1 GRAN PREMIO DE SPA FRANCORCHAMPS

[Xosé Estrada]

Results and standings are up!

Race replay is on results page (bottom left)!

Race broadcast replay is up on PSRtv (look inside STC web media section)!

 

[David Garcia]

Blimey, Erica bring out the champagne, we're bloody famous, lol!

Seriously Eckhart, my WOW is because I never expected that many... but if you bring the champagne I will drink of course!

 

[David Garcia]

great grid on a great track in a great series, big kudos to all who finished today, especially the guys in the beat-up cars. Thx staff, RD and PSRTV for making it possible.

"... As the broadcast was not very visible ..." since when have the Spanish been known for understatement?

LOL! Tried to be polite!

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

Results and standings are up!

Race replay is on results page (bottom left)!

Race broadcast replay is up on PSRtv (look inside STC web media section)!

Geeez, no rest for the wicked ...

 

[Simon Melhuish]

Well i got called into the car when Danny was having issues with his game. I had only had a few laps practice so having to qualify in the wet was somewhat challenging.. I managed 17th or something.

Not much really happened in race, a few offs here and there but i was expecting this due to lack of preparation. So finishing 10th was good for me and the team, even though i threw away a 9th place finish on final lap

 

[David Zafiu]

What a race,indeed it was a hard race,one of the hardest i ever participated!

First of all,i want to thank you David Garcia and Xose Estrada for taking care that everything to be ok. The formation lap went very well but i was keeping a gap of around 30m from the car in front of me to avoid any dangerous manuvers.

Now,the race!

I qualified in place 8th and my team mate Michael Brautigam in place 7th.
After first laps i and him managed to go up on 4th and 5th.....but my tyres weren't the good ones as when the session changed i forgot to look and change them again so i was running Hard tires on wet....it was like hell after lap 6 i think....so i started to lose places and made my first pitstop in lap 11 when i was on place 7th i think.
I changed the tyres with Soft ones as outside was getting dry and clear sky,but after only 2 laps of Soft tyres,suddenly started to rain again and my race pace was compromised.When we got at the half of the race i started to lose lots of places and find myself on 14th....i was like on ice,spin after spin....so i decided to pit again...this wasn't in the strategy,but with that tyres didn't had what to do.....i changed the tires with Soft again as,again,outside was getting better,sunny and dry circuit.
But like the last time,after only 1 lap started to rain again.....i struggled again to keep the car on the road untill my last pitstop where i refueled and changed the tyres on WET for this time because outside was dark sky and dump conditions and i tought that on the last 20 minutes of the race will rain again...but after 4-5 laps it proved to be wrong...everything go clear and dry when now i was having WET tires....so a screwd up race .At least i managed to get my self up to 12 in last laps from 15....

Nice race all of you,clean in general.....but i want to ask something David: Before the last chichanes there is a fast left corner....we were alowed to go outside of the track there?We were alowed to go with all 4 wheels on the exterior of the track for not losing speed? I did that only 2 or 3 times because of a mistake driving or cold tyres...but never cross the kerbs for going fast as i saw at least 3 guys were doing it deliberate

Thank you! PS:My team mate Michael Brautigam crashed on Eau Rouge when he was chasing 2nd place.

 

[Lucas Degen]

Congrats to Flatout. Downloading the race now to see it.

http://www.simracingteamchallenge.com/broadcasts-archive.html

Ciao all.

 

[Christopher Aponte]

joined to watch late, but it was a great race to watch....my team had a bit of bad luck, but hey that is racing

btw that ts3 does make a whole lot of difference...Eckhart your voice sounds fully different now lol

 

[Göran Johansson]

Nice race all of you,clean in general.....but i want to ask something David: Before the last chichanes there is a fast left corner....we were alowed to go outside of the track there?We were alowed to go with all 4 wheels on the exterior of the track for not losing speed? I did that only 2 or 3 times because of a mistake driving or cold tyres...but never cross the kerbs for going fast as i saw at least 3 guys were doing it deliberate

http://www.simracingteamchallenge.com/rules-regulations.html
Rule nr IV

 

[David Garcia]

Nice race all of you,clean in general.....but i want to ask something David: Before the last chichanes there is a fast left corner....we were alowed to go outside of the track there?We were alowed to go with all 4 wheels on the exterior of the track for not losing speed? I did that only 2 or 3 times because of a mistake driving or cold tyres...but never cross the kerbs for going fast as i saw at least 3 guys were doing it deliberate

Cutting rules are game cutting rules, as Göran Johansson was sending you to. Anyway we at STC have modified all the circuits in all the parts we consider a driver can winn time, in order of not allowing this and in my opinion at this point I think that going a bit wide there doesn´t make a diferece.

