT had to slow to avoid a collision. BERNSY001 jumped the curb at the final chicane, slamming into the outside wall and losing his 3rd place to andrew_f_41. Lap 7. BennyBagems finally found a way past razor4797 by drafting down the back straight and out braking him into Turn 9. Stumbles01 attacked X-3vi1m00n at Turn 9, and they dueled on the brakes through the sweeping turn, with Stumbles01 eventually coming out on top, but X-3vi1m00n found good drive up the hill to retake 7th. Stumbles01 got good drive out of the final chicane, making the pass stick into Turn 1. Lap 8. BERNSY001 got a good run up the inside of andrew_f_41 out of Turn 3 and was up the inside at Turn 4 back into 3rd. razor4797 drafted back past BennyBagems down the back straight into Turn 9. Lap 9. X-3vi1m00n lost another place to garyw61 with a well executed around the outside pass at Turn 4. Lap 10. BERNSY01 had started to break away from the brawling andrew_f_41 and hosie09, and was right on the tail of the lead battle between razor4797 and BennyBagems. FloodSim was running a lonely race in 6th. Stumbles01 was starting to break away from the pack behind, consisting of garyw61, X-3vi1m00n and Ad2mny. whisky_kilo and AERO_HDT we're running in 11th and 12th with about 2 seconds gap between each other. Lap 11. hosie09 out braked andrew_f_41 into Turn 9, and they ran nearly side by side up the hill, with hosie09 having a slight drive advantage and closing the door violently on andrew_f_41 at Turn 10. Lap 12. hosie09 got a bit loose over the crest exiting Turn 4, and andrew_f_41 jumped down the inside at Turn 5, only to lose 4th again as hosie09 drafted past down the back straight. X-3vi1m00n got good drive out of the final chicane and passed garyw61 into Turn 1. Lap 13. andrew_f_41 dove up the inside of hosie09 again at Turn 5, taking 4th, but fell back again on the back straight and into Turn 9. Lap 14. andrew_f_41 attacked again, this time at Turn 4. Meanwhile FloodSim had been closing in and was now right on their tails. The leading trio of razor4797, BennyBagems and BERNSY001 were so close together you could barely tell them apart. BennyBagems drafted past razor4797 into Turn 9. hosie09 came alongside from Turn 8 all the way down the back straight, looking to pass again at Turn 9, but this time it was andrew_f_41 with the advantage up the hill. hosie09 still had his nose on the outside at Turn 11, and as andrew_f_41 moved across he started to slide out. hosie09 slowed dramatically to avoid making it worse than it was, and FloodSim banged his rear and passed through both as they struggled to right themselves. FloodSim later said that he felt like he didn't pass cleanly and 'didn't deserve the place' letting them both back through. razor4797 jumped the curb on the last chicane, colliding with the outside wall, and BERNSY001 rammed into his rear copping a collision penalty but not dropping too far back. Lap 15. X-3vi1m00n was looking for a way past Ad2mny but got very loose exiting Turn 4 over the crest losing ground. A wide exit at Turn 13 saw him spin out and bounce off the outside wall, spinning back the other way. Luckily he had a fairly large gap on AERO_HDT so didn't lose any spots but lost touch with Ad2mny and garyw61. Lap 16. It was BennyBagems' turn to have a spin off the crest exiting Turn 4. andrew_f_41 made it past but hosie09 came up on him at Turn 5 as he was back up to pace and could not get past. hosie09 drafted past BennyBagems down the back straight and was through by Turn 9. whisky_kilo in last was slowly closing up on AERO_HDT in 11th and was now close enough to get a draft. Lap 17. Unfortunately for whisky_kilo, he ran a little wide lining up for Turn 3, losing it in the grass and spinning out. BERNSY001 now had a good run on razor4797 and was looking everywhere he could. They ran side by side down the back straight, and BERNSY001 was ahead out of Turn 9 but razor4797 was not giving up staying alongside up the hill. He had to give the position up though through Turn11. BERNSY001 had been keeping an eye on the 4 car freight train coming up behind them and decided he had better get a move on to avoid a 6 car battle in the closing stages. garyw61 and Ad2mny had been cruising together for quite a few laps now, neither able to pull away or get past. Lap 18. whisky_kilo seemed to go straight into the fence at the end of the start straight but it turned out he DSC'd and disappeared off the track a moment later. razor4797 drafted past BERNSY001 down the back straight, but BERNSY001 tried the switchback move, and nearly succeeded too but did