SEASON 11 Race 4 MONZA RACE REPORT

Valerio Vinassa · Oct 23, 2013

throttle at floor

Guus · Oct 23, 2013

Everything just went horribly wrong for me

In qualy I caught up half way with the person ahead of me who was a lot slower (I did not expect him to be as slow so I thought I had a nice gap but I didnt)
The race I just really want to forget. I had not practiced a lot and not at all in the wet. I was really suprised with the sudden wetness as the track started to become ice when I barely even realized that it was raining. Ran wide into the gravel a couple of times and lost my front wing in the lap I realized it was raining. After I pitted for wets it went quite well, I was on the same pace as the leaders but obviously miles behind on track. As it started to dry up I was struggling with the ridiculously placed wet patches and spun another 1000 times. When I finally learnt what parts of track to avoid I managed to make up a few places in the final few laps, but I still finished over a lap behind David

Grats David and podium

Alberto Casado · Oct 23, 2013

When you finish a race like this.... what a BLAST. I cannot believe I like this kind of torture, I am completely soaked.

Q 20/22 (I think), quite bad lap, as usual.

R 15
At first chicane total stand-still for jam. Lost my two positions. Quickly regained them from other mishaps.
Some laps of race normalization, then the storm started, and boy, friggin hard it was. I crawled to pits to change for wets, and still when pitting out almost binned it on first turn.
Won quite some places due to good pit timing. Then after a while the rain stopped, and track began to get dry. It was my first experience with overheated tyres, really terrible grip, not sure what is worse, the wet offline or the hot race line.
Made my second pit stop for slicks, and this last part was a real thriller. The parabolica almost got me on the first try, seems my usual line crosses a wet patch. Then I had Richard hill chasing me slowly for like 20 minutes, gaining a second per minute, tic, tac. Ended up looking too much to the deltas and off track, so lost the position to him. Well fought.

I actually had a crash on the very last lap, and then turned that Richard had one too. No chance to catch up with aero damage anyway, and he deserved the position if only for the several seconds I must have gained cutting chicanes every time I blocked on brakes (many, many laps).

Kennett Ylitalo · Oct 23, 2013

Tricky, very very tricky.. That flood was.. a bit overkill but that's the weather sometime sin real life too..

Qualy: 3rd to last, knocked .8 from PB and lost 7 tenths in that lap. Steeve had to suffer, he managed to almost catch me on first hotlap and those 7 tenths over the lap and he was impeded. Sorry, i couldn't do anything, team boss shouted just "push, push"

Race: 13th. It was really eventful but i keep it short:

Started with 88 liters. Change after practice laps to 2 stopper. Lap 6/7 was right time to change to wets, overshot pitbox, lost 4 seconds. Then the flood.. almost undriveable but managed to keep myself out of trouble. That lasted... i don't know how many laps when it started to show signs of drying, dialed 9 liters less fuel, 28 minutes left and another perfect timing. Track had nice damp groove and i started catching people! Me! Catching others! And passing them! (albeit, they were off track at the time

) That felt good but then others found the line and i lost couple of places. Then came Vincenco.. Poor Vince, had to just drive behind as i was hogging the dry line 100%. Had to really be careful to show what driving line i was taking very very early, he had to drive on wet part: no chance of braking that thing. He passed me in the last lap when i finally pushed long in to the wet part n Lesmo, we went side be side but he did one of the best brakings ever seen, on damp, outbraking me on dry.. Kudos, i saw the car twitching, that must've felt scary.

That lapping was in the last and just before.. i don't know, i have to hear from Vince was that fair. 3 cars coming, behind each other and i noticed Vince was trying to be in their tow and slip past... But i managed to just break between lappers and him in T1. I don't know if he expected that but i didn't feel any touches. If it was legal move, it was one of the best i've ever done. I had to split the trio, sorry about that but i was fully on racing and if would've let all of you pass me at the same time, i could've not recover. So went for the gap in Parabolica, there was plenty of space but i impeded someone (guestimated 0.4s). Let the lapper pass pretty late in the straight and slotted back to my original place. Feedback on that whole situation is required, i want to hear how it was from other cars.

