SEASON 10 Race 5 SEPANG RACE REPORT

[Valerio Vinassa]

great fun with F3000

 

[Bob Miley]

Started 14th finished 11th, loved it.

Car handled better with a full tank and was a bit of a nightmare toward the end, but made only small mistakes and had my most consistent race ever here.

Congrats Marko, Reik and Helder

 

[Peter Marshall]

Congratulations Marko, Reik and Helder.

I'll add my Q and R positions latter...
Q 12th
R 12th

I had a balanced amount of luck at the start of the race; a little good luck and a little bad.
All in all, I had much fun chasing you all.

Thank you all.

 

[Helder Filipe]

SUPER RACE

 

[Bob Laube]

Congrats Marko, Reik and Helder


I had a lot of nice laps with vale

Grats all Finishers ( i think all has finish on Track )

 

[Marko Vuori]

Congratulatiosn to Reik and Helder for podium finishes and all the other finishers for making a great race Now it looks like there are actually 4-5 drivers, who are potential winners for each race. That's great!

Based on practice laps last week, I expected Helder and Reik to be in top form. I was confident that my pace here would be sufficient for a good race.

Qualifying: 1:45.269 (3rd)
Pretty ok lap, but not outstanding. To be honest I was a bit disappointed to be dropped in second row behind Helder and Sean.

Race: 1st
Not surprisingly I chose to go with one stop strategy, and start with 100L of fuel onboard.

My start was bad and dropped behind Helder, Sean and Reik to P4 before T1. Reik missed his braking point at T3 in first lap, and I managed to re-overtake him now running in P3. Soon it was pretty obvious that everybody were having one stop strategy, and that Helder, Sean, Reik and I had pretty even pace. On lap 5 Sean had small mistake at the start of sector 3. I was able to overtake, but Sean got slipstream for the next straight and was able to re-overtake me in the braking for the last corner. There was a slight touch there, and I lost grip for a fraction of second. That was enough for Reik to overtake me and I was dropped to P4. In the next corner, Sean and Reik had a touch, which gave me chance to re-overtake Sean, and when Reik in the next straight decided to compensate the touch for Sean, I was able to overtake him too and was running in P2 now. In the meanwhile Helder had had pretty good opportunity to pull away and our gap was 3.2 seconds on lap 6. On that lap Sean made a costly mistake, which gave me 2.5 seconds gap to Reik behind me. I was now free to chase Helder. I started to push, and by lap 14 the gap was only 0.9 seconds to Helder. Reik was then 3.1 seconds behind, so I knew I should overtake Helder quickly, otherwise Reik would soon catch both of us. On lap 17, we had lots of side-by-side situations with Helder and three small touches in one lap also, but still I did not manage to overtake. As a consequence Reik rapidly catched both of us, and was now right behind me. On lap 19 Helder decided to pit. I then knew that it was time to push as hard as I could, to be able to drop Reik and place myself in front of Helder after my stop. On the next lap I pitted and this time pit stop went very well. I came back at P4 around 4.5 seconds ahead of Helder. Reik then pitted on lap 21 and was narrowly able to keep his lead (well, to be exact Steeve was leading the race for 5 secs ), but I was right on his tail. I tried to pressure, as he had less experience on his now heavy post-pit stop car, and lucky for me he made a slight mistake on sector 3 before the two long straights. I got a perfect slipstream for the start/finish straight. Reik defended the inside line, but I went on the outside at T1 and was able to pull myself first out from T2. By lap 27 I had not been able to drop Reik from my pace, and I then noticed that Helder had joined us for the battle for winning, and made our duel a three way battle. I hoped Helder and Reik would slow each other down so that I could pull away, but that was not going to happen, and final laps were nerve wrecking as Reik was on many occasions in a good towing-distance. However, finally I was able to take my third victory of the season after an awesome race long battle with Reik and Helder by just little over 1 second.

Conclusion: Winning is getting really difficult as it seems like race after race there are more candidates for winner. Season is now at its half-way point, and I am very happy how it has gone for me this far. Next race will be at my favorite track in Shanghai, where I also expect a good result.

