Season 9 Race 2 SPA 2008 RACE Report

Q:18th without a time due to wrong tyre's on:(

Race: Goodish start then got to P16 thenhad a wee battle with Chic :O_o: but i knew he was faster than me so i let him passed :thumbsup: then trying to hang on to his slipstream but chic got away :( Nice driving bro :thumbsup: so now am P14 with henrik catching me fast, so i start to push harder & spin at bus-stop :O_o: sorry henrik because of my spin u drive into me :( sorry again, so i lost 2 place's due to that spin,but survive car damage :) & sorry if u did henrik, anyway i get to P8 then let davie passed the same way i let chic passed & for same reason :thumbsup: then i pit lap15 a lap to late which i find out later in my race! get out of pits into P17 then get back to P16 then at begining of lap24 i press pit to pit end of that lap,because i noticed i only had 6.0 of fuel left & my XD said i do a lap in 4.5 a lap so i think am gonna be ok but as i get to bus-stop i realize am gonna run out of fuel but i get in to pits make my pit option then run out of fuel a metre away from my pit-box :cry:
So my miscalculation earlyer with fuel cost me to not have enough fuel to get to my pit-box.

So all in all a good race except my miscalculation :sick: anyway Grats to top 3 & cya's all at monza :D
 
Grats to Reik, Tim and Sean.

After a bit disappointing season start at Hungaroring, I had high hopes of success at Spa. Relatively good practice times also gave me some confidence. Underprepared though I had planned to test different tyre choices for the race at the official practice, but rainy weather hindered this. Finally I changed my tyre choice at the last minute before the race start, which was not a bad choice.

Qualifying: 1:43.082 (5th)
Ok lap, but 1.2 seconds from my PB.

Race: (7th)

I kept my place at the start. At the first stint, there was not much fighting with other drivers. Only on lap 11 David overtook me.

On lap 13, I pitted and came back in front of David, who overtook me again. This time with a little more fighting. After two-stoppers had done their stops I was still 6th and it looked like that would be my place until the end of the race. But the sky was getting gray... First it started to rain at only one part of the track and I decided to stay out until the whole track was wet. Finally when I went to pits, I didn´t find how to stop my pit crew from refuelling so they refuelled. In addition, I took intermediate tyres, which probably wasn´t the right choice. I came back on P6 and Peter was some 2 seconds behind. At the start of the next lap, I lapped Eliezer and at the braking for T1 (La Source) Eliezer hit the back of my car sending me spinning 200 degrees. Peter overtook me and my car got a slight damage at the back, so the fight was lost. I could continue, but I finished 7th.

Conclusion: High hopes, low points. That sums up my race at Spa.

Thanks for all the organizers and participants! See you at Monza!
 
Puh, what can I say… „What a great race!“

Congrats to Tim (2nd) and Sean (3rd) for completing the podium and again to Dino for a very well deserved 4th – not bad for a new member!

Of course all drivers who finished did a good job and earned deserved points.

Qualy (1st):

Super pole was special this time. After a whole wet practise it wasn’t easy to switch the mind back to “dry mode” that quickly. I pushed hard in the out lap to get used to it and it worked well. Being not too aggressive I hit every corner very well so I ended with a 1:41:3xx only one tenth away from my PB.

Race (1st):

I planned to go for a common 2 stopper using softs (65 liters) / softs (63 liters) / softs (63 liters).

I had a nice start and T1 wasn’t far away, so it was for me. Exiting from Eau Rouge the first time, Tim in 2nd had a nice slip stream, so I held a defensive line. Unfortunately I braked a little bit late for the combo after the Kemel straight and had to block Tim a little bit. Sorry mate! Then I could open a small gap which varied from 1,5 to 3 seconds during the stint.

The car balance was great during the whole stint. I pitted in the end of lap 13 I think. Everything went fine and I came back in front of Tim with the same gap. I drove a solid second stint without a problem. Just had a very slight contact with Kurt when lapping him, which was my fault (see incidents report). Again sorry Kurt and thx for your patience!

My gap to Tim in 2nd slightly increased to ~ 7 seconds when I made my 2nd stop in the end of lap 27. Again everything went all right and after everyone had stopped positions and gaps remained the same as before.

I honestly didn’t expect anything special to happen anymore, especially I didn’t think of rain! So just to create a comfortable gap and to keep me focused I pushed like hell in the 3rd stint. The gap to Tim increased to ~ 15 seconds and it was much fun to drive close at the edge at this great track. At this stage I drove the fastest race lap with a 1:42:9xx. In the end it should show that those earned extra seconds secured the victory.

