SEASON 9 RACE 5 SUZUKA RACE REPORT

[Valerio Vinassa]

funnest possible

 

[Henrik Jordfald Olsen]

Suddenly all other cars were gone, I was all alone on track.
I got "blue flag, first warning" and there was no cars at all.

I have on the view where you can see all cars on track, but there was no one there but me.
A biiiiig bummer, I just quit.
All the practice for nothing

 

[Bob Luneski]

Well, it felt good to get back on the track. It's comforting to know I haven't lost my knack for screwing up pit stops

Q: 11 I had relatively light preparation to ease my wrist back into racing and ran no laps in wet conditions. It was fun and interesting LOL

R: DNF completed 15 laps. The first 2 laps were a bit shaky, but then at lap 3 the car felt good so I opened it up a bit. In lap 5 I accelerated too fast out of a turn and spun and hit a wall. Dutifully waiting until most of the field passed I reentered the track with aero and suspension damage that I had to go into the pits and fix. I came back out in last and completed the next 10 laps without incident. Until my pit stop......

I entered the pits and stopped quickly at my pit box. I verified my settings were correct...fuel and tires...and hit confirm. The pit timer starts and after 5 seconds the pit timer stops and they're saying "go go go".... WTF my pit crew is over at the cooler cracking open a cold Budweiser while I'm sitting there with no gas and old tires. Lazy f**ckers. So I try to get the pit box to acknowledge me again without success and I don't have enough gas to make it around the track again. Race over. Argh.......

Oh well, it was fun to be back racing with y'all. Cheers.

 

[Bob Miley]

Didn't qualify because T1 scared me.

Started race with 100L and hards for a 1 stop and it was all going so nicely, did my stop and came out 21 seconds behind 8th with a stop in my pocket. That's when it all went south. First my FFB went and came back again then my throttle just dropped and while I was kicking the pedal Reik went into the back of me due to me being invisible, but when I checked to track map there was nothing behind me for half a lap, otherwise I would have pulled over off the racing line. Sorry Reik. Anyway, on with my story of woe.Pitted for repairs and decided to throw mediums on but clicked the wrong way and came out with inters and slid everywhere then into the wall. Pitted again, this time for the right tyres and tried again, only for my throttle to stick open into the chicane, my brakes slowed me but when I released it just spun me into the barrier. Pitted again then went to the finish.

One to forget.

Congratulations Podium

 

[Reik Major]

[...]First my FFB went and came back again then my throttle just dropped and while I was kicking the pedal Reik went into the back of me due to me being invisible, but when I checked to track map there was nothing behind me for half a lap, otherwise I would have pulled over off the racing line. Sorry Reik.[...]

No problem at all. It's amazing how many bad things summed up into that accident. So I book it under bad luck for both of us, because no one was able to avoid it. Would you agree?

 

[Kennett Ylitalo]

Same happened to me, the connection came back and was better after that. It lagged horribly on start and i checked latencies from around me, yours were peaking.. But so was everyone else so i dropped back after letting Sean pass, safely, i presume?

That was my "tactic".. Survive and make the battles long. Healthy gap thru out the race, good strategy, tires were in perfect condition. Car was perfect until L14, then rear slipped a bit.. Tires were kind a funny, after a fast lap they were very slippery... Didn't have time to check any further, Suzuka does not hand out mercy...

Spun ~5 laps to go, front wing missing and suspension damage after T2.. First spin in the race. That was really not in my plan, was starting to get too comfortable..Limped to pits, switched to super softs and started to enjoy the amazing grip... Took it to the limit but was not really any faster, just enjoyed the grip and trashed the poor thing around until second spun, easy +2s/lap until finish.

Was worried for a while, legs were aching but that soon turned into nice numbness Really enjoyed the race, i'm pretty happy at my performance. Without that connection issue, almost perfect race from me.

