Season 6 Race 4 Watkins Glen

[Valerio Vinassa]

not easy drive with soft tires but possible. 2 stupid mistake cost me front wing and pit first time I put a full of fuel for finish the race but like usually start blue flag and so the race is finished for me in true is impossible unlapping in this track with rain whitout take again the blue flag, lost all advantage.Not many battle this time only some laps with Kurt fun mate but short

Congratulations at Podium and all finishers

 

[Peter Marshall]

Congratulations Alex, Tim ad Reik...

Q 15th. I was happy enough with a 13.2

R 9th: Pitted only once and used Inters. Struggled with my shopping trolly toward the end of the race. Had a lot of fun though.

Thank you all! And grats again podium, you earned it!!

 

[Nicolai Nicholson]

I had my best qualify so far this season, earning 4th starting position only 0,003 behind Jim in 3rd

I filled up my tank with 110 liters of fuel, hoping to gain some places during pit stop.

Start went well and I kept my 4th place, passed Jim when he went off and was later on passed by Alex and Tim after some batteling
I was now in 5th I think with Cristian following a second+ behind. At lap 10 I make a mistake in t1 which enables Cristian to close the gap during the long drive to Carusell. Approaching the turn I keep on looking behind me as to see if Cristian is going for my inside or pulling out. I brake too late, don't make the turn, crash and lose a wheel. The most stupid mistake from me My car was flying around a bit so I hope I didn't get in anybodies way.

This was my first dnf this season, and it happend when I had my race of the season But I am happy to see that where I failed other succeeded. It seems, dispite of the rain, we had the highest finishing rate this season, 77,3%

And, BIG congratulations to Alex, fantastic acheivement mate! ray: Was this your first win at PrestoGP? Congrats to Tim as well, I would never have guessed that you would be 2nd a few days ago Tim, but you show what you are made of And grats to Reik for 3rd and everybody else that finished the race!

 

[Jim Hawley]

Another disaster

Q, was exciting and close, P3

R, Started ok and took P2 then as we approached the carosel I had a mental block and steamed into the corner in 6th gear as per dry race setup, as I understeered off towards the wall I remembered it was raining and in the wet I use 5th, too late

I'm an idiot.... end of

Jim

 

[Joe Isaac]

[FONT=&quot]Hi Guys[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Q: as usual, last one[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Race: I had 2 pit stop strategies with intermediate tires, 5/23 very stable set up. First lap jumped from last to 13th, kept my position all the way thru, very very happy, first time this season I end up finishing the race. I tried my best to give way to the overlapping cars, hope didn’t cause any delay. You better prepare for a good battle with the Auzzies in Melbourne[/FONT]

 

[Gaetano Zizzo]

hi guys sry for my prestation in race
my race was disaster difficolt drive withaut any force feedback and vibration on my wheel not have too button for pit stop i hope logitech send new g27 for next track!!
in q 1 13 7 so distant from my best 1 11 9^^!so i start with 100 ltr fuel and intermedie later 13 lap maebyi do 1 pit with many pb and stop and go so use rain tyres and i see my fuel on car is 123 bad strategyagain pb with tyres not work good so decide change and use soft still take a stop and go!! i know be in ultimate position so i give street for blue flag but not alwais i see it !! i see the finish flag in 38 laps !! 10laps gap
still sry if i disturb in race but not want surrender and try finish the race !!
c u all in next track!!
very thx for your work nicolai!!!

 

[Vincenzo Cavaliere]

Congratulation! great job Alex

Q:19
R:11

Really I was very slow in this track, I felt my car about 50Kg plus... Before the join PrestoGP I saw some Steam update XD didn't work. after that my computer crash again before Practice Race Stress... surprise race on wet, I didn't change my strategy I drove 1/8 medium slick, very difficult race but I love drive any situation, finally 2 points..

See u next!
Vince

 

[Valter Ostman]

Grats Alex, Tim ad Reik!!!


Q 14 Not very near my pb.


Race 12:
I started on soft slicks with 90L high octane. That was the best rubber for my setup, laptime wise.
I had some offs and had to repair my Hansson Honda F11 during the first stint. At the same time I changed to new softs.
I want to thank everybody who let me pass so generously when I unlap my self. I remember only Kurt and Peter right now.
There was not much of lonely driving during this event. Most of the time I was driving in the misty spray behind some car. So the race was very entertaining thanks to you guys


CU in Melbourne

 

[David McCradic]

Pretty crazy and interesting race. Big congratulations to Alex for the win, Tim and Reik for their runner up positions, and respect to all finishers.

