Season 12 Race 9 MONTREAL - RACE REPORT

Qualy, 10th. Lost a second on mistakes but that would just meant P9..

Race 66/62/40/0: Start was horrible, i missed braking points constantly on the first 4 laps. My RTT was kaput so i had no clue what weather it was. So i went early on first pitstop and put dry tires. That went well until i reached 75% wear, had to stop again. Rain had just increased so chose wet tires.. Big mistake, 4 laps later they were cooked.. Prolonged that last pitstop by 3 laps and put dry tires and no fuel. Fuel use was super duper low so didn't have to put more fuel. This time i really would've preferred dry race, those last laps were really great, green delta all the time.. Then incident with Valter ended my race, i could've limped on the pits or even finish the race but i wanted took a risks instead.. Stopped after it became clear it was undriveable, wheel about 10deg crooked, that's usually pretty bad damage that just gets worse or tires gets eaten up unbalanced....

I need to put a post-it note on my monitor: "reset RTT before qualy!" It's the 3 practice starts that causes the issue, it's almost certain that it will lose connection when we cycle so many times. I use RTT server on game PC and RTT client on my mediacenter so i don't have to take the monitor from my music making machine and attach it to game PC.. I got 32" TV 1½m away, so i'll use that instead..

 

Grats Sean for another well deserved victory and to Tim for mixing the podium a bit this time.
Of course all finishers are winners in such conditions.

Qualy (3rd):

Already in practice I had no clue how to drive as fast as Sean and David and I noticed I would have to fight hard this time with Tim, Guus and maybe others.

Qualy started also in damp/wet conditions. I decided to take slicks, which felt good. I managed to put in 2 good laps and to make the second one better than the first one. A 1:30:2xx was my limit and good for 3rd, while David took pole with 1:29:7xx and Sean 2nd with 1:29:9xx, so I knew race would become hard to compete with David and Sean.

Race (2nd):

scheduled strategy: 64/60/60 Slicks all time
final strategy: 64/60/55 Slicks all time (still too much fuel left in the end )

I had a good start and managed to get next to Sean quickly and passed him into T2. Unfortunately I couldn't avoid big power oversteer exiting the slow middle sector chicane so Guus and Tim slipped through and I had to defend hard against Nicolas for a few corners.

Tim and Guus had a good pace so it wasn't easy to make pressure on Tim, also because of the wet conditions. Here and then I saw Tim strugling to get the last chicane well. After a few laps he finally missed it and let me pass him (not really necessary I'd say ).

I could open a small gap to Tim but wasn't able to close the 3 seconds gap to Guus. Later David, Sean and Guus pitted earlier then me. My stop went well and suddenly I was close to David, who had a 12 seconds gap earlier, so he must have had a problem because the gap decreased slowly. But before I could pass him, he pitted again.

Now I was 2nd, 13 seconds behind Sean. All the race I was unsure if it would increase or decrease and how much fuel to take of from the preset. Then Sean pitted much earlier than me for his last stop and laptimes slowly got better, so rain seemed to decrease a bit.

My last stop again went perfect and I came out only ~ 7 seconds behind Sean. In some laps I seemed to be quicker, so I hoped to have the better Setup for dry conditions but I made slight mistakes here and then so I couldn't really catch up with him. However, the Feeling I could catch him, made me drive as hard as possible, so it was enjoyable all time.

Finally I finished 2nd with only 3,6 seconds gap, so I was happy with the result, which didn't seem to be realistic after my bad first lap.

thx Nico for hosting and see you all after holiday

 

not a very smooth race for me, but im happy I at least did not make huge mistakes on the track having had less than an hour of practice and no practice at all in the dry. Too busy these days
On track it went fine, but my pit strategy was horrid. I started on wets on a 2 stop schedule, then right after my first stop it turned out to be way too dry for the wets. So I decided to go for another stop and just go the rest of the race on slicks without stopping. I spent half a lap going very slow trying to find a preset for this, and I overshot my pitbox still not having found one. In the end I could only find one with way too much fuel and just slowly cruised my way to the finish with that. I was suprised I met David after that stop, he must have had loads of trouble too
Better preparation shouldnt hurt for next time Grats Sean Reik Tim

 

Started on slicks, was slippy.
Went early onto wets, was slippy.
Went on slicks, not as slippy.
First 2 stints cost me big time, but I don't see the point in up to date wetness, it spoils the guesswork.
Finished higher than I thought possible with 30 mins left.

congrats everyone.

 

qualifying - 1st

set a good lap when the track was at its dryest, happy to be pole here, i gave up my second attempt as i could see it wasnt going to be needed with the rain getting heavier.

race - 4th

very disappointing race for me, had the pace to win this but the combination of wrong tyre choice at the start and a pit stop problem left me doing 3 stops and struggling to get back into the meaningfull points.

started well, kept the lead for around 8-9 laps? until i made a mistake from the second chicane and sean passed me, i decided to pit same lap as sean and just hope he made a mistake but i didnt realise that they were already on slicks, id started on wets, so when the rain level fell i made another pit for slicks and 92l which wouldve turned my strategy into a 1 stop effective and took me to the end, on the straight before i edited my preset for fuel and slicks, when i arrived at the box i got a new set of wets with no fuel, race over!

i pitted again with overheating wets and this time got slicks and my 2 stop fuel so was set for the end by that time, but id miscalculated fuel and put in 20ltres too much so the whole last stint i tried to catch tim to get 3rd place with a drastically heavy car and tyres that had done an extra 6 laps or so, i made mistake after mistake pushing too hard to compensate for the extra pit but it was in vein and tim held out to the end.

