Gutted.. just 1 liter more fuel would've been enough, saved three laps and tried to keep 15th place, then April snuck past and i did the most stupid thing ever: tried to take that position back.. stupid stupid me.. I was totally sure that i will be lapped twice, by the midway i noticed only 35s to the leader yipee, oh ****, i'm gonna run out of fuel..... All my fuel calcs were done on 38 laps sharp (had 0.7 laps worth on lap 39... )
Skipped qualy cause i felt totally out of pace.. Should've done that hotlap, people were slow today. Setup and the car felt good in practice1 and the surprisingly slow pace of others left me with a positive mind.
Race: Surprisingly at the midpack when i honestly though to be second to last.. Kept my cool until first and only pit stop. I did notice that i might not be lapped by two laps after all, which was my tactic.. So tried to dial pitmenu but this track has only one straight where to take your eyes off the road. So managed to get 1 measly liter more, decided to do it in the pitlane, nope, just fumbled and overshot my slot by 85m!.. Almost went over the exit line, which in hindsight would've been the right choice... All that meant i got flustered and things got hot, literally.. I had a wet t shirt near by to cool my head but i fumbled with that also: lost it in the straight before T5... ffs... I have to put a fan to the next race to cool me down.
Pace was good, i didn't need to really push to the dangerzone at all. That helped to manage tires (can't remember the values, over 60..), also i tried to go with "Kimi" style. No, not the rally style but the flat, short corners meaning to let car settle before braking and keep the steering wheel dead center. Then short apex and quickly back to dead center wheel (or as close as possible to it). I did some test sessions with the upcoming GP2 2013 mod and their tires are especially tuned for such style.. I like that, the car feels settled, balanced, i can vary my braking distances without it showing in laptimes, good for defending..
Two major mistakes, dropped me from Valerio. It was really easy to drive the first third, he's done 1 stoppers a lot more than me so i just copied his pace until his tires went away. And then the fuel fiasco.. Should've just let people pass and keep the pace that gets me thru the line... Also engine shutoff happened half second before i got a chance to check it after the last corner, i could've coasted without engine but rear locked up and that was it.. Should've could've.... Really gutted, my pace and performance, confidence and consistency was really good, majority of the laps were within half a sec from the best. Didn't get scared by small slips, just adjusted and carried on.
Tighter gearing is the way to go, i'm surprised that it's not more common.. 1st gear the tightest corners, 2nd for the next set, 4th for T12-13 and low grip T6. Really good, reliable, really good exit speeds.. Might be the fastest way to go on tracks where there are lots of hairpins
Really good battles, too many to say. Midpack is where the fun happens
Next race checklist:
- Do math on full distance, you never know when it happens that i finish on the leading lap..
- Put Nostromo keypad back to pitmenu, it needs to be accessed without looking.
- Do more pitstop practice, this time i had like three stops done..
- Relax, speed happens if it happens. If it doesn't, so what...