Q: P8, new personal best time . I usually don't do personal best times during quali with F1, but my first good time would have left me 12th or 13th so I was pressured to do more hot laps.

R: P8. I guess I didn't get off the line well even with intermediates, I was very cautious to not get wheel spin. Before turn 1 Christian swerved in front of me causing me to rear end him, and then I felt like I was slowing too much and feared getting rear ended so I sped up a little and suddenly everyone is stopping so I slid wide almost taking out Andy Paries who successfully overtakes me on the exit of turn 1. So I exit turn 1 with my P8 starting position turning into P13 on the track, but by the time the first lap ends I am P10 having only had to make one pass. Must be some unlucky ones who were ahead of me. By the end of lap 2 I am P6 due to more unlucky circumstances for those ahead of me. Now this is about where I had intended to be when I planned my race, so I continue on with consistent times. On lap 11 my disaster begins. I am coming around the carousel and I see a car spinning slowly. I have only a fraction of a second to try to figure out which direction it is moving and how quickly it is moving, because the carousel is so long and fast you have limited sight distance. My perceptions fail me, and I thought his car was going towards the inside of the track much faster than it actually was. I hit my brakes and slide right into his 3-wheeled car at 70mph, destroying my suspension. I limp back to the pit and try to decide how I will proceed. I add 85L of fuel, add fresh intermediate tires, repair the suspension damage, and head out of the pits with about 130L of fuel onboard in P15. This weight must be far too much stress for the intermediates, which are quickly starting to overheat and wear excessively. I end up driving 21 laps on them anyway because I wanted to make sure I could have fresh tires towards the end. So I pit from P7 on lap 32 and only pick up four fresh intermediate tires because I don't need to add any fuel. I exit in P11, and try to drive very fast. the track may have dried out a little, I'm not sure, but the intermediate tires got very hot once again but gripped mostly well through the rest of the race. I quickly passed Vincenzo who seemed to be slipping, and started following Sean Greenlaw. We successfully un-lap ourselves from Cristian and Reik. At the end of lap 44 we catch 2 people battling over P7. They are much slower than us, probably on different strategy. Sean passes easily, and I try to follow Andy through the carousel to pass on the exit of the carousel but he enters the carousel much slower than I could anticipate, and I bump his right rear wheel. I continue the last two laps and finish P8. Maybe if I would have pitted on lap 30 I could have competed for P7, not sure. The autosim analyzer will tell an interesting story.

 

[Anthony Moufarrege]

Congratulations Alex, Tim and Reik

very interesting race!!

i was just glad to finish!!. first race i have finished in a while:drink:
i actually liked racing in the rain, i didn't feel to slow for a change:rally:

see you all in melbourne:letsgoracing:

 

[Anthony Ishak]

I simply loved this race even though I had a negative feeling coming into this race as this track received so much criticism but I believe what made the difference is that everyone showed great discipline on a wet track and the result was great fun on an odd track... thank you guys ..

Q: 13.. The field was so tight, with 112-7 and still p13 :tongue:..

R: 6 ,

- Strategy: inters / 16/16/16,... fuel 58 litters for each stop. Wings 3/18.
- I had a good start, the car was great to drive and by end of lap 1 i was in P6 right behind D- Turnbull, then he made a small error and went wide and on the grass and when I tried to pass , his car suddenly lost control & went back on track going sideways right in front of me , it was impossible to avoid the contact and we both span, luckily I did not get any damage, I rejoined the track and this time back to P12 :tongue:..
- After some battling i was in P9 chasing Ramlow, where i had so much fun battling with him for many laps, the car was great and gained few positions and by lap 25 i was running 3rd and i thought a podium might be possible until I made the worst pit stop ever on lap 32, I locked the wheels and overshot my pit crew and lost more than 25 seconds trying to go back and forth to correct the car in the right spot using the auto shifting , ARRRRG , I really missed the manual shifting”..
- I came out of the pit in P9 , so frustrated but I kept it under control , still 16 laps to go with fresh inters, i first passed Sean while he was serving his pit stop then I managed to pass Andy and Peter who were struggling for grip , after that I had another nice battle with Ramlow for 5th but the race was over and finished in 6th ..