Thanks to Nicolai, RaceDepartment and all PrestoGP members. Was a great race!

See you all in Shanghai!

 

[David Turnbull]

qualifying - 5th

happy with the lap, wasnt close to the other guys in terms of out and out pace here so pleased to be as high as i was

race - 6th

got a really good start but unfortunatly for me marko in front had a longer gear ratio so his start was sluggish compared, i clipped his right rear tyre and instantly lifted off, at that moment i was swarmed and felt like mark webber does on one of his good starts , by turn 1 i was 8th or so just trying to get round unscathed, at turn 2 there was a spinner and a coming together, i had to come to a complete stop on the racing line and only good driving from the guys behind ensured i didnt get rammed up the.... ahem , moving on, at turn 5 there was a hairy scary moment when bob floyd spun and veered across the racing line, i went one way then the next to avoid and thankfully managed or it was race ending, someone else behind me wasnt so lucky though , after this i was back in 15th and all hope of a high points scoring finish was lost, i fought back through the field with some good racing against a number of guys and some good clean passes, happyish with the result after what happened on the first lap but couldve been much better

honorable mention goes to jim, some great racing, some of the best action ive been involved in

cya all at china (i cant stand china )

 

[Kennett Ylitalo]

wau... that was just epic! Reminded me of this Villeneuve vs Arnoux at Dijon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZki_DICqNQ..

Nice touch with the thought bubbles, made it very entertaining.

 

[Valter Ostman]

Epic battle David and Jim! Funny comments, lol.

 

[Jim Hawley]

My race was great fun

Mostly summed up in Davids video, I also had some good action with Nico, Dino and Steeve earlier, plus Nico R right at the end

Round the outside of a Red Bull at T3..... seen that somewhere before

Grats to Marko and the rest, thanks to DT for the duel

Jim

 

[David Turnbull]

Round the outside of a Red Bull at T3..... seen that somewhere before

yeah, helmut marko was raging on team radio when that happened i had to tell him to shut up and stop putting me off.

 

[Valter Ostman]

Congratulations Marko, Reik and Helder

Q: p15. Near my pb

R:14. I'm pleased to have finished.

Vincenzo Cavaliere, you made the evening very thrilling, thanks for the long fight mate Unfortunately for you (who was much quicker) my boss chose a better strategy.
Rest of the race just fighting the clock, only short encounters.

Thanks Race Director Nicolai, Weather Director Daniel, Race Department, Simbin Studios AB (and Steam)

 

[Steeve Fournier]

Congratulations Marko, Reik and Helder!!

Q: 6th, inside 0,2 of my PB, plenty satisfied with it. Sector 1 was really not the best i could do.

R: 7th Happy with it and so much fun i had fighting Jim and Nicolas Rouge

Start the race with 105L of fuel, planned to do 21 laps and refuel 85L I thought we'd go for 38L but we did only 37, so i was left with 15L at the end.

Had a so so start, lost a spot to Nicolas Rouge but gain 1 on David so i stayed 6th. After 3-4 laps i made a mistake at last turn exit, allowing Dino and Jim to pass me. Later Sean made a mistake so we were now a 5 cars battle for P4, N. Rouge, Sean, Jim, Dino and me... that was exiting!! I finally overtake Jim in T1 and he try to fight back in T3... resulting in a touch. So the 3 cars in front pulled away from us.

Doing constant laps, i finally reach N. Rouge and overtake him. So i was back at P6 when pit time arrives. I made a stupid mistake on lap 21 (last lap before pit for me), i was lapping Bob L. and kind of lost concentration in the fast right corner sector 2, i enter too fast and run in gravel. I had a complete spin and lost some 10 seconds there. Made another mistake entering the pits, maybe lose 2-3 sec. That allow David (who was 7 sec behind before his pit) to take my 6th spot. I was back at P8, 6sec behind Nicolas, was gaining a bit lap after lap to finally reach 7th place till the end.

Thats about it. More action to see in my video coming soon

Big thanks to Nico, Daniel, and race department!!