 

[David Turnbull]

qualifying - 6th, undeserved as id reconnected and slotted in there, id rather have started from the back to make it fairer to sean, but we know thats the risk with this game so had to take it.

race - dnf

started well enough, slotted in behind dino in 6th after the esses, from there i just tried to stay with them while increasing the gap to the pack behind, i outbroke myself once and took to the grass to avoid contact with dino which was lucky as he was having a good fight with the guys in front so at least i didnt interfere with that, i think from that hard braking manouver something gave up or something stuck in my pedal from then on i didnt have the same top speed and i was understeering off the track when turning into corners, it got progressively worse even after the pit i was juddering up the straights and locking up at the hairpin even after id took my foot away from the brake pedal, started really annoying me when i had to turn in for t1 half way down the straight lol, anyhoo too many spins and crashes resulted and there was no way i could continue so gave it up and quit.

grats podium

cyas next race.

 

[Valerio Vinassa]

Q 13th not bad stay on track was mandatory
R 10th a really nice race in the first stint Sean for a bit of laps push me until in T1 he release pass me, than Nico again some knock at Hairpin and Spoon curve and also him in T1 pass me. A Question anyone use an illegal DRS ? From here behind me now Kurt we did all the race in fights I did 2 laps more than Kurt in first stint but when I jump out I was always ahead with 2/3sec but in Spoon curve I did my first mistake fault in brake point so runnig wide lift the feet for float on sand and lost seconds and seconds for recover but Kurt in T1 lost car and run wide easily pass for me but Im a jackass this fault I repeat for 3 time more same place same point lost many time and finished in 10th I see Nico in pit in last 3 or 4 laps so I can pass him and gain an advantage 6/7sec. for finish the race in safety with Kurt think 15sec. front me.


Well done Tim Dino Reik and all participants

Thanks PrestoGp for event
C U on next track

 

[Bob Miley]

No problem at all. It's amazing how many bad things summed up into that accident. So I book it under bad luck for both of us, because no one was able to avoid it. Would you agree?

Agreed, though I wish I had pulled off the line instead of blindly cursing and kicking my pedal in a fit of rage.

 

[Peter Marshall]

Congratulations Tim, Dino and Reik.

I had a terrible race. My lap 3 incident with Vince worried me greatly and then what happened to Vince at 130R doubled my concerns. Latter I believe Nico went off when he was chasing me into Spoon. That was enough for me to become increasingly paranoid about my internet connection.

I hope you guys had a much much better time of it.

Well done Valter!

Thank you all.

 

[Nicolas Rouge]

Q 10h
I took no risks and loaded my high downforce race setup, fit it with wets and 10l of fuel and go. The tires were overheating but it was manageable. Finally that gave me a very good position on the grid.

R 5th
My race setup was 5/30 wings with 92l and hards so I knew it was going to be hard not to be overtaken in the straights. I made some 1-stopper stint tests with mediums and less wings and the same amount of fuel, and it was faster but too much tricky at the end when tires were dead, so I played safe and wore hards and more wings for the race.
My start was not bad but I had to really slow down in T2 since everyone was very careful. I managed to keep my place, following Valter very closely. I had a light touch from Nicolai at Spoon but it had no incidence for me. I then try to stay close to Valter in order to take his slipstream in the straight but could not keep up much long. Hopefully no car was close behind so I stayed a long time with anyone to trouble me and was able to concentrate on making clean laps. I was really happy to attain P1 at the beginning of lap 18 and kept this place until Spoon at lap 19 when Reik made it through the inside. Very nice pass, no one lost time!
I made my only big mistake at lap 20 at the Hairpin and lost 8 seconds and some positions. I pitted shorly after at the end of lap 22, for hards and 92l fuel, at the same moment as Sean that had the same strategy.
The second stint was much quieter, and had no one to fight with except at the end with Sean and then Valter who managed to pass me in the back straight just before the end.
The final result was a little unexpected for me, and I was very surprised that I could challenge Sean during the race, whom I consider someone much faster than me. I was also very happy that I made only one mistake. Considering my state after a very long and tiring day at work, and my lack of practice, I surely wasn't expecting that, but I think I really love this track and I probably found a magic recipe in my setup, and that helped me a lot.

Thanks to everyone for this race, PrestoGP & Nicolai for organization. CU next race.

 

[Valter Ostman]

Grats Tim, Dino And Reik.

Q: 9th.

R: 4th. I am happy!
W 1/17, 62 Liters, soft/soft. A magical setup. I kept off the grass and gravel all the way.

