SEASON 14 RACE 5 - MONACO - RACE REPORT

[Valerio Vinassa]

mandatory finish the race

 

[David Turnbull]

Qual - 4th

Not good laps, too many mistakes.

Race - DNF

I think this is my first DNF in 3 seasons, It definatly was one of the worst showings I've ever put in the league, I dont even drive like that on public servers.

Race started, overtaken by Peter, from there made mistake after mistake until I got so annoyed and embarassed I gave up for everyone else's sake.

Watched a great race unfold, grats to Dino and all the guys who managed to finish a very hard race.

Cya all at Canada

 

[Mark Breslin]

I survived .!!
Like some, I too considered pulling out, partly due to work, but mainly due to talent (or lack of) around this circuit.
However having always loved driving round this circuit, I elected to change my setup for a much slower BUT stable setup with the aim to keep running on the black stuff without visiting the surrounding obstacles!
.......and it worked! Sadly, not many battles except keeping an eye on the timed gaps to judge if to pit and/or when?
Grats to all that finished, especially to the podium.

 

[David O'Reilly]

Well I had fun thanks.
Quali P11, when David T had damage it put me in P10.
I was on the back of a train of 4 (P11 to P8) for quite a few laps but I was a bit slower to clear a lapped car and lost contact.
Somehow through the stops I ended in p9 with Nicolas Rouge on my gearbox with good pace and planning to get past. Being Monaco it was not easy to do that. I managed to have a gap when it was needed and things were looking ok for P9 maybe! Only issue was my fuel was -2.5 litres so I had started to try some fuel saving which put Nicolas closer at some parts of the lap.
Sadly on lap 33 I was looking at the gap to P4 who would be lapping us soon and ran wide onto the marbles at Massenet losing the left front corner of the car.

I really did get into that "Monaco zone" a couple of times where you do a lap but dont think at all.

Thanks all for a good race.
Thanks organisers too.

 

[Valerio Vinassa]

Q:12th mine PB
R: 11th
First stint even without overtaking or attempts was fun a mix between concentration on track and look on gap front and back no big mistake and Im on my pace.Time of pit I did a lap then I met @April Dillon same situation like Vettel and Hamilton behind safety-car Im in front but in T3 Massenet lost car hit here and there(I described this in the thread inc.rep.) lost a bit the concentration when I came back on earth I realized suspensions damage the car was yet drivable not so good but a pit it would cost me a lot of time so I tried to find the end but in penultimate lap I saw and hit some wings on gallery, who?unlucky, only 2 laps and race was finished a hit now is no good then I saw in pit,was April, instead in last lap at Rascasse I saw @Sean Greenlaw parked no one behind me so put reverse gear and push Sean until checkered flag.
I finished the race and this was my goal I did my pb on quali and my best lap on race better than this?

Congratulations to Dino Artyom Nicolas and all participants

C U at Montreal

 

[Nicolas Delamare]

Qualifying lap: 1.20.1x for the 8th place, around my PB.

Race: good start 'cause I've almost pass 2 cars.First laps were very good for me, I was consistent, comfortable and focused on racing line.
No mistakes at the horizon, it's the main target: run, don't touch the barriers.

I laughed in myself when I saw a car on the outside of T3, in the marbles, trying to recover the road !!
Then @David Turnbull spun on T3 I saw the yellow flag and stayed on the inside (because of what I say above) but he was right there, and like some of us it was question of few centimeters on right and left to make contact.

At a certain moment someone (@Martin Floeck or @Peter Decker I can't remember) made the car jump before T3 around the braking zone and spun at the same corner and it was a little mess to rejoin the track, very stressful moment to put the neutral then the first gear, full throttle to be on the right way... but we've well managed that !

Then it was a long battle with @Martin Floeck for the 5th or 6th place (I can't remember !!), it was good ! Finally I think you made a mistake (or pit).

For that race I decided not to pit ! I think it has worked, I finish the race with a very little red sheet at the front-left, and 1 square for all the others, and 78L bringed me to the end with 2L remaining !

But @Peter Decker was faster than me and reduced the gap from 13 seconds to 1 single second..but what happened to you after ? You disappeared 15 seconds behind ! Atm, I was relieved of course because you would have overtook me easily ? And at the same time I check the ranking to see gap reducing with the 3rd place.

Finally @Sean Greenlaw was very slow at the end, I think that you must had a critical damage and eventually a lack of fuel, as I saw you completely stopped with 2 corners remaining.


So big thanks to everyone, congrats to @Dino Paolini who've leaded all laps, thanks to my ADSL provider for gaving me such a great connection: I haven't got any interruption, thanks Orange

The harder race is behind us, now it's time for much more speed in Montreal.

 

[Richard Hill]

Practice was really good for me I started to get into a rythem around here but just couldn't get any confidence that the car would stick at some points as others I could have gone quicker.
I decided not to qualify as I would have only have been 1 or 2 places higher up so I didn't see the risk getting in someone's way.
The race start was good got into 14th by the first corner. Three laps later or so exiting the swimming pool section I hit the barrier there (not hit that barrier all through practice as it was the only section of the track I was confident in) which caused suspension damage. Spun at the last turn and I was now last. Tryed to keep going but going down the straights with 90 degrees right hand down is no good. Pitted and realised as I left my pit box they wouldn't repair the damage so I decided that was the race over as it was almost undeliverable at that point. All in all I was disappointed with my self and for my first Monaco presto race after not racing before due to dont being able to get around there with the f3000. Maybe next year but Canada next and I love that one.
Congrats to the podium and finishers see you at the next one

 

[David O'Reilly]

I forgot to mention what a great opening lap at Monaco, not contacts all clean well done all.

