Race 1 5 Laps Circuit de la Sarthe / Le Mans
The first race this week marked the beginning of the Spring league and so the first FG GT Sport race where points were on offer. The race took part at Le Mans, or Circuit de la Sarthe as it's sometimes called, using Group 3 GT cars. The track is a mix of purpose built sections and public roads with the beginning and end being mostly fast flowing corners while the middle is dominated by the Mulsanne straight separated by chicanes.
Qualifying;
In the practise leading up the event it was a battle to not get penalties which almost, if not, everyone got and this carried on in to qualifying with at least myself and @phil bottle picking a penalty on our first flying lap. Though penalties weren't the only impact on flying laps as @JBR-Kiwi had a trip through the gravel and @Mikepjbell spun on their first laps. Due to these issues, I take provisional pole with a lap several seconds slower than achieved in practise. The second flying lap of qualifying offers a chance of redemption right up to the point that I pick up another penalty and Paul @slamminbones also making a mistake. However Kiwi managed to keep it clean on his second lap to take provisional pole as through further penalties and mistakes, no-one improved on their final lap meaning Kiwi had managed to bag pole position.
Race:
The race was going to be an interesting one, for the number of teams entering the 24 hour of Le Mans the pit lane is exceptionally long so you lose a lot of time making a stop. However the fuel saving required to make 5 laps is also high so costs you seconds per lap. Which strategy would people go for and how would it all work out in the end. Kiwi showed his hand at the end of qualifying by discussing his change of strategy and pitting to medium tyres and Mike also switched to soft tyres over the super softs used for qualifying.
For the league race, we used a grid start for this race and the getaway was clean with everyone getting away roughly in their grid order until Paul misses his braking point for turn 1 running himself and Phil wide but thankfully without any loss of time or position. Sadly Matt @Misneach_ had some technical issues with being stuck in the wrong view which ended his race before it really had began. The super soft tyres myself and Phil were using meant we were all over Kiwi and Mike respectively as they were on harder and consequently slower tyres. The pit stop strategy only works if you can break away from those going for a no stop which I managed overtaking Kiwi to the first chicane on the Mulsanne straight and shortly followed by Phil also getting passed at the second chicane. This separated the leading pack to Phil and I who were stopping ahead of Kiwi and Mike who were planning to not stop so at this point we were in our own battles. Mike gets a good tow on Kiwi down the final section of the Mulsanne straight and makes a move but runs a little deep as Kiwi attempts a switch back which results in a little contact and Mike spinning in to the wall. Right as Mike is spinning, Lee @GazzaGarratt, who had been running 5th, runs massively deep in to the same corner too and both of them get reset to the track and in the following pack. Lee's mistake had dropped him to 7th but by Indianapolis and Arnage, Lee had managed to climb back to his original 5th place but sadly got a small tap on the rear by Clive @Teenwolf25 in the braking zone led to Lee taking another trip through the gravel and on recovering has some further contacts and ends up spinning out dropping him to the back of the field. The fighting in the pack allowed Mike to catch up and be right behind Paul and @crispymorgan going in to the Porsche curves and as neither were Phil, Mike pulls over a couple of quick and clean passes to move himself back up to 6th place. Crispy was a bit unclean as Mike overtook him and this continues through the final 2 chicanes as Crispy gets a bit sideways on the exist of both giving Paul all the opportunity to make up a place himself. A lap later, Mike has caught up to Clive and through some mistakes by Clive through Indianapolis and Arnage corners, Mike gains a further place to now have recovered to 5th. Due to the length of the track, everyone was reasonably spread out by this point but it was now time for pit stops and strategy to come in to play as everyone on a pit stop strategy pitted the end of lap 3 (except Lee who had pitted the end of lap 2). The pit stop dropped me from 1st to 3rd, 15 seconds behind Kiwi in the lead and 7 seconds behind Mike in second. The pit stop had also dropped Phil from 2nd to 4th however on fresh tyres and not needing to worry about fuel, it was now a question of if we could catch Kiwi and Mike before the end. I managed to catch and pass Mike by the beginning of the Porsche curves of lap 4 leaving my 9.5 seconds to Kiwi. At the end of lap 4, Mike decided to go for a splash and dash pit stop which, due to his comments on his car not arriving, I don't think he'd realised how long the pit lane is and so giving Phil an easy pass up to 3rd place. I continued my pursuit of Kiwi and had been gaining but it was going to be extremely tight if it was going to be enough but sadly Kiwi ran deep at the end of the Mulsanne costing him several seconds and allowing me to take the lead. And with the exception of a small mishap at Indianapolis as Kiwi on worn and dirty tyres sailed passed the corner, it was then an easy win for me on fresher tyres and no fuel saving. Overall it was a good first race of the spring season and it's a shame we didn't have a race to the end, in writing this, I found that Kiwi had a 4.2 second lead on me when he made the mistake and on the previous lap, I had made 4 seconds up. A big thank you to @phil bottle for arranging these events.
Results
Race 2
The first rally race we have tried and we have to remember the first rule of gt sport racing is we don't talk about rallying. The second rule of gt sport racing is we don't talk about rallying.
Race 3 Tokyo East Inner Loop (Wet) Gr3
For a bit of fun the final race of the night is one of only a few wet races available in GT Sport around the streets of Tokyo. Being a street track there is zero run off so any mistake means running in to a wall and at any speed means a penalty. As becoming normal, this race grid is based off of a reverse of the last so there was no qualifying.
Race
The different cars being used by everyone meant the long run to turn 1 was interesting, I got a good launch in the Porsche and was following Crispy who was out front. But the GT-R's are fast in a straight line so soon started hauling us in so by turn 1 we were mostly all bunched up 2 or 3 wide. Even with a small imagination, it isn't hard to imagine how badly this went thanks to someone who I won't name *cough* Phil *cough*. I don't know but I'd guess a mix of missing his braking point in the pack, the wet track and going faster than expected in to tow caused Phil to run deep and take me with him in to the wall on the outside of T1 for which we both go reset and then in my frustration I spin it in to the wall again for good measure. Mike who had been hanging back going in to turn 1, slips passed the carnage to take the lead. Turn 1 at this track is the hardest as it's a hairpin so getting out of it, especially in the wet, is difficult but Lee managed it to be set up for a move to overtake Crispy at the turn 2 & 3 switchback as Kiwi manages pull a similar move on Paul too. After my turn 1 punt and spin, I managed to catch back up to Phil who clips a wall giving me the over speed to get alongside and then get squeezed in the wall but Phil then gives me space so I take the place at the next corner. After the manic turn 1, we were quite spread out but over the next lap, I caught up to Paul who decided to let me passed but in doing so got a penalty so I don't think he'll be so kind next time. I spent the following lap catching up to Lee and Kiwi who were running together which as I caught them at the end the lap this led to us running 3 wide down the long start finish straight and to turn 1 - because it went to well on lap 1. Thankfully it all went well this time with Kiwi coming out in front, me in the middle and Lee at the back. I push to get passed Kiwi and bump him in to the wall for which he picks up a penalty though the favour is quickly repaid as Kiwi runs me in to wall too. Phil decides to end his race as it started by running wide at turn 1 of the final lap and getting reset which allows Paul to gain a place which he holds until the end.
Results:
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