First lap was very smoothly driven by all pilots, a pleasure to see all cars go so tight through the S-curves. I didn’t gain or lose anything just kept my spot. Nicolas was a bit aggressive behind me, but I trust him in all weathers so that was only a nice spice. I tried my best to keep up with Peter in front.
On lap three going into Casio Peter had a bit of bad luck and I could pass him and Vincenzo in the exit. In that chicane I had to go very slow and Nicolas was a only a few centimetres behind. I defended the inside in first turn and could keep my position, it was close. After a lap I could build up a small gap, I know now he had a lot more wing than I, so that must be a disadvantage here. Now the race had settled and David was far in front. I had no hope of catching up with him. My pulse is slowly going down to race pace.

Lap 12. Suddenly I’m a few seconds in front of David, don’t know why. Tim and Anthony are far away in front fighting for position. On lap 14 Anthony runs into some trouble in 130R and I’m given a position. I’m in 4th place.

Lap 15. Pitstop, no problems. Back on track in P8 with Kennett close behind.

Lap 24. I catched Bob who was on warn rubber. Very close in 130R but no chance of passing into Casio. Fortunately for me he had to pit and I gain a position back to P4 again.

Lap 28. I caught up with Vince and could pass him into Casio, P3.

Lap 30. Pitstop. All went well and I got out in P6. Nicolai is not far behind. He catches me in Casio and now he is positioned in perfect striking distance. I defend the inside lane and manage to keep the lane tight through T1 and T2. Nicolai is still behind. (Don’t you trust me anymore Nicolai?) He is very aggressive in the “Esses”. Nice driving My drag is sabotaging Nicolai's downforce and he goes off in 130R. I get a gap. Now I can breathe normally again. On lap 36 he is close again, but the downforce loss behind me makes it impossible for him to come into position again. And I guess his tires got extremely hot chasing me.

Lap 44. Nicolas in front of me is driving on the rims now. I overtake him into Casio. He can almost brake as hard as a locomotive on those wheels. P4 again. However, in the “Esses” he was near my gearbox area again for a while, a typical Red Bull setup

Lap 45. I’m not lapped. When did that happen last? I can’t remember

Thanks Nicolai, RD and all of you for this nice race that gave me a big silly smile

CU “Over there”

 

[Sean Greenlaw]

Grats Tim Dino , Reik and Finshers!

Q. inters 1.34.6 but lost connection i would have been more angry if was pole time

R. I tried 1 stop meds 91 91, i thought it would be difficult to pass here so my 1st attempt at 1 stopper maybe would have went better if used hards lol.
Early cautious and made up few places til behind Peter around lap 6 and managed to pass into chicane lap 8 now it was Vincenzo ahead and got run to 130 r and made pass on the inside. This was where Peter and Vincenzo had contact in my replay Vincenzo is much tighter than in Peters video. I went off lap 10 and got small supsension damage dropped back to 11th and made up to 5th after everyone pits lap 15/16.
Lap 18 Reik exited pits and was close behind and just couldnt keep him behind he easily passes me with more grip, i know now to Nicolas also 1 stopping so hes guy im racing really for positon. Nicolas made mistake and i got by lap 20 grip i was struggling now but had to stay out for couple more laps i pitted lap 22 from 2nd and came out 10th. Lap 30 when everyone pits i was back to 4th and now going to be if my tires can last till end well they didnt lol. I made couple mistakes and lap 38 Nicolas made the pass when i lost traction up spoon and lap 41 i spin and enter pit lane entrance lol and i see Valter go by i stay 6th till finish.

Overall some great racing with eveyone i raced with was extremely difficult on the worn tires ends of stints but also good fun on reflection a 2x would have still been faster even from 17th.

Thanks RD Nico and Presto i think next race i miss so ill cyas on servers and race after

 

[Kennett Ylitalo]

@Sean Greenlaw : Was the start safe? It was kind of a test, maybe we could use chat during warmup to have short discussion with ones we most likely will have issues with (you being so much faster is an issue for me ) Also the pitentry braking etc. I know we do it now but to make it more "official" period to discuss shortly all issues we might have..

edit: @ function on the forum not working atm..