 

[Peter Decker]

Q - 5th
Was lucky to get a fast lap in at first try when I tried to take it steady

R - 5th
In the practice starts I tried out new ways to throttle more aggressively which paid off - boom, passed @David Turnbull in T1.
First laps, I more or less was in @Artyom Aslamazyan 's gearbox until some small mistakes and then a bigger, so @MOOOOOOOOOSCHT (with @Nicolas Delamare behind) came 2 secs close. I managed to extend that some secs so it felt ok. P4 felt like mine.
When people starting to pit, I seriously thought about skipping it, or at least until I flat spot hard. Yeah, shouldn't have thought that. Next lap, in for pits. Only to realise after a couple of more laps that Nicolas, now in front, probably was not going to pit. So after some cautious laps I started to hunt like A SHARK
Around 15 secs became 1 sec when two-three laps left. Then, hugged the outer spider-micro-claw-filled wall in T1 with its tiny red f***ing super-miraculously-sticky end-post. Wheel displaced at 90 degrees, woho.
Even if it would have been hard to overtake Nicolas, Sean's fuel-draining lead-foot had made me P4 - now I came in P5 seeing Super-Vale and Sean resting by the finish line, having late afternoon tea after a good nights towing shift together , me being late by just a couple of secs

I had a fun one again yesterday! Thanks all who showed up!

Grats podium! Glad to see Dino once again had no disturbance Stable again by Arty, and Nicolas - unpredictable as always!

 

[Dino Paolini]

Q: After getting in a really good lap on my second try, I thought let's throw the car really hard into the third lap and see what happens. Somehow managed an awesone lap driving very hard.
Went for a last attempt again throwing it around with full force and it became even a bit faster.
This car can really take crazy abuse in Monaco.

R: I was glad there was no madatory stop here, because even though I didn't know if it makes any sense in terms of actual laptimes, I was really looking forward to try make the tires last for 60 minutes.
This meant I had to focus on acceleration out of all the very slow corners to always prevent wheelspin. This took away any concern about touching walls and stuff, because the concentration on the wheelspin was a prefect distraction from that

I could not drive away from Sean and Artyom, but I was already on the highest pace I could afford with my tyres so I did let Monaco take care of the defending of the lead

My biweekly holy **** lapping moment came when I tried to lap Martin O. (I think) and he drove into a wall on the straight out of the tunnel almost spinning into my lane.
The rest of the lapping was actually better than most times, even when it involved some braking and waiting, which is not a problem on this track.

In the end it was looking to get really close with Artyom closing in from behind whilst I was focusing everything on getting as low of a load on my reartires as possible
This time I was the lucky one with no incidents and I was happy to win my first race on the modern Monaco version that I have actually ever completed

btw: I hope noone ever mentions lack of grip anymore with this car please. The pole-time here was ~5,5 sec faster than this years FR 3.5 pole.

Grats to all participants, also for the nice finishing rate.
See you guys at Canada, which btw should be the hardest track in the calendar right after Monaco

 

[MOOOOOOOOOSCHT]

Q: Was not very happy, because i don`t reached my PB.

R:
At start i was able to keep my position, but with breaking out in a sweat
Nicolas Delamare and me went side by side through the very first turn ...
finally i was the lucky one
Cool maneuver from both of us i think

Was almost able to follow the top group, the gap grows slowly, what makes me happy,
but Nicolas was hunting me ...

In Lap 8 at turn 3 another break out in a sweat
When i came around the corner is saw David was standing backwards
in the middle of the track
I just closed my eyes and saw the crash in my mind, but nothing happend
I passed between David and the barrier, i only striped slightly the barrier

Nicolas was still hunting me, the gap was permanent increasing and decreasing ...
Was quite pressure for me

Finally in lap 18 i lost my rear at turn 3.
I also implicate Nicolas in my accident, because he was close behind me, sry for that.
I was standing against the driving direction and tried to reverse as fast as possible,
but i heard a group of cars coming soon, so i pressed escape to avoid a pile-up.

Grats to the podium and all others and thx to the organizing team
Again a great event

Martin

 

[Sean Greenlaw]

Q:2nd Pretty good, poor practise couldn't get a lap, so happy p2 pole out of reach anyway.

R: 4th

I was thinking this would have been a great race to watch, practise looked David pole easy, q switch around, then race would think easy Dino.
Through race tho felt a lot faster so pitted early time dropped rapid so thought if dino stopped easy into lead but no sign off stop so plan b push like crazy and Artyom was onboard with this plan lol.

In the end made a mistake entrance to tunnel damaged car I was 2.5 sec slower a lap now.

Would have just held onto 3rd if never ran out of fuel but was quite exciting race overall.

Also maybe been exciting end if me or Artyom made it to the end catching Dino without any problems.

Grats Dino, Artyom, and Nico d
Thanks PrestoGp, David, RD

Cyas in canada

 

[Valter Ostman]

Grats podium!

I drove a couple of laps before misfortune struck. After Rascasse it was a car standing that moved sideways towards the line I was going to use to pass it. There I probably got a problem with the front geometry. After that the car was even more uncontrollable. For security reasons I decided to finish the race without completing.

Thanks PrestoGp, David, RD

 

[Artyom Aslamazyan]

Here is my little report.
I did my best in qual, set my pb but was only third.
Monaco is Monaco and overtaking is impossible here. So I'm really happy to gain a position during race and finish second. Thanks to light damage setting that helped to continue after tunnel crash with April). Dino was fastest and did a good job managing tires and speed.
Grats Dino, Nico and all finishers!
See you soon in Canada)