SEASON 9 RACE 7 ABU DHABI RACE REPORT

[Valerio Vinassa]

 

[Kennett Ylitalo]

The 33min server has Monza in rotation, just noticed when pressed "next track" to cycle back to qualy.. Can't understand how someone can go ~4 seconds faster on this track, just did my pb of 1:38.2 and had to drive at the absolute limit to get that..

I guess it was on them all...

 

[Dino Paolini]

Very big shame that the shifters of my wheel pretty much gave out completly today.
Sorry to all I've irritated as I had to rejoin quite a lot of time after a downshift was just hanging halfway in -.- Could have been a smooth drive to my starting-pos. which was p5

I think i should have quitted, instead of driving to the end, but the good thing is that I did not hit anyone.

I don't know if I can make Watkins Glen, I will try to manage a working wheel for then.
But I already know that I can't make Interlagos due to reasons unrelated to my problem ;(

 

[Kennett Ylitalo]

Not a great success, that's for sure... Racepace was surprisingly even but i made too much mistakes. On two spins i could swear pedal was peaking, really surprising, especially the first that ruined my good start.

In the starting lap, i had to ditch the chicane between straights. I was already braking fine, slow braking but in the front there was still concertino effect going on, more than anticipated but no contact there. I even gave up one position away just to be sure that i didn't gain on it.. It was really close of being spectacular pass of three cars or mayhem, decided very early on that it wasn't gonna be either..

Actually, i could've made that brake stick but i'm not so sure if all participants would've have time to react.. Plan was to pass one car there before the mishap, so that decision hurted a bit but after the turn.. I was just lucky for not wiping anyone out... Just a tad more speed would've done it..

Some passings were.. interesting.... One that went extremely well was the sean-tim-sorry i forgot who else was in that line of cars.. It went just like i planned it, guys got close on hairpin, i towed until Sean got beside, i had to then keep a little bit longer on full throttle until i could confirm that next behind was in safe distance. I let go off the gas just enough for Sean to slip by, then aim for the outside, wait until Sean isn't there anymore and serious slowdown. I believe everyone who followed could use their original drivingline? I felt it was very organic and smooth. Once had to ditch in the Hotel bridge, slight mistake on the turn in and i had already held the guy a bit, went off drivingline in very short straight and cutted corner to let next one pass.

Fortunately the runoffs are all tarmac here but those bumbs.. I could shoot the designer to put that kind of cut prevention that are invisible and really really dangerous. Unless you know exactly where they are, you ARE going to spin in the middle of the track..

EDIT: i found out how to join the traffic here from pits.. Just go to the runoffs, stay there until T2... Easy situation with i think three cars in a neat pack got thru and didn't even have to think about me.

 

[Peter Marshall]

Congratulations Reik, Sean and Tim.

Welcome back Jim.

My start was compromised with an incdient. Overall though I had a very good time including some close racing with Viince, Dino, Nico's Pit exit, Kurt and Kennett and with no further incidents.

My fuel calculations, stolen from Anthony's side of the garage, were all wrong. 60L * 3 equaled 22 L too much at the end. Better than too little

C U all at watkins. Appreciation to everyone!

 

[Marko Vuori]

Congrats to Reik, Sean and Tim, as well as Jim also for a nice comeback race

I got too few practice laps on this circuit, which was one of those totally new tracks for me. Race day came too quick for me, and still at race I could find some ways to go certain corners quicker. Did not expect too much of results here, just to make incident free race, and that´s what I did

Qualifying: 6th (1:36.476)
Ok lap with no big risks. Position was pretty good considering few practice laps.

Race: 5th

My race strategy was 2 stopper with 55L fuel and SS/S tyres for each stint.

I got an ok start and managed to get side by side with Dino before T1. Actually Jim, Dino and I were all three side by side before T1. Since I had the inside line, I was able to come out first after T1. First lap was interesting as Sean, Reik, David and Tim were fighting heavily in front of me. Due to this fighting Tim went a bit wide at T17 and I was able to overtake. After that Tim kept on pressuring me constantly. On lap 11, he finally managed to overtake me back at chicane (T8, T9). After that my race was pretty lonely and I did not get visual contact on my competitors for the rest of the race. However, I had to make sure the gap to Jim, who was behind me, would hold. Pit stops went fine. Finally I finished 5th, which is okay from this race.

Conclusion: Pretty much the maximum result here with this practice. It is more difficult to be competitive in new tracks, and it would require a little extra effort.

Thanks to Presto GP and all the competitors!

