SEASON 17 RACE 5 - BAHRAIN -RACE REPORTS-

[Valerio Vinassa]

if we dont auto cook on the track we can tell after our race report

 

[jego]

Q: Went alright, had not much time to practice once again, so P5 was good.

Race 1
Well, the start was little slow from me, but besides that everything sort of worked out and I ended up P3.
Not any real battles, I just tried to be consistent.

Race 2
Again a slow start, lost quite a few places. I then tried to look after my tyres and went less aggressive, which made me be last by Lap 2.
In Turn 13 Martin and Valle Gonza had contact, Valle spun and I could not avoid him and crashed into him... after that my safe the tyres strategy got very serious. I had such bad flat spots that I thought my wheel was gonna brake.
I had to hold the wheel very tight on the long straights.
A lot of people crashed out infront of me and I was down to P5 by lap 4... still having heavy vibrations and wondering how long I would actually manage to go on those tyres. On lap 5 I could pass Valerio with DRS and the race started to look pretty good for me (besides the tyre problem)
After a few laps of following April suddenly my pace dropped a lot, Tom overtook me and I tried to hard to get back to speed, took too much curb on the exit of T8 and crashed, rejoined the track in P7.
Now my tyres were really fup. I manage to get to Lap 13 to do my pit stop. Not many others had pitted by that time. Valerio was infront of me a by a few seconds when I entered the pits in P8.
Two laps later Valerio left the pit a few seconds behind me, so the undercut was a good option I guess.
The next laps were behind Francisco Valle, I managed to get within 1.5 seconds but never really much closer. He then went wide on T10 and came back onto the racing line from further back and I hit his rear tyre, we both spun and Valerio went past us.
However Valerio went wide on the last turn and I could sail past him.
My rear brakes then suddenly went mad and I almost crashed out twice because they locked up. I figured they might be overheating so I put the brake balance to 59 for a few corners.
From here on out it was all given to me. In Lap 26 Nicolas spun out (I think he tried to go without pitstop again)
Lap 27, I pass a burning car from Tom on the long straight before the last turn and Lap 28 April had brake failer.
So P3 for me again.

So in the end quite lucky to get to P3.

Both races were fun for me, I had good consistency and it worked out in the end.

Thanks for hosting guys. Good racing again!

 

[Kyran Parkin]

A relatively quiet affair, with David out of action and Peter not participating. Nonetheless an enjoyable evening of racing!

Q: P1
Super close fight with Martin for the pole, separated by a mere 0.009s as we finished our final flying laps within moments of each other.

R1: P1
A decent launch, certainly not as good as the third practice start, but enough to stick it out into turns 1 and 2 despite being sandwiched by Tom and Martin. From then on I could just put in the lap-times necessary without any real worry. Certain I'd have had to fight way harder if Peter and David weren't absent.

R2: P1
Another solid launch, held it on the inside and took it nice and easy on the brakes. A spinner at turn 9/10 caused a bit of mayhem but I navigated it without drama. Went from P5 to P2 after several people went wide at the final corner, followed by a lunge into turn 1. I cleared Mike before turn 11 on lap 2 and once again I just drove as fast as I needed to, keeping the gap behind steady and saving the front left when possible.

Pitted on lap 16(?) and came out a couple of seconds behind Nico, who was still yet to stop. The overwhelming difference in grip make it pretty simple to overtake and after that I just drove away. I ended up miles ahead of everyone else due to all the issues, engine failures, brake failures, tires giving up completely, you name it!

Looking forward to your return, David. Whenever that might be. I'll try not to score too many points, I wouldn't want you to rush back before you're ready!

