Season 8 Race 10 MONACO GP Final Race Report

[Valerio Vinassa]

 

[Andy Paries]

I damaged my car arround lap 9, went in for repairs.
When i came out of the pits i had a collision with David, race over.
Thats about it.
Srry again David.
It was a nice season, except this race, but thats part of racing i guess.
Thx Nico for making this possible, keep up the good work mate.
See you all next season.

 

[Eliezer Bartik]

Sorry Kurt for make u spin, hope you hadn't damage
Thanks for nice season,
Best guys best league .

 

[Peter Marshall]

Congratulations TIm!

Congratulations Reik for your 4th consecutive title.

Congratulations Vincenzo for another great race today; and to Nico...

Q 5th! Very surprising [and pleasant] to find myself on the third row.

R 5th. An excellent race. Early on and like everyone else, I chased the car ahead for a dozen laps , fell back a bit and then caught back up toward the end of the stint.

Nico was pushing from behind all the way and successfully undercut me in the second pit stop phase.

I chased Nico hard and caught up toward the end but there was nothing to do except not prange it. Finishing on the lead lap, as always, is very encouraging and satisfying.

A lot fun as always and that is what matters most.

Thank you Nico and to all my virtual racing friends.
Peter

 

[Kennett Ylitalo]

Watching the replay...

10th in qualy, that was really nice surprise. 3 tenths from PB while taking it easy, i just made sure i accelerated as soon as i dared, relaxing in the slow turns. In the practice starts i was way out of my position being 3rd and 4th but in the final one i was 12th and started from the same side, that helped a lot in the start.

Race was almost as tough as i imagined but i was confident that my strategy will work and i could keep the same pace over stints. Started with 88l of fuel and medium/soft combo, 12/59 wings. It was only hard in the Casino square where i had to drop speed for not to spin in the exit. Everywhere else it felt really good. Totally different from the qualy setup which was more "Reikian" approach. It was quicker but i couldn't get the tires to last so i made my own. It was actually pretty understeering but very very quick off the line. So i sacrificed some of the apex speed for exit speed and hoped that it would be easier to manage the tires, only thing to really take care was not to spin rear-tires too much, only when there was significant gain for it. Kind a worked..

Start was good, no incidents or great scares. Managed to get pass Andy and then gained some lucky places up to P8 at some point but lost it back in lap 3 going long in the tunnel chicane. Anthony started to catch me at this point but on lap happened unfortunate incident. More on that in the incident thread, i'm afraid.. There was maybe one second window to spin back to right direction but aborted that plan. Had to wait until i was last.. grrrr but all forgiven. It's called racing.

From then on it was tire management. I lost some thread in the first lap scuffles, and had to increase pace to catch. Made my first pit-stop at lap 17, which was several laps short of target but since i didn't need to fuel, i knew i could take the next set longer with less weight. Lap-times were constant low to mid 1:16 thru out the race. When the pit-stops started happening around, i got couple of places back. Then on lap 30 i came in for fuel 48 liters (about 4 laps too much.. two seconds lost..not a biggie) and fresh tires again. Car was beautiful to drive at this point, it was easy to keep the 1:16 target in sight. I had increased the gap behind and for the first time, i was held by Jonas who had lapped me during pitstops.. Lucky for me he went to pits few laps later and i could start going again.. Managed to catch Kurt and sneaked past him drafting behind a lapper, that felt good!

I guess he pitted or spun because suddenly i had over 40 seconds gap to him. I was anyway going to pit again, it was 40 seconds to Jonas in front and i knew he was not going to pit anymore. No use driving awful last 10 laps if you have an option not to. Fresh tires and by the end of the race, it was the same 40 seconds to Jonas.. Could drive as fast as i wanted, free at last.. Made my fastest lap 1:15 something and easy finish.All in all, very good race from me, i'm satisfied with the result in the end. The pace i had in some part of the race was just mindlifting and kept confidence levels up. To my surprise, everytime i thought i had eased up too much because of tire management, the sector times showed +/-0.02 difference. Definitely gonna load up this race to MoTec and see the laptimes delta.