 

[Sean Greenlaw]

Start was fine Kennet but me being behind you shouldnt be a issue , dont worry i would not do anything silly and i was prepared to be last for the 1st lap.
I would have prefered to just start as normal really though but fine with it eithier way.

 

[Dino Paolini]

Great event for me on my favourite track

Q: I was glad that it rained, because even though I had a potentialy good qualy pace on slicks, I also had quite a big fluctuation between qualy-runs, so I feared this would have ended in a not so great lap considering my open hate-relationship with superpole

Now that I watched the lap back, I saw that it was a nice one, just a bit much on the safe side.
During driving I had multiple moments were I instantly thought "damn, this was way too safe and therefore too slow!"... So you can imagine that I was shocked to see me on p2 crossing the line with just a under 1 tenth gap to Reik

R: Had a very silly moment at the start: I quickly checked my pit-preset as I always do and saw that for some reason, it showed a completly wrong preset that wasnt even activated in my menu So I started to quickly select the right one, not knowing that all my deativated presets were activated, which made no sense at all. When I finally reached my right preset (the last one of course...), I figured out on the last moment that the startlights were already burning and I was still in neutral ect...
So I made a very hasty, somewhat still almost normal start, but lost 3 positions already

Drove along on p5 for while and later on p2 after the 3 car incident happened in front.

Overshot my pitbox on my first stop, because I was pretty sure that it was further back in free practice

Went into my second pitstop overshooting the damn spot again...
That and some difficult laps before that led to loose me enough time to Tim who was now to far in front after all that.

Now to one of the strangest things that happened to me in this game:
On lap 41 I exit out of turn1 and suddenly my game starts to stutter out of the blue.
Exactly on that moment, as if someone has pulled a switch, suddenly my tire-grip was horrendous. Could not even come close to drive in my normal gears because I suddenly had grip that was comparable to what the car had during rain.
I had to even mostly use the gearing that I used during wet-laps

Suddenly when entering the last sector of lap 42 I felt that the tires were suddenly biting the track again and that 2 lap nightmare ended.
Reik almost overtook me during that 2 laps, even though he drove along with damage...

q: 2nd / r: 2nd

Not a perfect race, but a great result and good fun.
The lapping was very smooth, even on the tight parts of the track
Thanks for racing and see you guys next time

 

[Marko Vuori]

Grats to Tim, Dino & Reik! Great race.

I had high expectations for this race, since I had practiced more than for any of the races in this season.

Qualifying: 1:34.587 (3rd)
I hadn´t practiced a lap in rain at Suzuka, so I did not expect much when I saw weather forecast for qualifying. I chose wet tyres for my attempt, but noticed on outlap that they quickly got overheated. I tried to cool them down before my hotlap, but already at the start of the lap my tyre temperatures were well over 100 degrees and at the end of the lap closer to 130 degrees! I drove carefully and grip seemed to be surprisingly good with overheating wet tyres. No mistakes and gaining 3rd spot was great for my spirit!

Race: (DNF)
I got an ok start and managed to overtake Dino before first corner. I took my place as 2nd, following Reik as he started to build up gap between us. Anthony and Tim were following me closely, but did not seem to be quick enough to try overtaking. Then suddenly on lap 11 at the hairpin, Anthony crashed me heavily from behind, after being pushed by Tim. I lost my rear wing and trying to get back to the track, I spun and my car was dangerously in the middle of the track in front of David, so I decided to press ESC.

Conclusion:
I had prepared well for this race compared to many other races this season. Good qualifying result, good race start and good pace at the opening laps of the race were positive signals. Being involved in a crash once again completely without my own fault, and that it took me out of the race and left me without points in this event sets a strong contrast to the positive expectations I had for this race. All in all, latest events (continuous crashes) together with a glance at driver´s championship table are a heavy blow to my motivation to participate to the rest of the season, but let´s see what I can do about it.

Thanks to Presto GP, and all the competitors.

 

[Reik Major]

Agreed, though I wish I had pulled off the line instead of blindly cursing and kicking my pedal in a fit of rage.

Again don't worry mate. If your car was visible, I would have driven around you giving me a decent room for safety. So it was bad luck for both of us.