That when i'm short, ugh?

EDIT Checked replay, that was totally legal, didn't impede, didn't block.. That must've hurt so much that Vince did that overtake on the same lap

Shorter gearing worked again, people had real troubles catching me on straights until it was too late. Topped at 276km/h.

Richard Hill · Oct 23, 2013

Quali P15
Race P14

Quali lap was slow enough said lol

Race went well except the rain caught me out to be honest as I didn't practice in the wet so my pace was slow. Overtook three times into t1 I think In total and had a good hunt for p14 towards the end when I could feel I had grip again. But mostly ran by myself. So all in all I can be happy but I think if it stayed dry I would have been better off.

See you all at the next one

Valerio Vinassa · Oct 23, 2013

Q 16
R 16 or something like this

sure not a nice race for me too mistake when wet mine fault and lost a few of frame rate in Lesmo and Parabolica with rain so mistake again but 2 things are good this weather sun, rain, clear sky and hidro track and my PB 1:38:186

I gain think 0,7sec. not bad Thanks Sean

I use your set up for Q

Congrats David Sean Peter
Reik unluky last meters

Kennett Ylitalo · Oct 23, 2013

^^ Same here, FPS drops at Lesmo and 2nd chicane. Lost couple of seconds per lap taking those extra carefully. It eased when it sprayed less in the end. Looking at replay and that was one of the best performances, i didn't remember that i actually overtook people dry, rain and damp.

About that look-ahead "method". It totally works, couldn't do it fully today as starting official practice i felt nervous and not confident at all. Had to some changes to setup, very small that stabilized the car enough to get that confidence back. But once that happened, i started to look further ahead than usual and that kept very natural rhythm thru the corner and could carry a bit more speed in each of them. Estimated gain about 7 tenths and i think i was more similar to others this time (without those mistakes on qualy lap, it woudl've got me 1:37.9... Zero laps qualy practice, never less than 60 liters, most of the practice was with 100l...

I'm still slow at braking: when i tried to brake very late exit suffered a lot more than the gain was and lost time on straights. I'll keep the same thing going on the next race, looking at corners as a whole, not in parts.

EDIT: i need some feedback from drivers that i battled with today, i've been now twice in the midpack and it's somewhat a surprise (to all, i think...). So any naughty behavior has to be cut short, i need to learn fast. I might make a video from this race, might.

Bob Luneski · Oct 23, 2013

Q: 13th very disappointed. Made a mistake my 1st lap and at the start of my second hot lap, someone came out of the pits for their outlap and did not 1) wait to join until I was past (there was no one behind me) or 2) yield when it was obvious I was faster.

R: 17th Qual position wouldn't have made any difference. Race went well until Lap 7, gained a few places and had great pace

. Then it started to rain and it all went downhill

and it was all self inflicted. How many ways can you screw up in a single race and still finish? Let me count the ways...

1) Incident with Jim H at Ascari on Lap 7, thought I was totally clear, sorry again and hope that waiting and let you pass me helped make up for it.

2) Forgot about the weather report which resulted in 2 mistakes. a) I decided to go with a lower downforce setup that I tweaked last night to get a new PB of 1.36.4 and b) I did not have any Wet pit menu presets

3) Hoped I could make it until normal pits on drys, but could not. Went in @ end of lap 9, frantically changed pit menu to put on wets, forgot to put fuel in.

4) Had to pit for fuel on lap 13, forgot to turn off tire changing, so I got new wets after 3 laps. You can never be too careful LOL

5) It started to dry out and my wets were starting to melt so I decided to pit early ~ lap 21 to switch to drys and take on my last fuel load. Still wet in the pits and I spun leaving my pit stall hit the wall and had aero damage before I left the pits. Had to limp around the track and come back in to fix the damage.

6) The last 10 laps of the race were actually ok, except I had a gross miscalculation in fuel requirements and ended the race with 60 liters in the tank.

I may join the ranks of the Monza haters after this

Grats to the podium and all who participated. See y'all at Abu Dhabi

Dino Paolini · Oct 23, 2013

Q: Not great, but somewhat ok lap and p4

R: Start was not bad, but some guys braked later than at the practice starts on the actual start and I lost 2 places on turn 1 by taking it with no risk.