Wonderful experience all together. Of course i'm disappointed for having a good qualy position and then being dropped to last, i think that's understandable. Don't know if could've kept it together with more cars around, all that pressure of driving in top10 dropped in an instant.. Less stress i guess

 

[Kennett Ylitalo]

lol, wrong thread

EDIT: Let's not waste a perfectly good slot... One highlight of the race was driving with Marko side by side in the main straight (he got better exit from the last turn..) then he went just a little bit wide in T1 giving me the inside. Then both accelerating as hard as we could, driving side by side the uphill. Too bad that last kink was not on my favor. The road got narrower and narrower until i had no room. I'm guessing that if i had just kept my foot down, he would've had to brake but i chickened out.. I'll get you someday

Grats for everyone, special congratulations for the champ, how many trophies does that make in your virtual cabinet?

 

[Valerio Vinassa]

maybe last event maybe Monaco but this race is a bit of day that I wait a light excitation take me and I feel good (quote James Brown ) will be a nice race my strategy was start with medium and 56lit. 1st pit M +M 54lit. 2nd pit SS+S and 28lit.First 10laps a pleasure close drive with Kurt an Marko many time I tried overtake Kurt at chicane really fun and defend me from Marko nice battles guys but (not remember which lap) when I esc from tunnel see in mirrors Reik so at chicane lost the right place for brake and decide lift feet and cut chicane better than try a last time corrections in chicane with a guy behind that lapping me (I thought) but hidden back Reik there is Marko that take the good chance for pass me ( I see you matebut less chance for shield me ). after this some little touch and little damage so i decided to anticipate pit and repair car but at Monaco nothing is sure so lost car and a goodmad hurt with barriers damage suspension front wing ecc.
Im a bit disappointed all my advantage on Valter was lost ( Valter was in 1 pit thought ) bye bye 45/50 sec of advantage for 2nd pit change strategy no more SS+S but again on medium tires at think 7 or8 laps to go Valter was with about 22 23 sec of advantage I tried push for catch him and I saw that gap is more close every lap( maybe some problem on car Valter? ) so push until last lap about 5sec the gap Im crazy but believe in me and push Vale push at chicane after tunnel I saw Valter in spin unlucky mate really easy pass for me and finish the race was last lap.

Congratulations Tim Reik and Vincenzo .
Congratulations All guys, finish a race here is 1st result


Thanks PrestoGP for event and sure Im ready for Season 9

 

[Nicolas Rouge]

Q 6th
Off my PB by more than half a second, since I stayed well away from the walls during qual (superpole dilemma ). However, the third row is not bad for me.

R 6th
Started well with a full tank and SS + S. My pace was correct until Nicolai showed himself in my mirror. I did what I could but after a mistake at the tunnel braking he passed me easily. I pitted at lap 14 for S + M and lost only a few places. I kept driving well (only 2 spins overall) and tried not to kiss the walls and that paid because I managed to keep my 6th position after my second and last pit stop at lap 33 (S + M).
In conclusion, one of my best race this season, some close fighting with Nicolai and David, and finish in the lead lap with a correct best lap.

Thanks to all the pilots that raced with this season. Thank you Nicolai for managing these events. Congratulation to our champion Reik who won after a more challenging season for him (I think).

I hope to see you all next season.

 

[Sean Greenlaw]

Grats Tim Reik and Vincenzo finishers and big Grats to Reik for championship it as it was a great season
Looks like was a interesting race will checkout the replay

 

[Tim McIver]

Qual - P2

I managed a nice steady lap and was quite surprised to be on P2. I felt like P2 was a better place than P1, so I was very happy.

Race - P1

Had a good start, but so did the rest. Reik and I were side by side through T1 and left each other room very nicely, he got better traction out wide and was on a lighter fuel load which I think helped him cruise up the hill away from me. David got a better run through T1 on his own and also cruised up along side me. We jostled a bit and I ended up having to pull out at the top of the hill. I settled into 3rd, a little bit disappointed I hadn’t managed to take P1 but it was going to be a long race.