not get the good drive he needed up the hill, dropping back into 2nd. hosie09 also managed to pass andrew_f_41 after a draft down the back straight and out brake into Turn 9, moving up to 3rd. hosie09 ran wide exiting Turn 13, losing drive on the grass and losing 2 places to andrew_f_41 and BennyBagems. Lap 19. hosie09 got a good run into Turn 4 and drove around the outside of BennyBagems, out braking after a few bumps into Turn 5. This gave andrew_f_41 a chance to pull away. BennyBagems drafted back past hosie09 on the back straight back up to 4th. Ad2mny finally got a good exit out of Turn 8 and drafted up alongside to out brake into Turn 9. Lap 20. andrew_f_41 was dragging himself onto the tail of the leaders, while BennyBagems, hosie09 and FloodSim were like 1 triangle on the map. For a while it looked like Stumbles01 was going to pull off a miracle and catch up to the 4th place battle but he stalled at about 5 secs behind. Ad2mny and garyw61 were running together still in 8th and 9th about 5 seconds further back. X3vi1m00n was nearly 18 seconds further back while AEROHDT in last was a further 7 seconds back. BERNSY001 drafted past razor4797 down the back straight into first at Turn 9. Lap 21. andrew_f_41 was trying really hard to keep in touch with the leaders but was making little mistakes every time he got within reach, a little wide here, a little slide there. FloodSim had a strange spin atTurn 8, clipping the inside wall trying for a run on hosie09, and running very wide having a slow motion broadside ending in a spin in the tunnel. By the time he was back up to pace at Turn 9, Stumbles01 had zoomed past and he had Ad2mny and garyw61 on his tail. razor4797 drafted down the back straight but this time BERNSY001 made the switchback move work. FloodSim ran a little wide at Turn 13, losing drive and 7th to Ad2mny. Lap 22. hosie09 was starting to struggle a little, losing touch with andrew_f_41 and BennyBagems slightly. Lap 23. The threesome of BERNSY001, razor4797 and andrew_f_41 was about to become an orgy as BennyBagems latched onto their rear. razor4797 again drafted past BERNSY001 on the back straight, and again a switch back move was tried but didn't quite succeed this time. garyw61 lagged all the way through Turns 7 and 8 then drafted past FloodSim down the back straight into 8th. AERO_HDT in last had his head down slowly reeling in X-3vi1m00n. Lap 24. andrew_f_41 got a little loose exiting Turn 3, allowing BennyBagems to pounce into Turn 4. It looked like he had made the pass but andrew_f_41 just drove it back,around the outside and held his ground into Turn 5. Another change of the lead into Turn 9 put BERNSY001 back into the top spot. razor4797 had a bad run through the final chicane, launching off the exit and crunching into the outside wall. BennyBagems however had a great run and managed to pass andrew_f_41 on exit as they both passed a recovering razor4797. Lap 25. garyw61 tried to pass Ad2mny at Turn 9 but had to pull back allowing FloodSim to get good drive up the hill and passing him into 8th. razor4797 squeezed up the inside of andrew_f_41 at Turn 13, moving up to 3rd. Lap 26. Ad2mny ran wide at Turn 3, touching the grass and spinning out. It took a long time for him to recover but still managed to recover in front of AERO_HDT. BennyBagems went for the inside of BERNSY001 at Turn 9, as razor4797 drafted them both. BERNSY001 tried to run deep around the outside but both BennyBagems and razor4797 made it through. BERNSY001 stayed on razor4797's outside up the hill and managed to take back 2nd at Turn 12. Andrew had a little look at razor4797 on exit but didn't have the drive. razor4797 gave BERNSY001's rear a little tap and he started lap 27 sideways. Lap 27. The only battle on the track now was the 4 way battle for the top spot, held by BennyBagems, with hosie09 in 5th just off the tail. andrew_f_41 came alongside razor4797 at Turn 1 and stayed there through Turn 2 and 3, bumping each other and slowing slightly, allowing hosie09 to close on them both. andrew_f_41 finally got past at Turn 4, with hosie09 managing to squeeze past at Turn 5. Meanwhile, BERNSY was all over BennyBagems' tail as they came onto the back straight. He drafted past and kept his line tight on exit to block the switchback move. BennyBagems ran too deep into Turn 13 and andrew_f_41 gobbled up his position. razor4797 also ran wide at Turn 13, hitting the wall and losing a lot of ground. Lap 28. andrew_f_41 tapped BERNSY001's rear and got a little sideways through Turn 1, and BennyBagems drove right up behind him as he swerved back