I don’t remember exactly when it happened but close to the end of the race it started to rain. It did so when I started into a new lap. So I had one lap to switch to my “inters-no-fuel-preset” and to see what will happen. It was a very nice challenge to guess the grip with slicks for each upcoming corner. For the first half of the lap it went well and felt very satisfying but entering the 3rd gear chicane my tyres locked up and I went of. Luckily I caught it close before the wall. Still being frightened the same happened into Stavelot because rain had increased. Again I was lucky to escape so that was the moment I decided to pit for intermediates no matter if there were just 2 or 3 laps to go.

Entering the twisty and narrow pit lane I had a very slight over steer which directed the nose of the car to the inside wall. Ok, I expected to grind there a little bit and get straightened automatically by the wall BUT the wall was present only visually not physically. So my car suddenly hooked up into the tyre barrier close behind and got turned 180°! The wing was off and the suspension heavily damaged. Man I got shocked hard but instinctively press “look behind” and reversed into the pit area by steering counter wise looking back all the time. Being into the pits I turned around and limped to my crew for inters and repairs. I hope I didn’t hinder anyone who entered the pits too. I think there wasn’t anyone but I’m not sure. :redface:

At this point I was very angry about me and just wanted to bring it home in 2nd or 3rd. During the long stop I noticed that Tim and David had stayed on track with slicks. Very brave move guys! Coming back on the track I think I was 3rd behind David and Tim being ~ 35 seconds away from Tim in the lead.

The inters felt ok and I did well more or less. So in the end of the out lap I caught David on the s/f-straight. I don’t remember if it was one or two laps later coming to s/f when I thought race should be over and Tim would earn a very, very great win but to my surprise there was still another lap. The gap to Tim was 11 seconds and I knew it could become very close. So I tried to drive a very clean lap (which I did) and see what happens. Finally I reached Tim on the back straight and overtook him before Blanchimont. So in the end I was a very lucky winner with a short 3 seconds gap to Tim.

Later in TS with Tim I found out that he lost some seconds having trouble with Henrik, so I wasn’t sure if I can be happy about my victory and if it’s deserved. But I think different tactics include different amounts of risk so Tim made a braver but also more risky move which includes more trouble when staying on slicks in the wet. I just say that to underline my big respect for him and everyone who stayed on slicks and I would honestly have granted Tim the victory! :thumbsup:

I want to thank Nicolai very much for making us having so much great racing! And I like to thank the broadcast team very much! I really enjoyed rewatching the whole event on my TV and the quality has improved very much. Keep on the great work!

C U all at Monza! :)

PS:
I’m very sorry that I didn’t post a race report for Hungary and this report so late. I’m very short on time and for Spa I was very happy to find the time for at least a few hot laps, one wet stint and one dry stint. I hope to make at least one stint for Monza too and to be enough prepared to make it hard for all competitors... ;)
 
reiks post reminded me ive not done mine either.......

qualifying - 20th, terrible decision not to check my setup prior to going out, id spun 8 times before i even got to the busstop on the outlap, got there eventaully and got a puncture so quit at t1 lol

race - 5th, great race coming from the back marred by the incident with anthony slightly, but by the end of the first stint i was upto 5th place, gained the positions back again after the stops and stayed there until the end really, the rain was great and annoying for me at the same time, it spiced it up a bit but also put paid to me chasing down dino in 4th.

great race all cyas monza :)
 
I haven't post mine also so here it is :
Q 10th
I was surprised to be so quick, I never had the time to train for that.

R 8th
After a good start I managed to be behind Nicolai at the Eau Rouge and made what I think my best overtake so far at the braking of Les Combes. After that I was battling with Vincenzo but never managed to overtake him. A few lap laters I made a mistake and lost some places, getting a light suspension damage. My first pit stop was a failure since I spun entering the limited zone (there was a nasty bump there!). Nothing much happened then, only some distant battles with Chirlie (me behind at the second stint, and him behind at the third stint).
Pitted at the first signs of the rain for inter but that didn't change my final position. I should have put the wets, it would probably have made the difference.

Sorry I don't really have time to make a longer report, but my work, the steam updates, all the forum posts and the only 1 week period for training don't give me much time!

Great race all and cu at Monza tonight :)
 

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