Apart of the pure sportive matter we really appreciate if the track limits are respected, but we had to set a clear rule and this is what it is.

Frome here I really want to congratulate all the teams having his first race yesterday because al brighted with their own light. FDR, Motor AG, Torrent Motorsports and Gubbklubben.se. And I am not joking if I say the series have grown and increassed the overall level with these teams.

Judging for what I saw yesterday I predict it will be one of the best STC seassons until now.

 

[Mikko Korkiakoski]

What a race this was for me. It's hard to describe the emotions I went through in this one. Anyway here's my few thoughts on the race.

I managed to get the pole with a good quali strategy. My lap in general was very poor and I was really surprised to see my name on top. So I was very excited to start on pole the first time.
As it happens my luck ran out there and as some of you saw Peter crashed into my rear in T1 and I fell down to P9. I had to work hard to get through the guys again but eventually I was able to climb back position after position. When the 1st pit cycle started I went to change to new dry tires which was a mistake as the rain just intensified and I had to go back and change to wets.
The wets however were only good for few laps since now it was starting to get dry again. So I just patiently waited for the track to dry enough so I could go back to dry tires again. I saw Rickard was around 40s behind me so my stop would have to be good. All went well and I managed to keep my lead and then after settling to the new tires it was an easy job to first make a bit of a gap and the just cruise safely to my first ever STC victory!

Congrats to Rick and Peter for podium result and also to my teamie Bryan for a good result despite some problems. Good to see both of the Club cars to finish aswell since this was a difficult race for everybody I think.

 

[Göran Johansson]

Chaos error chaos and the fun at any time.

In qualifying I was a little coward and ran with WET 10 place is ok
The race started well knew that I was fast but had no rush that's 90 minutes of racing.
After 7-8 laps in Eau Rouge so screwed up and I touch the wall.
Hurry into the pit because I had a puncture. On with four new tires. ups accidentally put the wrong tires wet. In and switch back to soft when I came out at the track was obviously going to rain again. Drove a lot of laps was hoping it would stop raining but it did not. Eventually I went into pit and put on wet and when I go out of the pit came the sun. drove the last stint on slicks then climbed up to 11 spot.
It was my first competition in STC and it was chaos all the time when I almost constant were wrong tires. And when I had the right tires so I was behind one of the leaders in the race and was nice to be behind so as not to destroy for the leaders.
So despite all the mistakes and misery, it was really fun.
Thanks David, Eckhart, Ross. Xose, Andreas, and everyone else that does it with this really fun contest form
Grats Mikko and the other podium guys
Göran Johansson Gubbklubben

 

[Ross Balfour]

Thanks David, Eckhart, Ross. Xose, Andreas, and everyone else that does it with this really fun contest form

Sadly, don't thank me, my game crashed moments before I was going to join the server to commentate so I had to sit this one out. But I did get a great experience of witnessing the behind the scene action of David and Xose working before the broadcast, the amount of work they put into the broadcast is outstanding, it's something I really took for granted before witnessing this, I hope I will be back behind the mic for Round 3 with the brilliant Eckhart and assistant commentator

Great race to watch, the skins and cars looked amazing and more importantly, most of the drivers had a bug-free night which was brilliant! Grats to Mikko, Rikard and Peter and well done all who finished that race, those cars looked awful to handle.

See ya at Le Mans!

 

[Michael Braeutigam]

so... it's a bit late, but i won't miss to write a recap of my debut... and due to my crash after 40 minutes it's a really short recap

i didn't have much time to practice for this race as i always have limited time due to my job. but i felt well prepared for dry conditions, capable of doing 13's with qualifying setup and having a good race strategy. but then the rain came and everything changed

at least i could grab 7th spot on the grid after being so cautious through my first wet lap in Spa and in fact with the Doran. after a good start and some chaos around me i found myself in 4th place after the first lap, but i absolutely wanted to challenge for a podium. when the track dried, my soft slick tyres began to work really good and i came up behind Mikko, overtaking him for a second. but then my tyres just went off and Mikko just disappeared the rain started again just before my first scheduled pit stop, where i again took soft slicks, hoping that no more rain would come. but then i absolutely lost it in the Eau Rouge and hit the barrier at the pit exit big time -> "damage is not raparable, race is over" it was only the second time in over 400 virtual races that i threw away a race on my own, but that's racing...

a big sorry to somebody i accidentally knocked off at the very beginning of the race. I think it was one of the FlatOut drivers, but he really braked so early and hard, that i was totally shocked. anyway i wasn't able to avoid because there was a car on my right side. (i think it's in Ross' highlight video) big, big sorry for that!!

so... i hope for some better results tonight, but regarding weather it could be another tricky race. let's see