in line, ghosting momentarily and passing through him slightly, as hosie09 drafted them both. andrew_f_41 started to run wide and slowed letting BennyBagems and hosie09 through, but BennyBagems ran too wide and onto the grass and clouted the wall at the entrance to the tunnel. As he tried to recover, his car hit the other side wall and seemed to get stuck, spinning out. Stumbles01 whizzed past, and FloodSim came roaring up behind him as he started to recover in Turn 5, but FloodSim over steered out of the corner and crashed into the inside wall. garyw61 slipped past FloodSim at Turn 7 as he recovered. Lap 29. Both BERNSY001 and hosie09 hit the wall on exit of the chicane, and andrew_f_41 made good with the opportunity, moving up the inside of hosie09 as they entered Turn 1. They stayed side by side till they exited Turn 3, where andrew_f_41 pulled ahead into 2nd. hosie09 was pushing hard to find a way back past, and razor4797 was right on their tails again. garyw61 and FloodSim had closed right up on BennyBagems at Turn 4, but garyw61 started lagging pretty badly. As they exited Turn 7, garyw61 dissappeared behind FloodSim then came zooming up behind, taking FloodSim out with heavy damage to all 4 corners and drivetrain. He still had plenty of a gap on Ad2mny to hold onto 8th. (After the race, garyw61 was apologetic stating that 'he had no idea it was his fault' and offered to swap final finishing positions. FloodSim told him not to worry.) razor4797 parked his BRZ up the inside of hosie09 at Turn 9, then he attacked andrew_f_41 at Turn 13, moving up to 2nd. garyw61 drafted past BennyBagems on the back straight and took 6th place. Lap 30. andrew_f_41 ran wide exiting Turn 3, running onto the grass. He almost recovered but just clipped the outside wall entering the tunnel, spinning 180 and losing touch with the top 3. AERO_HDT had been closing on Ad2mny and could now smell 9th place, but a bit of oversteer into Turn 4 sent him fishtaing into a spin. X-3vi1m00n passed him as he recovered, putting AERO_HDT last. razor4797 drafted past BERNSY001 on the back straight, but another switchback move put razor4797 back into 2nd. Lap 31. Last lap now and BERNSY001 got another shocker run onto the straight, hitting the outside wall. razor4797 scraped through on the inside at Turn 1 while hosie09 tried around the outside, somehow making it stick. BERNSY001 threw his car at the inside of hosie09 Turn 5 but could not find a way through. The back straight came up fast and it was draft city, BERNSY001 even had his ears tucked in for better aero. They all spread out for turn 9 and hosie09 first dropped back then shot through coming off the brakes early. He ran a little wide on exit, cutting across in front of razor4797 who gave him a little tap on the rear starting a fishtail which put hosie09 against the wall struggling for traction on the track edge. razor4797 had nowhere to go but into hosie09's rear again, shunting him back up to pace and dropping razor4797 into 3rd. hosie09 ran deep into Turn 12, allowing BERNSY001 to close right up, then Turn 13, BERNSY001 kept a super tidy line as hosie09 squirmed about desperate to stay ahead. It was a drag race to the chicane, and hosie09 backed out being stuck on the outside. razor4797 finished third, andrew_f_41 6 seconds back in 4th.Stumbles01 made up a lot of ground but still was just under 2 seconds further back. The final positions were fairly spread out, garyw61 6th, BennyBagems 7th, FloodSim 8th, Ad2mny 9th, X-3vi1m00n 10th and AERO_HDT 11th. Fastest lap was a 1:26.274 by hosie09. RACE QUOTES Stumbles01: Great racing guys, well done to Bernsy on a hard fought win. Congrats to Hosie and Razor for filling the rest of the podium. I managed to get pole, then binned it on lap 2, finally getting back onto track in 11th spot . Feel sorry for Whisky getting DS'c on lap 18. BERNSEY001: Div3, class act, I have never wanted to play GT6 more than with you guys, what a f*cking awesome race, EVERYONE should pat themselves on the back for the racing. PS - 2 blisters, stomach cramps & I now weigh 1kg lighter XD razor4797: That race was even more intense than Spa! Bumper to bumper the entire 31 laps. A pretty happy 3rd place finish for me. FloodSim: Not a lot of joy for me at Trial Mountain. Everyone was really on it last night though and the next 10-15 laps I spent going flat out just trying to catch up the tail of that 3-way battle... I'm making too many mistakes while racing in a pack, need to tidy that up before I can get any good results. AERO_HDT: I must admit, I had a shocking race, I simply had