Thx to all the guys who made it easy for me to lap them in this difficult circumstances..


Special thanks goes to our weather man Daniel for providing us with a full wet race full of fun ..

Congratulations Alex, Tim And Reik...:good:

Cu in Melbourne..

 

[Alex Galyutin]

Here's my race report.

QUAL = 7th (PB)

RACE = 1st (my first PrestoGP win in D1!)

Intermidiate tyres, 86L aboard.
I took very confident start and gained one position after T1. After the carousel (Lap 1) I passed Cristian Di Filippo and started chasing Nicolai. Next lap I pass Nicolai at tha same place (next turn after the carousel) and found myself in P2! I understood that leading Reik was faster and I would not be able to catch him, so I decided just to find my own rhythm and to save the current position from Tim McIver, who had already overtaken Nicolai and was closer and closer to me lap after lap, before he pitted (Lap 16).
Lap 17 - Reik visited his pit-crew and I took the lead! (probably the first time ever in D1 )
Lap 18 - tyres were gone, so I had to go to pits. Put fresh inters and filled the tank till the end of the race (85 litres). I returned on track behind Cristian Di Filippo, Peter Marshall (they probably had not pitted yet), Reik and Tim (they had visited their crews).
At that moment I decided to hold my virtual P3 (Tim and Reik were really faster), I knew that Cristian and Peter would have to pit soon, and the gap to cars behind me was very comfortable not to feel any pressure. Peter and Cristian pitted Lap21 and Lap22 accordingly, so my virtal P3 became the real one.
Lap 25 - Reik in pits again! (What happened mate?) And I am 2nd.Tim McIver was far ahead of me.
Lap 32 - Tim in pits. I wanted to stay on track for few more laps, but by the end of Lap 32 I catched the group of 4 cars, so decided not to lose the priceless time, and also turn into pits. Put fresh inters (no fuel needed, because the tank is full enough to finish the race). And I leave the pits on P3 ahead of Tim! Only Reik and Cristian are ahead of me. The gap was ~15 sec.
I am much faster (~2.0 sec per lap!) than the leaders because of fresh tyres, so I quickly ate the gap to Cristian and overtook him in Lap 36 right before the carousel.
The next aim was Reik The Champ. I knew he was struggling with his tyres, so what I had to do was just to stay on track without mistakes and crashes.
Lap 38 - I catched Reik and passed him right after the carousel.

10 laps left.... 10 most nervous laps in my sim-racing life. The first win was so close, but any stupid mistake could ruin this success. But I managed to avoid any problem and brought it home safe. Happy end!

Thank you all guys for quality racing. Congrats to Reik, Tim, all point-scorers and finishers. I am happy to be a part of this community!
Big thanks to Nicolai for all the job you do mate!

 

[Jim Hawley]

Grats Alex you drove a great race, I was watching from the garage

Grats also to Tim and Reik and everyone else that completed the event, I was watching Anthony M towards the end of the race with my fingers and legs crossed for him, I was willing him to bring it home safe good job m8:good:

Thanks as always to Nico for all his efforts in keeping this league running as smooth as it does


Jim

 

[Reik Major]

Grats to Alex for the victory and Tim for 2nd! It’s very, very well deserved. Great driving in wet conditions.

With some minutes to go in free practice, David Mc Cradic told me a new XD update is available now (thx David). So I left the game, installed it and rejoined. That’s why I did the practice start from the last position. It was a nice experience starting last in wet conditions and everything went fine.

Qualify (2nd):

It was a very exciting qualify with a very close fight for pole with Christian Di Filippo. I was very nervous and never came close to my PB. Being close together, divided by only some thousands of a second, put a lot pressure on me. Well done Christian.

Race (3rd):

From the practice start we all knew it would be wet, so I decided to plan for 3 stints on intermediates (16-16-16), if the conditions don’t change.

Lights off, I managed a good start without much wheel spin. So I passed Christian before the first turn and was able to get through it clean. Being in 1st position now, I was able to open a gap by some seconds and noticed some position changes behind me. In the middle of each lap my left side tires got a little hot, but cooled down until the end of the lap. So tire wear developed like expected and I pitted in lap 17 (I think).