I was also disappointed because I was on a 1 stopper fuelled to lap 27 with Meds/Hards. If I had managed to get out in front it would have been a huge advantage to my strategy.
Reik and David started to pull away fairly smoothly, but to my relief I was managing to pull away from the pack as well. The gaps to David in front and Vincenzo behind both increased similarly. I settled in for my long first stint.

The whole first stint I was worried about whether perhaps David and Reik were also one stopping and I was just slow and what was everyone else doing? Could anyone be 3 stopping? David did shoot past me very quickly at the start.

On lap 12 I caught up to David, he seemed to be going suspiciously slow, I wondered if he may have taken SS for a 3 stopper and they had just run out of grip on him, later I read that sadly he had no front wing. At the time I thought I might see him again later in the race.

At lap 18 to my great relief Reik went in for his first stop. The gap was significant, but I knew it was all going to depend on traffic after the stops. I ended up going for a one stopper because I feared being on a two stopper and coming out behind a slow one stopper. At this point I desperately hoped that someone behind me was on a one stopper and would spend a good few laps in front of Reik on fresh tires! (Sorry ReikJ)
Sadly that didn’t happen, to my surprise the one stopper wasn’t very popular at all. I watched the real Monaco and presumed everyone else did too! Surely people would risk it all!

I pushed hard for the last 9 laps of the stint hoping things were falling into place. At the end of lap 27 I came in for my only stop. It was a long stop with lots of fuel going in. I watched the gap decrease and I thought I was a good chance of getting back out in good position. As I excited the pits I was very disappointed to see Peter drive past and then even more disappointed when Nico managed to beat me in a drag race up the hill. I was in 5th and instead of Reik getting held up I feared it would be me who was compromised. Peter and Nico’s pace wasn’t too far off where I wanted to be, and there was no chance I was going to find a way past, certainly not past both of them. So I decided to hold back a little and stay easy on the power keeping my rear tires for later. We were doing 1:15s with my best lap having been a 1:13.8, so I felt that the win had slipped through my fingers but I was looking pretty strong for 2nd.

On lap 35 Nico came in and I was up to 4th

On lap 36 Reik, Vincenzo and Peter all came in giving me the lead.

Suddenly I realised I was in the lead! That can’t be right? I check the gap, somehow Reik is 4 seconds behind me. He’s on fresh tires and running a second or two faster. This is going to get interesting.

At that point I started to push hard. I was watching the gap back to Reik close worryingly fast. By lap 39 he was very much on my tail. 15 laps to go...

I started to drive more carefully, there was simply no chance I was going to pull away. I just needed to make sure I could put together 15 mistake free laps.

Reik stayed within 1 second and kept the pressure very high. I was only worried on the start finish straight and down the hill out of the tunnel.

At the start of lap 47 Reik stuck his nose out down the inside into T1. He locked a brake and there was contact. I got pushed into the wall and got some minor suspension damage. Luckly I didn’t get turned around and managed to continue on fairly smoothly, Reik also allowing me to maintain the lead. It was a ginger lap after that testing the suspension but it was pretty drivable.

From there I counted down the laps and was hugely relieved to cross the line half a second ahead of Reik! A fantastic battle with much fear and sweating!!!
Big congrats to Reik for a great battle, great race and for being the deserving champ once again.

Congrats to Vincenzo in 3rd and all finishers. It was an excellent race with an amazing number of finishers.

Thanks again to Nico for his leadership of this great league. Thanks to Daniel for his fantastic weather contribution (even if I did sleep though the best of it!). Thanks also to Gunter for the mod which has given so many hours of great racing.

Monaco is a stupid track to race F1 cars on. I love it. As long as real F1 is stupid enough to race here I think we should to!

 

[Nicolai Nicholson]

My great race event:

Qualify: I did what I call a decent lap, 1:13,1, about 0,5 behind my best lap this year. More than that I cannot expect and it provided me with 8th position.

Race: (60, 42, 42, ss/s ss/s ss/s) A reasonable start and I was still 8th after t1. I started chasing Eliezer ahead of me and noticed quickly that I could focus ahead as the gap to the car behind quickly grew.
I was very close to Eliezer for a couple of laps, showing myself in his mirrors, but never getting a real chance of passing until he made a mistake.

