SEASON 16 RACE 4 - SPA GP - RACE REPORTS

[Valerio Vinassa]

fun track so fun event

 

[MOOOOOOOOOSCHT]

Was impossible to drive for me today, because of lag all the time

 

[Kyran Parkin]

Qualifying: 4th
I turned my first laps hours before the race, I hadn't driven this car in two months. How the ever-loving f*** did I stick it on the second row?!

Sprint: 4th
Got caught up in a racing incident exiting T1 so I had to really fight back, made much easier with my MDF package against lots of HDF packages... Gifted a few positions with Martin disconnecting and Peter oddly slowing on the Kemmel straight, but I'll take it.

Feature: 7th
Made excellent progress from the get-go, which was hampered when I got caught up in a multi-car incident. Tried to buzz past but was just a little too late. From then myself and David swapped positions over and over. Any time he got by I just out-dragged him on the next straight. It was incredibly fun for me, maybe less so for David... hehehe. It got especially heated whenever I caught up to another MDF runner which made it tougher to get past quickly. Every time David capitalized and was glued to my rear. We managed to catch up to Steve and it looked like it could be a three way duel for 5th on the final lap, until I decided that facing backwards out of La Source was the optimal thing to do. I was lucky that David gave me a tap to put me back facing the right way, hopefully I didn't cause damage to your car!

An incredibly tough race, thanks for the fierce racing. Till next time.

 

[Hedlund]

High or medium downforce was the big question.. Realised earlier today that I was almost as quick with the medium downforce as I was with the high. So in a race situation, I though medium would be the best choice because it would be difficult to overtake me.

QUALI
I was surprised to be down on 1:56 times but I guess the medium downforce improves more with grippy track than the high downforce package does. Really surprised to be on pole.

RACE 1
Got a good start, but overshot T1 slightly and at the same time I realised I had no FFB in the wheel. Panic! Accelerating down towards Eau Rouge I tried to remember where I had mapped the "reset ffb" key on my new wheel and luckily found it! Pheew. Lost both Peter and David in T1 but could easily overtake them again on the straight. It was really sweaty, trying to hold them behind me but I managed to open up a small gap that gave me enough time to concentrate on my driving. I kept that gap for half race distance before spinning in that stupid final chicane. After that I was 3rd and there was no chance to catch the leaders again. Happy to be on the podium after all. Good race for me.

RACE 2
Quite uneventful actually, apart from the first laps. But those laps were awesome! I had a great advantage with the medium DF package when starting from the back. I managed to avoid the crashes on the first lap, and was already in 3rd place when crossing start/finish line for the first time. I had a great battle with Ignazio and April for the lead. April and I were on the medium df and Ignazio on the high. Eventually I managed to overtake both and build up a gap. Because there are mostly straights on this track, and the tire wear quite low, I thought I would try to make it to finish without a pitstop. I don't know if it was the best decision, I haven't done any long runs at all before the race, but it worked OK. In the middle of the race I saw someone set new fastest lap, 2 seconds faster than me per lap. That's the moment I knew (thought) I had f*cked up, but I had a nice gap so they never catched me. My first win, woho!

See you all at Monza

 

[jego]

Quali
Well this did not go very well. I was off my personal best by 1 second, so only p16. I did not have much time to practice also.

Race 1
T1 was quite messy I had to go out very far to not crash with any one and rejoining was hard as every one was going full throttle
Managed to get to p8 after a few laps but as I recall it was mostly due to people crashing in front of me.

Race 2
Had a bad start also wanted to be careful not to crash on lap one. At the crash in turn 9 tho my race basically ended. I had to pit as my suspension was broken and I had areo damage, had a little incident with David going into the pit. The pit crew did not fully repair my car and I was dead last with a 30 second gap. Managed to get it down to 25 seconds after a few laps but with the damage my top speed was only 270kmh and the car was sliding so much through the corners that my tires were gone after a few laps so I decided to give up. Hopefully I will be more lucky next race

 

[David Turnbull]

qualifying - 3rd

happy with that, a few guys were faster than me here so to be in the top 3 in qual was enough for me.