bit of a gutting race to have so many problems when the rest of the season has went more than smooth, also puts me well back in the championship fight and barring any major problems its all looking good for sean who has been ultra consistant this season, i wont throw in the towel quite yet, anything can happen but big advantage sean after this race.

grats sean, grats reik and big grats tim for the podium, thanks nico and rd and daniel for the spicy weather, i hope we end at a dry track in austria but whatever happens, happens

cya at red bull ring

 

Q: 9th, R: 7th

The start of the race was something of an emotional rollercoaster in terms of my feelings towards Race 07. Seeing how the track water level was in RTT, I figured the wet tire was the one to start on. So loaded my race setup during warmup, but as we turned over to race, Race 07 switched me over to slicks. It was too late to do anything about it when I was on the grid, so I just stuck with it. But was thinking "what the hell did it put slicks on my car for!?", and prepared my pit menu to switch for wets only without fuel.

The conditions were borderline for the tires. And after a few laps, with the track water fluctuating between 25% and 35%, I began to change my mind, and realized slicks really was the tire to go for. Seems this old dog isn't quite as senile as I'd thought at first.

I then picked up a second set of slicks about 30 minutes in (the track being in more or less the same conditions until it started to dry up only right at the end), which I finished the race on, only stopping later for a little bit of fuel to make the last of the distance and spend the entire tire stint on med-low fuel. This worked great, and provided the weather permits at A1 ring, I'll likely do the same again.

After my little bump with Peter, I ended up finishing 7th, which is a tie with my previous best ever PrestoGP finish, which was at a wet China. Beginning to see a pattern here; my best results seem to be in the wet... So uh... What's the weather like in Austria?

 

Q 7th
On slicks. I was faster on my second lap but nearly ran out of fuel about 500m before the finish line so I lost almost all my advance. I could have been 4th or 5th...

R 6th
Strategy : 100l slicks start / 80l slicks lap 22 / front wing repair lap 33
Eventful race for me this time, I started very well, passing Vincenzo before T1, and was wheel to wheel with Reik from T8 to the hairpin. Couldn't do much at the braking since I was heavy, but I managed to cross him and take the inside, and was perfect on throttle. Unfortunately I ran into Guus who was very late on throttle since he had slowed down after his contact with Tim, so I lost my momentum and was passed by Vincenzo, Peter and almost April. Lap 2 I made a mistake braking too heavily in last chicane and had to let April and Valter pass me.
I passed Valter easily next lap in the straight (he seemed to have a lot of wings!) and was chasing April. I passed her lap 7, and was a few second behing Peter, but no way to gain on him. Lap 16 I was passed by Guus who exited the pits. Lap 22 Tim put me some pressure but I managed to stay in front and finished the lap pitting for my only planned pit stop.
I don't know how but somehow I exited the pits in front of Guus at the 6th spot. I knew some of the guys in front would have to pit once more, so I knew I could make a good result. Guus and David started to put some real pressure beginning lap 24 but I managed to stay in front thanks to my skills and my great straight speed.
Lap 28 at the hairpin, about to lap Valter I missed my braking point and ran wide, so I had to let Guus and David pass (David passed Guus, me and lapped Valter at the same time there!) and was back in 6th position.
Lap 30-31 I gained on Guus, and driving became tricky since the track was drying, but that didn't last long and lap 33 I made a mistake at T7 that cost me front wing. I pitted at once just to change the front wing and lost 2 places to Vincenzo and April. Lap 35-36 Peter was on my tail, and I made a mistake at the hairpin so he easily passed me there, so I was 9th and very disappointed.
Then I had an incredible amount of luck : Peter and April had an incident and I could passed them both lap 40, and Vincenzo ran out of fuel in the final lap, and that gave me the 6th spot!

Congratulations to podium, to Reik & Sean for incredible setup, Daniel for the weather, and Nicolai for the league.
CU at season finale!

 

added highlights vid to my post

 

Q: 2nd , 1st lap I never pushed enough and with more rain 2nd lap wasn't going to happen for pole.

R: 1st 56 62 66

Tight decision on slicks or wets for the start after seeing it go as high as 37% practise starts I thought wets would be safe option. In the end I decide to gamble on slicks.

To the start and instantly mega wheel spin wiggle wiggle, lost place to Reik and I was thinking why did I gamble on slicks lol.
Reik made small mistake gifting me 2nd place I then was able to close gap to David slowly I felt once close behind slightly faster but just to hard to pass.
I kept following close and when David made small mistake exiting fast chicane I was able to put under pressure into hairpin and get the pass.
Gap went up to 2 secs before I pitted and upto 6 after pits, then few laps later I seen David had to pit again and thought he has had some kind of problem or maybe had some damage.
From then on I knew I just needed to keep quite good pace and not make any mistakes with gap to Reik around 12 secs through 2nd stint.
I ended up convincing myself to add a extra 4 litres to last stop just incase which with hindsight was way off probably taking out another 4 would have been right choice.
I came out gap to Reik 6/7 secs and just concentrating keeping it around that and relaxed the last couple laps.

I also think had it not been wet It would have been David's race quite easily, in practise stints in dry he was a lot faster than me and I never practised wet for here so come practise in the race it was quite a good surprise to see in the wet pace was better and setup felt good.

Was a good race for me but would have been a lot more exciting if David didn't have his pit troubles and Reik's small mistake for sure

Grats to Reik and Tim Well don't to everyone who finished unlucky to Vincenzo for he fuel its hard when so close to end

Big thanks Nico, RD and prestogp
Cya's in A1 finale !