Lap 3 I got the incident where I lost some time and a position and it didn't really feel great to drive at this moment in the race.

Rain came and it became much more satisfying to drive around in the wet, even with a heavy car.
Stayed out quite long with overheating wet-tires, as slicks at a damp tracks usually feel very bad for me and it wasn't different today either.

Had no confidence with the slicks and no idea where I would slip and where I woudn't.
Also lost the car at the end of parabolica with snap oversteer out of nowhere, just before beeing straight and had to let Peter past this way. Had this almost happen again a couple of times on the same spot.

Reik had the same thing happening to him as well on the last lap, so it became p4 where I started again at the finish.
Still dissappointed, as I could go a bit better pace than usual at this track in practice, but in the race the confidence was never there, except for the rain-part which was fine.

-> q: 4th / r: 4th

This track is always frustrating for me, no matter the car.
I'm glad I'm done with it now forever in Race07

and certainly look forward to the next one which should be much more fun

Well done to all today and see you guys in 2 weeks

David Turnbull · Oct 23, 2013

qualifying - 2nd

tried to sneak in 2 superpole runs, the first was decent helped by a tow from guus, to be honest i think i couldve been further down the grid if not for the tow, but with the new qualifying format we are able to steal a small advantage now and again, i like that

race - 1st

crazy race, where to start

(probably from the start would be good)

started ok i suppose, then lost a position to sean at turn 1, was a bit annoyed at this as i didnt think there would be much passing so was hoping to keep 2nd at least through the first phase, anyhoo a bit of a fight with peter for a while which was good, and then a huge off at ascari, spun onto the right side of the track creating loads of smoke, through this i saw dino and tim get past and i started to worry i was having to settle for a lowly position, at turn 1 not long after tim and dino came together, they created a pile up in turn 1 with their cars and i had no chance to avoid so clipped tim, while they sorted themselves out i was able to get away and start catching peter in 3rd place, managed to pass him around turn 3 and then passed a stationary sean in between the lesmos, when i pitted i only put wet tyres on and stayed on my same strategy,i then pitted on lap 20 for fuel and slicks, it worked well and i was in 3rd place waiting for reik and dino to pit, when they did id managed to get a gap of around 6 seconds to sean and 25 to reik and dino, just tried to bring it home without taking parts of the car off with the many mistakes, had about 4 spins in the race, lots of off track excursions, a few cuts, i think i had more mistakes in this race than in the whole of season 10

, ill take the win though

grats to all finishers, thanks for the crazy weather daniel

cya all at abu

Alex Galyutin · Oct 24, 2013

Pheew, I did stay alive in that nightmare

Q 6th
Really happy with this result. I got much higher than expected to be. Almost PB (+0,2)

R 10th
Once again very good start, I gained 1 position by T1.
Later on 1st lap went wide at Lesmo2, lost few positions. Got Nico and someone else behind me in slipsteam before Parabolica. Slight touch, i'm off wide losing many positions.
When rain had started I spun at Parabolica, broken front wing.... Then pit-stop for wets, fuel and repairing. Back on track on 21st position

My pace during the rain was ok, I climbed a bit at the standings... But my mistakes always dropped me back...
When I saw Reik and someone else ahead pitting, I decided to pit for slicks and fuel. It was my last pitstop. Back on track with 100L onboard in very slippery conditions. I had many mistakes, few offs, spun many times exiting first chicane and parabolica.... Once I passed Nico with going off the track, had to let him ahead... And when got on throttle - one more off the track. That was terrible. But finally I got home on P10. It might be much worse having in mind all my mistakes.
But to be honest I expected more, I was really well prepared for a dry race. But I must say I hate rain, so I should be satisfied with P10 instead of possible DNF.

Grats David, Sean, Peter and all the survivors!

Thanks Nico and RD.

See you all at San Marino. How is the weather there this time of year?

P.S. I haven't seen replay yet. Maybe after watching it I will get more details to tell about this wet adventures.