no answer for the pace that was being displayed by all, it was a real grind racing that sort of distance at the back of the pack - you guys were miles too quick for me! I may have gained some satisfaction by not ending up last, but it looks like a few people got disconnected. I tried as hard as I could, but was sorely outclassed! Good race by all! Here's hoping I'm not so lousy this Sunday! Congratulations to BERNSY001 for the win, and hosie09 and razor4797 for the final podium positions. Now we move on to Division 4, with our new reporter Hatfield: Dek: Absolutely pathetic that you can pit & get fresh tires & not be able to run down people on 18 lap old tires! Emmo: My race was tragic, qualified 5th and moved to 4th off the line and was challenging DRZ for third as we entered the 2nd tunnel, I touched him slightly and trying to keep off him I turned too sharp and over-steered into the inside wall to be last. From there I started to chase and moved from 11th to 10th and was just on the tail of the 6th through 9th battle when I over-steered into the pit wall. Back to last and then quickly picked off Castro to run 10th again. Slowly but surely I gained on people in front but never had to pass as they made mistakes and let me through. Had a great battle with Homebrew as we swapped places a couple of times and then I slowly pulled away from him and was closing on Doogle for 6th. Unfortunately touched the grass before the first tunnel and was back to 10th again. fought my way back to eight and was trying to get to Homebrew on the last lap and fell from 8th to 9th with a spin two corners from the flag. A very frustrating race. I think I threw away a fourth place and maybe even third as my late race pace on worn tires was pretty good. Ah well, there's always next week. Hatfield: Started second and had a good start. Was side by side with Dutch for a few corners before he got ahead and started pulling away. The gap kept increasing and then stayed steady at 7-9secs until the end. Then I realize I couldn't see turbo and he actually won the race. Well done! disturboed: Yeehar! A fantastic result for me, max points and the trifecta of pole, win and fastest lap. I didn't feel all that confident coming into tonight, looking at a podium, but I thought there were some others who may have had more pace. In practice I was consistently managing low to mid 1.27's and the odd occasional 1.26. In pre quali practice I changed a few things like corner entry on the right hander after the first tunnel and also gear selection on a couple other corners and it worked a treat. I was able to pick up half a second quite easily, and managed a low 1.26 PB time. Quali started and all I had to do was match that and I could start the race up near the front somewhere. After a few laps I managed to squeeze out a 26.4 and the same again the next lap minus a few more hundredths. It was good enough for pole. Dutch was second followed by Hatfield (who unfortunately I couldn't see). Got a good start and held the lead, controlled the pace up the hill as it is super scary on cold tires. By the end of the first lap I was 2.2 seconds ahead. I argued with myself whether to push on to try and build a gap or drive a little more conservatively to save the right front tyre in case there was a challenge from behind later in the race. I decided to be conservative and drive a little back from the limit. The gap remained at the 2-2.5 second mark for a laps back to 2nd. It then started to grow bit by bit, lap by lap. I was trying to save the fronts but managed to somehow throw in some consecutive 1.26 laps when it felt i wasn't even trying (lifting in places I'd hold flat for speed). I ended up doing my fastest lap of 1.26.551 on lap 9! Whilst it did get a bit lonely up front, I was certainly concentrating and managed to run a race with no mistakes whatsoever, all wheels remained on the black stuff. I was doing 1.27's for about 20 laps and only towards the end of the race I was doing 28's and 29's. I even managed a 28.1 on lap 29! The right front ended up about halfway worn on 5. So happy with the result, well done to the rest of the podium and also to everyone who stuck it out the whole race! Doogledave: I was a little disappointed with my performance last night. During practice earlier in the day and earlier in the week I was hitting the 27's with a low of a 27.1 so thought I'd hit a 27.x for quali but only managed a 28.x I found myself in 4th chasing Hatfield and for quite a few laps we were rubber-banding (I'd catch him then he'd make a gap, then I'd catch up etc) until