The conditions seemed to stay the same, so again I took 65 liters and inters. But after some laps the track started to dry a little and left side tires got hotter and hotter. My XD overlay didn’t show “W” for wet conditions anymore but “H” for humid (damp track) now. I tried to drive smooth so the tires wouldn’t overheat and I could see how the weather develops, but around lap 24 I needed to pit again, because my left tires were too hot and as a consequence the car started to slide extremely.

I made a gambling move by filling the car up to 115 liters and taking hard slicks, so I could drive until the end even if the track would dry completely. For some laps the car felt good and when other drivers did their second regular stop, I was back in the lead. Christian was only a few seconds behind me making much pressure on me, but I was able to control it.

Unluckily around lap 30 it started to rain a little more and my XD overlay confirmed this by showing “W” again. I knew that my times would drop now by ~ 2 seconds each lap, but making a third stop for intermediates would cost much more time and not pay off. So I had to stay on slicks, knowing that no mistake was allowed.

On my time table I noticed Alex and Tim closing up very quick and catching Christian behind me. Alex was the first to reach me and into my slipstream he chased me very close through turn 4. I defended the inside of turn 5 and had to brake earlier, so with more grip from his intermediates Alex made a nice pass on the outside. Great racing Alex!

Soon he opened a gap by 20 seconds and more and with only 3 laps to go Tim reached my tail. I had a small hope to be able to defend him, but Tim proved me that I’m wrong. Up the long straight he used the slip stream and I didn’t want to fight too much, because even a 3rd place would mean a good result, which I didn’t want to risk. So I left the door open into turn 4 and Tim used his grip advantage to pass me inside.

Finally I brought it home in 3rd and I was very exhausted from an amazing race with only one driving mistake. Even though I’m very happy with the result, I’m also frustrated in a positive way that I didn’t have a better sense for guessing the weather situation right. So again grats to Alex and Tim for doing so!

I’m very happy that against some doubtful voices prior the race we had a great race, even though we used a very different track in very tough conditions. So thx to everyone for making this a pleasure!!!

Now I’m thirsty for revenge!

 

[Tim McIver]

Watkins Race Report

What a fantastic track to race these cars on, I obviously have no idea what happened in the pacific race, but a fast flowing track with a reasonably short lap and lots of drivers concentrating hard made for one of our best ever races.

After a late start to my practice schedule, I took a shine to this track and managed to set a laptime that I thought could put me mid pack.

Qual (5th)
When qualifying came I managed to set a PB and put my car on what I thought was going to be 4th til Nico pushed me back to 5th in the last few minutes. But I new that if I could get through the first few laps clean and at the front end, then anything could happen.

Race (2nd)
I got a smooth start maintaining 5th til half way through the first lap Alex made a nice move from 5th to 4th, in the confusing I managed to slide up the inside of Cristian and maintain 5th place.

For the next 2 or 3 laps Alex, Nico and had some very enjoyable and fair fights, with everyone leaving enough room whilst still racing very hard. In the end Alex moved through and I managed to get past Nico and set off to hunt him down.

I had left my wings low on 1/14 and decided to run inters 16/16/16. I was tempted to try and one stop but in the end I didn’t trust myself to hold it together in the last slippery 5 laps of each stint. As I approached lap 16 I started to worry that everyone else might be 1 stopping, and perhaps had much more fuel on board than me, I was still quite surprised I had competitive speed. I decided to stick to the plan and pitted alone on lap 16.

I came out in 5th and thought I was in for a solid result, but doubted that I would catch Reik from here. I suspect that Alex and I would battle again before the end though.

By lap 21 I was back in 3rd as the pitstops sorted themselves out. I was very confused however, as Alex was now behind me and Reik and Cristian were in front. Confused, I pressed on. By lap 25 I was shocked to be back in the lead of a PrestoGP race! I liked the feeling and started to realise that everyone must still have one stop to go (or they were in for some series tyre issues...)

Very soon after this pleasant feeling, terror struck, as it did last race. The sun (the literal Australian 7am sun) rose in the window behind me, a crack of light shone through a crack in the blinds. This shouldn’t be an issue, but my trackir sensor (head tracking thingo) picked up the light and decided it would be better for me to race while facing the back of the car instead of the front. Realising what was happening, I quickly reached for the usb cable attached to the sensor and pulled it out. This I thought would leave me with the default view out the front of the car, it however left me stuck on the last view, thus I was now permanently looking out the back of the car...

This was very bad... I then realised that I could look out the front of the car by hitting the right red button on my G25, the trouble was, I had to hold the button down with my thumb... for the whole second half of the race. This I do not recommend. I was now very angry with the sun and my decision to move my PC out into this room.