Now i need to learn a new track.... eeeekkk

Steeve

 

[Valerio Vinassa]

Congratulations Marko Reik Helder

Q not bad right my skill
Race: another great race after the start Im in 11th from 18th incredible is not possible my excitation is over run Im too excited so alway in lap1 in T9 outgoing I did a mistake wrong gears selection I put neutral gear for a millisecond car stalled tapped a bit Anthony back on me so I lost the position and 50% of excitation after some lap David overtake me but with a bit of fight and fun, nice skirmish in T9 with Richard in first laps then I met Peter, Kurt, Bob Laube,result: many laps together all in fight, I don't need anything else. Great race guys this is fun

sorry if I blocked/disturbed someone in T9 lapping I remember Marko (middle race) I thought this guy have good brake and Sean that have lost a positon vs Dino was lap 28 sorry Sean.


Thanks PrestoGp,RD,Weather man Daniel and all drivers


all in China now

 

[Richard Hill]

I really enjoyed this race my first finish with these cars with very little mistakes
Quali was crap to be honest two seconds of my personal best 17th.
The race started well got up to 11th or 12th but chose the wrong strategy went for a risky one tryed to make it work but couldn't. Was able to over take afew people and saw David racing up behind me and thought better than trying to race him. At the second stop put well to much fuel in so after that I was able to keep a gap to the guy behind in 17th at around 6 seconds so just made sure I finished.
Great race congrates to the podium and everyone else that finished
Sorry I haven't put names down I haven't been home since to watch the replay
Look forward to china

 

[Nicolas Rouge]

Q 10th
PB, I still don't understand how I could be so quick, after almost no training for Q.

R 9th
After an amazing start, I found myself at P5 chasing Reik, but that didn't last long. My pace was not so fast (I chose a comfortable setup for that race) so I had some long fights with others to maintain my position : Steeve, Jim, Sean, David and maybe others. I made almost no mistakes, and really enjoyed racing there. This track is so cool! Shame it didn't rain, I'm sure my setup would have been great in the wet.
CU in china.

 

[Nicolai Nicholson]

First of all, thanks for a great video David, I enjoyed it a lot, and some of the commentary made me laugh (especially the "multi 21" )

Congratulations to Marko, who is taking the leading role for the championship battle, Reik for his best race this season, and Helder for his 3rd place. I love the fact that we have many drivers capable of winning a race.

My race:
I didn't get to practice as much as I like, much due to easter holiday, so I was surprised by my pace, and 7th in qualify is the best I've done so far this season On the other hand, I always liked Sepang

For the race I decided to go for a one stop. Main reason for this is that I experienced last race that with a 2 stop strategt I easily get stuck in traffic and lose too much time. However, it turned out to be the wrong strategy, as I was not able to drive the long stint conistantly. If it was due to worn tyres or the long duration of the stintI I do not know, but i made too many mistakes.

Off the line I had a good start, and for the first laps I was hunting Steeve for 6th i think it was, but with multiple mistakes throughout the race I dropped steadily down to 12th before the race was finsished.

Regardless, I had many great fights with great drivers. Anthony I rememeber well, I love the fact that he doesn't make it easy for me, if I want to get past I need to earn it .

For the next race I plan to lift my game I need to climb some places in the championship, I want to get up around Peter, preferably ahead of him

 

[Sean Greenlaw]

Q. 2nd
R. 5th 1 stop 110, 88 litres, hindsight I think 110 79 would have been more accurate.

Start was ok manage to hold position and early in race felt ok and pace was good and thought extra fuel may help in pits. I made a mistake which dropped me back into fight with Marko and Reik my slight touch and then tap from Reik sos guys Reik lets me back passed and later in lap a wiggle from me and I go offtrack cost me a bit of time and position to Reik again.
Rest of race was pretty steady with Dino close behind and made another small mistake while lapping vale I got braking wrong np Vale Dino manages to pull pass and I wasn't able to contend position towards end. Nice racing again Dino.
Overall a really good race and without my own mistakes could have been better.