See you at Watkins Glen

 

[Valerio Vinassa]

startegy 10laps SsSs 42lit than 2pit 16laps SS 58lit
Q14th
R15th
was not so bad my thought in first stint Im arrived until 10th position from 14place but a couple of fault due at fear ( some car in spin/incident front me ) I lost all advantage so when Im out of my first pit Im in last position (think) but with big surprise around lap 15 or 16 when I passed front box i saw some guys in pit and gained 2 or 3 place that I lost after for 2 stupid mistake in T8 and T11, was gained with sweat.
Summa: Im really happy for first part of race Im behind Bob good battle with Eliezer and Kurt is nice do T11 T12 T13 together and side by side. too short the battle with Nico and Peter hope next time will be more long.

Congratulations to Reik, Sean, Tim and all participants
Thanks PrestoGP for event


PS: Im wrong or in this track the problem with frame/sincro/lag etc... is more intense ?
First time that i suffer so, is winter time? frozen telephone cables ?



PS 2: late no needed but is remained me in mind sorry Reik for hit you in last practice start placeT14 I take this opportunity (practice/start) for push/risk a bit more in anycase nothing happen is practice session and tried an overtake is always fun.

 

[Jim Hawley]

Picked a tricky track to come back to after 6 months off

Q, P8 very steady lap and not all that fast, but P8 is ok

R, P6

Got off the line resonably well and went to the right of Marko, stayed right out on the outside of T1 to stay out of harms way and exited behind Marko and Dino, followed them for a while until Dino had his wheel issues and went off, then tried to peg the gap to Marko for the first stint, couldn't do it, the gap grew to arond 6 sec before the first pit on end of lap 14, I had a problem remembering which of my two buttons was pit lim and tear off (its been a while) so I used up 5 tear off's trying to turn the limiter off but I exit with around the same gap to Marko, the gap grew a little more before pit 2, after that I tried to push a bit in the third stint to see if I could bridge that gap but I just made small errors and didn't acctually lap any quicker so the gap grew to around 9 or 10 secs, at this point with 30 sec to the car behind (Ant I think) I decided to cool it and cruise round to the end with a visor full of bugs

Finished P6 which I'm more than happy with

Grat to Reik, Sean, Tim, David, Marko and everyone else, especially Nico as always

Good to be back, the blisters on my fingers should be healed by Watkins , see you there, if not before

Jim

 

[Reik Major]

Hope to find the time soon to write a report this time. The race was as good and intense as last one in Austria. Shame on me I faild to write a report about that race.

PS 2: late no needed but is remained me in mind sorry Reik for hit you in last practice start placeT14 I take this opportunity (practice/start) for push/risk a bit more in anycase nothing happen is practice session and tried an overtake is always fun.

Don't worry mate. All good.

 

[Valter Ostman]

Grats podium and thanks all my racing buddies
Nice to see you on track again Jim.

Q: last

R: DNF
Mother nature played a trick on me and I had to quit. Now I look forward to next race.

Thanks Nicolai, Daniel, RD, Gunthar, MMG and all involved.

See ya in Obama Land.

 

[Bob Miley]

Most enjoyable race yet.

Q: 11
R: 10

Still getting used to my pedals working as they should. Got a good enough start and stayed clear of trouble early on. Went 60L M/M first stint, 54L M/M second and 48L S/S for the last 16 mins and it worked quite well for me. At one point had to let the leading pack through and think I may have blocked off the last of them as I thought they had all passed, sorry to whoever that was. Kept a nice steady pace and was rewarded with a mistake free race (except optionally going slightly off track to let faster guys through) so very happy indeed.

Congratulation to the podium and all finishers.

Thanks to Nicolai, Daniel and everyone for a good race.

 

[Anthony Ishak]

My fuel calculations, stolen from Anthony's side of the garage, were all wrong. 60L * 3 equaled 22 L too much at the end. Better than too little!

22 L is a bit too much, i had the same amount of fuel and finished with 6 L I guess .

 

[Nicolai Nicholson]

A picture speaks a thousand words they say, therefore I (again) present my race report in moving picture format

I had a great first 2 stints (save the incident with Chirlie) with many great battles, then my last stint I was suffering from lack of concentration and made stupid mistakes.