I pressed on and made my pitstop on lap 32. In my frustration I overshot the pit... twice! I managed to come out in 4th and was ruing the missed opportunity. I soon realised that despite my thumb issue, the top 3 were still in reach and were all quite close together. And what more it looked like it was all closing up! I closed up on the back of Cristian, then on t1 I lost concentration and spun, did a 360 managed to keep it off the walls, but obviously lost a fair amount of time. With only 10 laps or so left, I thought I might be done again. But I set off and tried to catch them, Alex was now going to be out of reach, but Reik and Cristian were obviously nursing home well worn tyres (and as it was later revealed slicks). With 5 laps to go I managed to slide by Cristain, and 2 laps later I pulled up behind Reik, I thought it might be a tense fight, but the grip was clearly on my side and I was away.

A fantastic race. Thanks to all. Obviously a big congrats to Alex for his first win, very well deserved. I would like to have fought him in the last few laps, but he drove to well for me to get there. Well done Alex. And congrats also to Reik and Cristian who took a tyre gamble and managed to hold it together very well even when it didn’t pay off. Finally great job to everyone for the finishing rate.

Looking forward very much to my home GP, with some fire in the belly, I’m hoping we can put on a show.

Thanks as always to Nico for his work and leadership, as well as the race director... and thanks to Gunter, whatever direction we take with cars over the next couple of season, I have enjoyed these ones very much.

Tim.

 

[Reik Major]

Very nice reports to read! Very enjoyable. It's interesting to get a view on everyones personal feelings during the race.

I wonder how all the drivers, who used inters all the race, managed the high temps in the middle of the race when the track was a littel bit more dry! Did you notice it and just handle it, or didn't you have temp problems because of an other setup and driving style?

I simply used my dry setup (wings 1/13) and around lap 18 - 20 my left side tyres got hot, over 140°C and XD showed temps in deep red That's why I had to change to slicks.

How was it for you?

Tim, nice to see how a high skilled driver manages special problems Well done! I remember Schumacher having fire in his car in pits of Austrian GP - the pit crew removed the fire - Schumi cleaned his visor from the shower - and continued to victory...

 

[Alex Galyutin]

Reik, I noticed the rising temps, and I simply did not attack the curves as hard as I did it in normal conditions. I was afraid, that early 2nd pit-stop could cost too much. Much more than lower lap times during some laps before the upcoming pit-stop. Remember that at that moment I had very heavy car (fuel till the end). I had to stay on track to guarantee that my last stint would be on light car and fresh tyres.
BUT! If rain stopped completely, all my strategy would fail for sure.

 

[Anthony Ishak]

I wonder how all the drivers, who used inters all the race, managed the high temps in the middle of the race when the track was a littel bit more dry! Did you notice it and just handle it, or didn't you have temp problems because of an other setup and driving style?
...

Honestly My XD was not working that day and I did not know it needed an update , then i was with Tim on steam just before the race start and he told me that the track was 35% wet , so we quickly discussed the strategy and decided to go out on inters, after that i had no idea what was happening out there , if the track was drying or the inters were overheating but i definitely noticed that my second stint lap 17 onwards was a bit slower " now i know why" and my 3rd stint was the fastest where i clocked my fastest lap ..

mybe if i had my XD working i might have done the same like you Reik & changed to softs :tongue:...

 

[Kurt Kjellin]

Congratulations Alex, Tim And Reik...:good:


Q 18th

R 15th: Pitted only once and started with Inters, Did to many mistakes and had to repair on L17.

Filled it up for the rest of race and changed to medium.

Got a s/g for speeding in pit lane and got way back in the field.

Struggled with the car toward the end of the race. Had a lot of fun though.

Thank you all!

See you down under
​

 

[Tim McIver]

I must confess that I didn't notice my tires going off too badly. I think partly because I remained fairly busy for most of the race. I noticed the rain reducing, but I was perhaps lucky that Real Time Telemetry hasn't worked since the update, so I was relying on Motec Add, which I find much more difficult to keep up with tire temps. However I'm almost certain they never got to 140, but I didn't nurse the tires at all, I went hard the whole race always thinking I had a chance of getting to the guy in front. Maybe theres some motec data I can check, I'll have a look tonight.

I wish I could get RTT working again!