Grats Marko Reik Helder and all finishers wd to Richard

Cyas in china !! thanks Nico RD n Presto!

 

[Vincenzo Cavaliere]

Congratulations Marko Reik Helder

Well, after difficult moments my father is going better ..

Valter, no words! very nice race

No enough race practice very bad result, 2 stops was not the way, also I finish the race with 25 ltrs ..

thanks to all racers, Nico, Daniel and PrestoGP!!
see all at China

 

[Reik Major]

Qualy (4th):

I was happy with a quick and solid 1:45:4xx at such a tricky track. Didn't expect more from me but a better position with theat lap time, he, he. Thumbs up to all the quick drivers here.

Race (2nd):

I calculated to go safe for the first 20 laps with 105 liters and the last 17 laps with 88 liters.

I had a very good start so I was able to overtake Marko starting from 3rd and jump on Seans inside who started in 2nd. I braked late for T1 but Sean did, too. So he held the outside and got me on the inside of T2. This cost me a little traction so Marko made pressure on me. This made me completly misjudge the braking point for the next right hander, so Marko silpped through and I was happy still to be on the track in P4 again.

Helder pulled a little bit away in the lead and Marko and Sean also seemed to be a tiny little bit faster. So I tryed to find a good rhythm first and attack a little bit later. A few laps later I felt very good with the balance of the car and increased the pressure never loosing focus on driving clean.

At the same time Marko and Sean were in a battle, so I could close the gap by the end of lap 5. In the last left hander Sean made a pass on Marko, so I was able to out pace Marko on the sart-finish-straight and get into Seans slip stream. Reaching T1 I was late on the brakes but didn't think I was too late. Nevertheless the high weight of fuel caused me to go wider than expected so I pushed Sean to the outside when overtaking him. Marko also overtook Sean in this action and made pressure on me. I felt bad about my mistake so I slowed down on the next straight to let Sean regain his position. This caused some trouble for Marko, who also had to pass me and didn't expect that, sorry Marko (see incident report).

So finally Sean and Marko were in front of me again but Sean soon made a mistake so I was in 3rd behind Helder and Marko.

In the end of the stint Helders pace got a bit slower, so Marko closed the gap and started to make pressure on him. This made me also close the gap and have a cool 3 cars train shortly before the pit stops took place.

Don't remember if it was the end of lap 18 or 19 but Helder was the first to stop and I went on chasing Marko who was in the lead now. one lap later I hoped he would get in the pits and I could stay one lap longer but he didn't.

When the end of lap 20 came closer I had something like 6 liters left on the back straight. I knew it was likely that Marko would pit and my pace on low fuel was still good, so I gambled to stay out for another lap when Marko went into the pits. Now I was in the lead and did the best I could do on this set of tyres.

In the end of lap 21 I finally came in. I had a very good entry and hit the spot well, so after getting fresh rubber and 88 liters fuel I left the pits quickly. I had a very late spot in the pit and when I started to accelerate I already saw Markos name tag appear in the distance behind me coming closer quickly. I braked hard for T1 and was able to enter it on the inside defendign Marko on the outside. That was thrilling.

I did hard to block him during my out lap while getting some heat into my tyres. But Marko was just quicker at that stage and got into my slip stream on the s/f-straight one lap later. He managed to hold the outside line through T1 and get me into T2. Good driving mate!

Through the rest of the stint I was chasing him close but could never really attack him. I hoped I could get faster in the end of the stint like I did in the first one but that stint was a few laps shorter now and Marko made no mistake. Helder was also ~ 2 seconds behind most of the time but couldn't attack me.

In the end I brought home a very satisfying 2nd position only ~ 1 second behind Marko. That feels like a good step forward for me and I hope it wasn't only due to the track layout but also due to a general improvement in my own driving. Shanghai will prove it soon.

I thank everyone who was into that cool, intense race and made it such a pleassure. Also I want to thank Nico, RD and Steeve for their great work!

C U soon in sushi land...

PS: This long post is for not posting after the last two races. Sorry for that!