Grats to Reik, Sean and Tim, and to all finishers, sorry for Valter and Eliezer who could not complete. And congrats to David for last race, I think I forgot to write that in my last report, and David winning does not happen every day (no insult intended)

 

[David Turnbull]

qualifying - 3rd, 3 of us on 35.6 very close but sean out in front.

race - 4th, started well and held my position, reik made a mistake a short while later and i took his 2nd place and tried to keep the pressure on sean, reik managed to get past when i made a misjudgement and went defensive too early and he just coasted past with a good move, me and sean were very close at the first pits and we managed to get out in front of reik and it stayed this way until the 2nd pits, where reik had taken first place by pitting earlier and undercutting both me and sean, now i had tim on my tail and fighting with sean in front, i tried a pass on sean at t1 and failed to get the car slowed in time so i went off onto the run off and had to stay there until turn 3 as i didnt want to jump back on track in front of tim, i was now in 4th and it stayed like this until the end, was a very exciting race alot of close stuff and strategy.

grats reik and rest of podium, cya all at watkins

 

[Chirlie Williams]

Q - was 9th

R - was great race and had a few good battles with Nico ,managing to sneak 8th place with a few laps to go

cyas at watkins

 

[Reik Major]

Grats to Sean and Tim for completing the podium and to all finishers.

Qualify (2nd):

I was a bit nervous and therefore had some slight apex misses here and there. In sum an average lap, so I was happy still getting in 2nd position with a 1:35:6xx. Two drivers behind me also made 1:35:6xx. Grats to Sean for a superb pole doing a 1:35:2xx.

Race (1st): softs 58l / softs 54l / softs 54l

I had a nice start so I could drive a decent line through T1 close behind Sean who started well, too. I chased him close and had good slipstream down the second long straight. Sean drove a defensive inside line and braked a little bit early, so I was able to pass him on the outside before the middle sector chicane combo. Still enjoying myself I touched the grass on the outside only a few corners later and had to go next to the track. So rejoining carefully I was back in P3 behind Sean and David. Behind me Tim went off into the following tight right hander. I think he was a little bit irritated by me but the replay shows that I rejoined the track safe enough far in front of him. I think he lost 2 places, sorry Tim.

The pace on top of the field was very close. I did hard to follow David closely. But later in the stint I came closer until I had a good slip stream along the first straight. David goes defensive and brakes a little bit early, so I was able to make an outside-inside-move through the chicane.

I think my gap to Sean was ~ 4 seconds when the first stop came closer. I decided to go in early in the end of lap 13 to possibly undercut Sean or at least gain something when being on fresh tyres earlier. I left the pit in 8th position close behind Eliezer. I chased him down the first straight and had a good slipstream so I went on the inside to outbrake him. Eliezer braked late too and managed to hold the outside through the left turn, so the right turn was for him. We "tryed" to take the right hander side by side but unfortunately had a tiny little contact (declared race incident) which sent me in a 120° spin, facing the incomming traffic. I let Nico and Bob pass to rejoin safely behind them. So I was back into 10th. I think I lost ~ 5 - 7 seconds there.

One lap later Sean and David had stopped too. To my surprise David in 2nd was again close in front of me. Sean in 1st was ~ 6 seconds ahead. Through the whole second stint I was pushing hard to follow David close but there wasn't any time I had the chance to attack. But this way we came closer to Sean.

For the second stop I decided to come in earlier again to possibly undercut David and maybe Sean this time. When I stopped in the end of lap 26 David was close in front and Sean ~ 4 seconds ahead. The stop went perfect and I was able to leave the pit perfect as well, having no traffic at all. I pushed very hard on the new tyres and drove 2 very good laps, so when Sean and David pitted 2 laps after me I had gained enough on my fresh tyres to pass both of them. Now I was 2st with a 4 seconds gap to Sean and David.

For the first time in the race I could drive by my own. So being in a good rhythm and on fresh tyres now I was able to increase the gap to Sean lap by lap. Remembering the last race in Austria I drove it home fast and concentrated without making mistakes. So I finished in 1st with a 15 seconds gap to Sean and Tim.

I like to thank again Nico very, very much for running this outstanding league and of course RD for this nice place and MMG and Gunthar for this very enjoyable mod!

PS: Reviewing the latest races I'm very happy to be more involved into racing with equally fast guys then I was in the past. That increased the fun very much and I'm looking forward to even more great and close races.

PPS: Lapping is always as safe as possible, so thanks very much to everyone involved!!!

 

[Reik Major]

R: DNF
Mother nature played a trick on me and I had to quit. Now I look forward to next race.

Hm, makes me curious. Did an Elk run through your house and stumble over the internet cable?

 

[Kennett Ylitalo]

 

[Reik Major]

Sounds like a nice scandinavian team name.