I pushed too hard coming out of turn 1 and the next thing I knew I was running along the grass heading straight for the wall on the right. I (thankfully) managed to get back on track quickly and as Dek passed by I tried to stick with him. A couple of laps went by and then Dek pulled into the pits which moved me up to 6th place and from that point forward it was a very lonely race. 5th place was well ahead of me and I could see Emmo's triangle on the map slowly catching me. A ripple strip caught me unaware at one point and I thought it was all over again but it somehow worked out and I kept pushing on. The last few laps I knew there was no way I was going to catch the guys in front of me and when I saw Emmo's triangle spin late in the race, the pressure was off so I took it relatively easy to cross the line. Before my first spin I was feeling good and thought I could be fairly competitive this round - though I knew I'd never catch Turbo...but it wasn't to be. Finished mid-pack (again). Seems to be a recurring thing so I guess that at least indicates I am in the correct division and pretty safe to say I won't be moving up or down a division come next season, LOL. All in all, not too bad for my first season. I am feeling a lot more comfortable driving with the wheel now so I don't have anymore excuses left to use. It's all down to my driving now And well done again to Turbo. Thoroughly deserved win and way too strong. Get ready Div 3, I think you'll be battling Turbo soon! Dutch: Not a bad race but not as exciting as the previous rounds. Hadn't had any real time for practice apart from a handful of laps earlier on in the week and a 5 lapper race where i was struggling big time so i wasn't bringing much confidence into this round. During the prac session i soon hooked up at 26.7 which i was pretty happy with and also managed to find a lot of consistency around the low 27's. So qualy netted me second place with a LARGE gap down to turbo who was clearly the class of the field on the nite. First lap DRZ was in touch with me and then I made a common mistake for me at the turn before the lake which allowed DRZ to come right on me for the fist couple of corners of the next lap. Managed to hold the lead from his pressure from behind and started building a gap over the next 20 odd laps. I had no exact means of knowing how the gap to DRZ was growing but as turbo was pretty much extending his lead by a number of tenths each lap (most of the time) i gauged the distance along the back straight every lap to DRZ as also growing. So i felt pretty confident with my pace (which wasn't blindingly quick- probably quite average i reckon but enough so the position was safe) and set about being consistent. And i think i did a seasons best job for me here so i am pleased with that. Consecutive laps were often within 2-3 tenths of each other (the lack of a battle no doubt helped). Eventually the blue arrows of turbo and DRZ could not be seen along the back straight and i drove it out conservatively till the end. I believe DRZ closed the gap over the last coupe of laps but cant be sure by how much. Again, well done Turbo for a great performance to dominate the round. Haze: I enjoyed that one. Another relatively satisfying race for me. Managed to squeeze in to sixth on the grid with 1 sec remaining before the race start. My consistency seems to be getting better (don't want to talk too soon though). I'm still lacking ultimate race pace against the guys at the front of the grid, but it was a good challenge trying to catch Doogle. After he went off it was a pretty lonely affair. Looking forward to Motegi. Molch: Qualifying was pretty rubbish for me and overall lap times were a little bit disappointing because practicing through the week online I was in the low to mid 27's. Early on around lap 8/9 I was following Dek and who was behind hazeone. Dek spun and I went sailing past. I was actually looking forward to all 3 of us picking up the pace drafting etc. The gap between me and hazeone was just too much and lack of drafting meant it stayed like this for the rest of the race. It felt like every sector where i would make up a couple tenths I would then make a mistake and loose them pretty quickly. Overall consistency paid out for me coming 5th behind hazeone. Good work DRZ-Hatfield. Congratulations to Disturboed on the win, and also to GTP_Dutch and DRZ-Hatfield for the final podium positions. Stay tuned for Part 3. Division 3 Reporter/Photographer: Jamie (Ad2mny) Division 4 Reporter: DRZ-Hatfield Photographer: DoogleDave/hr31gts Editor: Jamie (Ad2mny)