 

[David Turnbull]

hehe ill hopefully be back next race, i start my cardio rehab tomorrow but tbh ive felt fine since i got home, last night was just way too soon. im not allowed to drive a real car until next tuesday and driving online is much the same so im better waiting, but in the immortal words of arnie "i'll be back"

 

[Blauweke]

This one was interesting

QUALI

In practice i already realised the lack of practice from other drivers was quite apparent. I still practiced in singleplayer while the server was down.
Anyway, My first run was alright, i think i was somewhere around P4. But my second run was amazing. I was nearly a second faster than the fastest time i had ever clocked. When i crossed the line i was a little frustrated to have just missed out on provisional pole. But then kyran and martin crossed the line and gained another half second on me, so i was a great third.

RACE 1

In 2 of the 3 practice starts i managed to gain the lead after the first 2 corners. Didn't see that one coming.
Anyway, the launch was alright, no big gains. I had the inside in the first turn and managed to take martin's second place.
But then, in turn 12 , wich is blind, i just followed kyran. But he went a little wide onto the curb and so did i. he managed to stay on track but i didn't and ran wide and lost the rear end off track,resulting in me sliding the the opposite direction back on track. Most people managed to avoid me, but Francisco was going 2 wide and had nowhere to go. I had suspension damage so no recovering for me.

RACE 2

In the first race kyran bascially just cruised to the end after i and martin made some mistakes. But before that, the fight was pretty close.
So i figured we were the 3 fastest cars on track, and i was starting first of us three.
My plan was simple. Stay out of trouble and don't get caught up in a first lap incident, and preferably don't let the 2 guys behind you get past.
After the first 2 turns i was already last, but no worries. Around lap 2 i properly got going. but i didn't manage my tires very well and they were gone by lap 13 and i was P5, so i decided to go for the undercut. I came out with 13 seconds of clear track ahead. I couldn't have wished for a better position. I took anton's P4 a few corners after the pit exit when he made his stop and now i was planning to wait for nicolas to pit to claim P3 as he was only a good 10 seconds ahead, but he didn't. After a few laps his tyres practically died so i managed to get past rather easily. P3
4 seconds ahead was april. I had tried to catch her earlier after my pitstop but i failed to do so. Now there were 8 laps to go and my front left was wearing much quicker than the other tyres. I was afraid my front left would lose alot of grip so i decided to try to take it easy in right hand corners, don't put too much lock on the steering and really not try to lock up in turn 10. Then push as hard as i could in right hand turns and be agressive on power since all my other tires were still in very good condition. It worked great and i got in a really good rythm and after a few laps i had the drs on april and managed to get by without much problem.
P2 now, kyran 9 seconds ahead and april already out of drs range and on a slower pace than me. 2 laps to go.
I wasn't stressing out, i was infact feeling confident i could finally score decently in a PrestoGP race.
Right as i was thinking about that. I hear my engine's rpm decline rapidly even though i was flatout. I immediatly looked to my fuel tank, wich still had 9 liters in it. can't be that, but then i looked in my mirror and i saw flames.

Can't believe it.

 

[MOOOOOOOOOSCHT]

Had in all sessions stuttering, specially in R1&2.
So driving in the bulk was not easy.

Q:
P2 ... very smal gap between Kyran an me, damit
Mentionable was the pace of Tom
For a moment I thougth David sneaked away, to drive undercover in name of Tom

R1&2:
Like in China my setup was absolutley not working in the races (Q was good).
In China my rear tires died very fast.
In Bahrain my top speed on the straigth was too poor.
Even when I had DRS active and the opposite in front not, I was not able to overtake.
But my topspeed was without DRS almost 270 km/h and with DRS more than that.
In R1 I finished with P6 (not sure, no record).
In R2 no result, got kicked out, but not sure if I gave not enough space (no record).
Catch up failed ...

Grats podiums
Thx to all organizers
Get well soon David
Cyas
Martin

 

[April Dillon]

Had a brake failure in R2 right as Tom caught up. I was hoping to put up an actual fight, but from there all the work I'd done managing my grip levels on the MDF kit just went down the drain because the brakes couldn't take the strain of MDF here in spite of max cooling.