Now I was on 7th chasing Nicolas which I caught up with quite quickly. At this point I thought Nicolas was on a 1-stopper and thought I needed to get past if I wanted a good result. This was not easy and I had to wait to lap 13 I think it was. I pitted after lap 18 and when I came out I was a few seconds (3 I think) behind Peter.

I seemed to have a very similar pace as Peter, but I managed to close the gap over the stint and realized that if I was to get past I needed to do so in the pits. As we were getting closer to our second pit stop I was considering going in 2 laps early (after lap 34 instead of 36) in case Peter was on to my obvious plan and would himself pit after 35 laps. However, I was on super soft/soft and was nervous about doing 20 laps on this, so in the end I decided that the safest option was to pit only one lap early. Lucky for me Peter was not “defensive”, when I went in after 35 laps he went on for one more and when I got out (and Peter a lap later) I was leading with 3-5 second.

I was now 3-4 seconds behind Vincenzo on 3rd place and I started closing the gap to him. As I was doing this Peter was keeping more or less the same distance, but once I had caught up with Vincenzo it did not take long before Peter was behind us as well. However, it was impossible for any of us to do anything and we completed the race in this order.

Epilogue:
It was a great race for me. Qualify was important, getting a good start was important, and after that it was about keeping a good pace and doing the right pit-stops (strategy). Also I was lucky to get past Eliezer and Nicolas in the first stint. A very realistic and satisfying race for me.

I would also like to add that at one stage in the middle of the race I was aware of Nicolas suddenly being only a few sec behind me. I thought that the Frenchman had more fuel from the start (thus me being faster at that stage) but as a result he would be quicker in the pits and faster on track towards the end of the race. Luckily (for me) I never got him on my back, am not quite sure why

Big grats to Tim for winning the race (his first in a while), to Reik for winning another championship and to Vincenzo for yet another strong finish. And of course to all the racers in the race, in particular Peter, Nicolas, Eliezer and Vince who made sure I was never alone on track

 

[Valter Ostman]

Congratulations to the winner Tim McIver, the Champ Reik Major and third man, Vincenzo Cavaliere!

Q: Crashed in the harbor stretch. Started last on the grid.

R: The start was safe but I spun in the Massinet fast lefthander on the first lap. No harm done. after a few laps the fighting group in front of me was quite close again.
Everything went normal until lap fifteen when I spun again in Massinet. Sorry for disturbing you Marko and Valerio. You lost a place to Kennett because of my mistake. Then I was last again
Miserable racing on lap twenty-one. I made Nicolai lose time behind me when he was fighting with Peter. I was slow and didn’t realise the situation immediately. Sorry guys, I messed up.

Pitstop on lap twenty-five. I changed tires, fueled up and made the necessary repairs. I got out on track in last position.

The second stint was mostly a matter of letting cars go by under blue flag. Thanks Valerio for racing me for 14th place, I enjoyed it very much

Thanks to all involved for one more fabulous season in the best simracing league!

/JMV

 

[Nicolai Nicholson]

Miserable racing on lap twenty-one. I made Nicolai lose time behind me when he was fighting with Peter. I was slow and didn’t realise the situation immediately. Sorry guys, I messed up.
/JMV

I was acctually thinking to myself in the race "Great Valter, that is how it should be done! As I do not like when "backmarkers" loosing too much time letting me past as it destroys their race, and also traffic is an extra spice in my eyes.

Here is a summary of my race in video:

 

[Peter Marshall]

Miserable racing on lap twenty-one. I made Nicolai lose time behind me when he was fighting with Peter. I was slow and didn’t realise the situation immediately. Sorry guys, I messed up.

Nothing for you to apologise for JMV.

I do not recall precisely, however, I do know that I passed [lapped] a number of drivers; some a couple of times dues to the pit-stops [re-passes]. I remember thinking how good it was that no one quit their race in frustration and all did their best to work together during the passes.