This was my 4th or 5th race, I believe and I feel I can be of help to some of the new guys without sounding pretentious.
You all have noticed how racing this mod is mostly a war of attrition unless you grab pole or are in the first 4 spots on the starting grid.
Since I am not as fast as some of the guys here, I had to come up with a strategy other than "pedal to the metal" in order to finish the races better than last place or not at all. So here are my suggestions in the hope they may help others.
Car Setup: Number one, if you don't want to look like a chimney and break the motor, open up the radiator. The base setup is too closed except in really cold climates. I have seem many cars running around looking like James Bond Aston martin DB5.
Second, I have discovered that softening up the shocks and ARB gives me a lot more control in the turns and some badly needed grip. It also slows me down, especially in acceleration, so I keep a fairly low DF setting, as long as it is balanced.
With such setup I won't ever grab pole position (but one could run different setups for Q and race) and I am often on the losing end of 1:1 duels, but it keeps my car on the track and often that just enough to finish well.
Practice: I always practice with race fuel and soft tires. Before Q. I'll do a fewlaps with the Q. tires just to adjust my lines and braking points but the bulk of my practice is in race trim.
Qualification: I learned that the very worse starting place one can be in these races is the middle of the pack. Either you have enough juice to qualify at the front or you are better off staying back and be very careful on lap 1 not to engage in any position plays or make silly attempts to overtake on T1 or T2. If I see I have the speed with my Q trim and I can qualify in the top 6 then I'll try to go faster, but if, like yesterday, my best
Race strategy: on lap 1 I usually keep an eye on the mirrors to make sure no one is trying to overtake (and if they are I try to give them wide berth) and the other eye I train not on the turn but past it. yesterday I had to look over the walls for signs of smoke or flying debris and twice I avoided a crashfest doing that.
Once the group spreads out, I start looking at the pace of the drivers in front and behind. At this stage if someone is clearly faster than me, such as catching up from 3 or 4 seconds behind to being on my tail in half a lap, I let them pass. Slower drivers that are still faster than me, I make them earn the position but not to the point where I risk both our races. In other words, they have to pass me, but I won't defend the turn as completely as I could to avoid misunderstandings.
In the last few laps, no more Mr. nice guy but still if I see they are determined I may still choose to lose a position rather than end the race against the wall with 2 laps to go.
The actual race strategy is to keep the car on track and minimize mistakes. this works best when there are fewer drivers around to distract me. If I get into the grove I can actually lap pretty fast while still being fully in control and keeping some speed in reserve should I need to dissuade someone 7 seconds behind from mounting an attack (in that case, once they get to 5 seconds, I'll push a bit more hoping to send the message that I can match their speed, if they keep on coming,then they are faster and there is little I can do).
In the last 3 races this has worked out pretty well for me with a couple of podium finishes and a good number of top 5. I can honestly say that with this crowd if attrition wasn't a factor and everyone finished every race at the best of their abilities, I probably would not finish in the top 10 most of the times, but race strategy is part of racing so I don't feel bad about grabbing a podium finish over more deserving drivers.
I hope this helps someone.
glad i wasnt there. even if you win they dont see you 