UPD. My bad. Next race is at Abu Dhabi. So no rain expected I hope.

Kennett Ylitalo · Oct 24, 2013

BTW, we had very few DNFs in the worst driving conditions possible... Kudos to all finishers.

Kurt Kjellin · Oct 24, 2013

Was too optimstic when the rain started and lost a front wheel race over

Valter Ostman · Oct 24, 2013

Grats David Turnbull, Sean Greenlaw and Peter Decker!

Q 18. First attempt, a big mistake in dirty air. Second attempt. Got a little push in the right direction.

R DNF

First lap. Off in parabolica. P22 after that mistake. No wall contact fortunately.

Lap 22. P13. Helped off in Rettifilo chikane. Crooked suspension. Retiring. Saw no point in limping on. There was no racing left to do in that situation.

Thanks Nicolai, Daniel and RD.

Valter Ostman · Oct 25, 2013

Kennett said

EDIT: i need some feedback from drivers that i battled with today, i've been now twice in the midpack and it's somewhat a surprise (to all, i think...). So any naughty behavior has to be cut short, i need to learn fast. I might make a video from this race, might.

We had a nice battle I think. No violent contact or anything. I enjoyed it very much.

Anthony Ishak · Oct 27, 2013

Q 14th
R 8th
I just want to say big thanks to all who post their setups here especially David , Sean and Reik, your setups guys are very helpful , it makes my racing more enjoyable as it is removing loads of work for someone like me who barely have time to switch the computer screen on

.

I was under-prepared when I found out that the race was next day , thx to Daniel who reminded us about it

, and next day in the morning I logged into the forum and found Sean setup every where so I guessed he was very well prepared so I downloaded his latest setup and hoped for the best, I used the practice session to get used to it and I can only say man your setup was absolutely perfect ,very very pleasant to drive, once again big thanks m8

I started with 100 l fuel, I was heavy but had some good fight with Kennet for the first 6 laps or so , then after the pit stop when the rain fall I was in a group of few cars fighting with each other , Tim, Jim, Vince, me , Nicolai and BoB, . some close action with Jim in the rain for some laps

and the rest of the race trying to concentrate on not making mistakes in this tricky condition, I loved the weather here , well-done Daniel.

Grats David and grats to all

Thanks Nicolai and RD.

Sean Greenlaw · Oct 27, 2013

Q. 3rd Couple mistakes ascari and para cost me some time.
R. 2nd 95 90

Race was extremely enjoyable and with a lot of people with great pace, 1st stint up to rain I was able to stay quite close to Reik and with Davids early mistake felt quite comfortable until rain came then choosing the time to come in was cruicial and came in when it was around 34% wet lap 8/9 I think and just elected to put wets on no fuel. This turned out to be extremely good guess as I was in lead about 8 secs once everyone stopped for rain, unfortunately I made a mistake at lesmo 1 around lap 10 and was facing barrier had to reverse and straighten up losing places to David and Peter now being around 5 secs behind then with Reik on my tale.
Peter must have made mistake lesmo to and lap 14 we had some contact in 2nd chicane costing us both position to Reik and abit of a tangle in replay looked more like Peter avoiding my uber cautious braking at the time lol. The next few laps Me Reik and Peter had some fantastic close racing with passes and repassing.
Thankfully it started to dry up leading to when I had to stop around lap 18 so decided to just do my normal planned stop and put slicks on with fuel to end and became a race against the clock wit David 7 ish secs ahead Reik and Dino further ahead but yet to stop again. I think we were catching at quite a fast pace so I was continually looking at clock drop in time until I knew they would come out behind me and I was quite surprised they didn't stop sooner with time coming down so much.
Last stint was pretty good pace and David and me seemed to pull quite a gap maybe just finding drying line better than others but I also found the later drying part easier than on the wets and only wet practise I get is the wet sessions we have race day.
In the end coming 2nd was good although it could have been better without mistakes but then I think same can be said for a lot of top 5 guys.

Thanks guys and Grats David and Peter ! and everyone who managed to finish

Hopefully ill make next 1 cyas in Abu Dhabi !