William: I'm already liking decent finishes. They're just rare and to be treasured at the moment.
Figured I'd do a full race report this time...don't believe I have the last couple of times.
Practice: I didn't get to practice offline much in the early evening, so when I came in around 8 p.m., I tried to sneak in as many practice runs as I could. I had fooled around with Sam's Vette setup earlier, but while it seemed faster, I was having trouble keeping it on the track. I therefore decided to use my homemade one, which was shorter geared and probably slower, but I had a much easier time keeping a handle on it. Ran a 1:27 in practice, which was slower than my personal best time, but I was willing to sacrifice some pace for not wrecking...reviews of my last couple of races led me to believe that I would've finished much better if I could've avoided incidents, especially early in the race.
Quali: Went out, felt like I was just getting warmed up when the game suddenly reminded me it was set for superpole.
So far that's made me go 'wha?!?' every time we've done that. Ran a 1:26.something, though, which was faster than practice. Started in 20th place. Not the most glorious starting position, but I'm used to it. Hehe.
Warmup: I've been known to skip warmup to run to the restroom and get a glass of tea, but I felt I needed as much practice as I could get tonight, so I ran a few laps and ended up getting a 1:25, which I had struggled trying to attain offline for three days. Seeing the time surprised me so much that I ran off track after I got it, and then I headed for the garage, and my glass of tea.
Race 1: Got a great start in and avoided most of the early incidents and jumped up to 16th place! This jostling around included a little side-by-side bumping with Eric E., and I had a brief idea that I'd end up in another four or five lap fight with him like a did at Rouen. It was not to be, because going into turn three, I braked too late and hit Dennis P's driver's side rear bumper. This put us both off the track and deeeep into the sand, which screwed up both our positions quite handily. I'm really sorry about that, Dennis. I put full pressure on the brakes when I realized I hadn't hit them hard enough, but it was too late. Anyhow, after some thrashing around in the sand, we get back on track in 20th and 21st. I stay with him and end up passing him in the S-curve, with us trading a little paint in the process. Willie W. had also fell afoul of the sand at turn three on lap two, and I end up in 19th. On Lap 4, I move up to 18th place when I pass Yves while he's in the pits. On lap 5, I 'pass' Alex W. the same way. However, by the point, I'm already having consistency troubles. I've bashed the wall in the 'S' already, and can't quite seem to go around any curve the same way twice, and this really bites me on lap 5 as I go sideways in turn one and let Dennis by. I end up back in 18th, and then 17th without passing anyone, which I assume are due to DNF's I didn't witness. While earlier I'd caught Dennis fairly easily, by this point he was way faster than me and drew away until he was about of sight. I continue to be very unstable in turn 1 through the rest of the race, and end up spinning there again on lap eight AND lap nine. I'm pretty confident that Yves would've caught up with me anyway, but the lap nine incident puts him right on my back bumper, and he passes me within a couple of turns. I end the race in 18th place, and I don't feel too bad about it due to the incident with Dennis on the first lap. I do feel that this race verified my 'for God's sake don't hit anyone' theory. Almost ran out of gas on this one, too...the engine was coughing when I coasted across the finish line.
Race 2: Starting in 18th, I actually don't have a very good start and end up in 20th by the time I reach turn one. The multi-car incident there, however, allows me to advance to 14th place immediately after the turn. I have some mild contact with Bob in turn three, and while I think I could've passed, I think that doing so would've been crappy even though neither one of us went off track. I ease off enough for him to pull slightly ahead, then pursue. I pass Willie when he, battling with Bob, goes off track briefly in the turn just before the 'S'. Christian passed me just after the 'S' and pulls away...I pass Bob after the sweeper when he spins which puts me in 13th which I keep until I'm advanced to 12th and then 11th over the next lap or so for reasons I cannot see. I pass William after he goes off into the sand on lap 5, which puts me in 10th! Glen's on my bumper for about half a lap until I go off into the grass, briefly, on the next to last turn. I keep up with him pretty well until a couple of near-disasters prompt me to calm down and be happy with what I got...I'm doing much better than I expected, after all. On lap 10, I pass Christian in the pits and move into the top ten again, according to the replay. I would've sworn, before watching it, that I finished ninth (I remember thinking 'almost in the points!'), but that may've been due to someone logging off. Either way...it's a top ten and I cheered.
All in all, I think I did all right in race 1, but my car felt uncooperative for much of it. I don't know if I messed up my tires early on or what. Best time there was a 1:28. In race 2, I felt much more confident all the way through. Best lap matched my warm-up pace, which, again, I had never before managed. I'm happy with myself for tonight's runs...I finished (technically) on the lead lap in both races, advanced past my quali position in race one, and ended up with my second full-grid top ten in race two while also avoiding any serious incidents. I do still feel bad about punting Dennis in race 1, and consider his leaving me behind later as somewhat karmic.
Had a whole lot of fun.