race 1 - 2nd

decent start, could pass rikard at turn 1 and pressure peter through eau rouge and onto kemmel, until rikard with his rocket car flew past us and off into the distance in one swoop, i could only try stay close to the 2 in front as rikard was on mdf and peter was a bit faster than me here. i eventually got past peter due to his misfortune at the worst corners ever produced in a sim game (bus stop) where rikard would end up having a moment later too, i was lucky to be 2nd at the end of this race but happy to take it

race 2 - 6th

well it was an experience that much is certain, the rest....... a race of mistakes, incidents, careless driving, unsportsman like driving and well i could go on but ill leave it for the incident reports.

started at the back and tried to stay out of harms way, before turn 1 there was a massive smash, into turn 1 and some more smashes, at les combes more smashes and i had to try avoid all of them which was a nightmare, into les fanges chicane and yet more incidents, all i saw was incidents and people trying to recover in the silliest places in the silliest manner, im still shocked at some of it even now.

the rest of my race was stuck behind people on mdf, i seriously picked the wrong setup here so the night was damage limitation for me, the battle with kyran was the highlight of the night for me, nearly the full race distance we fought back and forward, was great and frustrating at the same time i eventually managed to get 6th place and ran out of fuel crossing the line.

grats the winners and grats all podium places in the races, grats to all finishers and huge grats to anyone who managed to complete both races without incident, you are now my hero

cya all at monza where everyone will be much more carefull i hope or there will be some serious penalties dished out very soon, we need to make this as fun and fair as we can and spa went against most things presto stands for.

 

[Nicolas Rouge]

Qual 8th I think
PB, I think I could have been a little faster but had almost no practice with Q laps.

Race 1 12th
Was slowed by incidents, that caused no damage but a terrible loss of time, and a teeth shattering flatspot. Almost got the 11th spot by a few millis, but my car was too slow to accelerate since I forgot to check fuel and had fuel for the long race.

Race 2 3rd
So happy with the podium! I avoided by luck and skill most of the incidents in the first laps, and after @Artyom Aslamazyan passed me I knew something great was coming, since I had a good pace and was quite good on tire management. When Artyom pitted I expected him to pass me before the end, him being almost 2 sec faster with fresh tires, so I fought as hard as I could, but in the end I couldn't do anything, but finished with the 3rd spot and quite a good advance on the 4th. Enjoy the video with the best moments :

@David Turnbull : about downforce package, I think Spa is one of the track where you're probably faster with HDF on one lap with DRS, but in race it's worth running with MDF, that is probably a little slower, but prevent being passed easily in the long straights. And since passing in turns is almost impossible on this narrow track (it does not permit a lot of different lines in turns), MDF was for me the most logical choice. Of course it would have been different with rain...

CU in Italy!

 

[Peter Decker]

Q 2nd
Had a great qualify session! I was nowhere near the polesitter Hedlund tho. It felt good that Sweden locked the front row

R1 DNF
Had a the best start (practice starts included) and managed to grasp P1 after T1, but Hedlund with his MDF came rocketeering past after eau rouge like some Sunday stroll. I managed to keep Dave from snatching 2nd by really braking tight after the straight. Adrenaline pumping moment there (check David's vid)!
However, after 3 laps rF2 told me the pit crew was ready. Hm? No sudden damage could be noticed on the HUD. I kept on going. some lap later, out of fuel. Gah... Too much focus on server management instead of race driver preparation before start, I guess.

Btw, about the rubber missing during practice starts. I'm sorry guys, that was my bad. I was in a rush and had had a stressful day and didnt triple check the weather/rubber settings as I usually do. Sorry for that, will do my best to not repeat that.

R2 DNS
As I mentioned in the general discussion, I couldn't do the 2nd race last night. The university courses has begun, some days will not be raceable :\


Server replays should soon be accessible here

 

[Valerio Vinassa]

I love this track, I do not think that I'm alone but bad qualifications and so far from my pb is not the right moment for the concentration in more lap1 incident lap2 incident I had lost a bit of motivation instead 2laps and a new world is in front of me a lot of battles/fights with many guys in Race1 and a splendid fight in the tip of foil between @April Dillon @Anton Valle and me, thanks for the fight mates it was wonderful

Congratulations to the winners and all us

just 2 shots of fun