Mikepjbell

Race 1 - Dragon Trail Gardens Gr3
We did this track a few weeks ago with Gr2 but the tracks holds the same challenges, namely; getting through the chicane at the beginning of lap without losing too much time or spinning out entirely as well as tackling the long 4 apex right hander towards the end of the lap.
 
Qualifying
Qualifying is important for your starting position and with the limited time it can be a challenge to set a fast lap under pressure.  With Dragon Trail Gardens, the length of the start finish straight it is important to get a good run out of the final corner but @Macca89 and @Shucker spun on their first laps.  Though Shucker managed to get a good lap in at the end to line up 8th on the grid.  It was good to see Clive @Teenwolf25 doing well to qualify 9th as, I believe, it's his first time racing with us.
 
Race
It was decided by our benevolent overlord @phil bottlethat this race would be a rolling start which does have the benefit annoying @crispymorgan who had got released from the auto drive on the final corner.  It also spreads everyone out to help keep it clean through the first few corners though that didn't drop Kiwi and I pushing a little too much at the first chicane as we both pick up a penalty for cutting the track.  A few locks ups and a bit oversteer but everyone keeps it clean with Lee getting a good exit and a run to the hairpin; one of the best overtaking places on the track.  Lee misjudged his speed and brakes way too late having to take avoiding action to avoid rear ending Phil but then running wide as Phil pulls a textbook cut back to retake his position.  At the start of lap 2, sadly Clive undoes his great first qualifying by dipping a wheel on the grass and even through a valiant effort to catch the slide ends up fish tailing in to a spin directly in front of @Stretch616 who with nowhere to go T-bones straight in to the side.  Lap 3 is Phil's turn to get that chicane wrong as he runs wide through the first part, convinced someone hit him though the replay does absolve Lee @GazzaGarrattof any guilt so clearly it's Mike telekinetic powers, getting back on track with perfect timing to be broadside in front of Lee who helps Phil off in to more gravel.  Before Phil can reverse, the game resets him in to the path of Stretch who manages to avoid another crash by running wide allowing Paul @slamminbones to close up maybe have a chance in to the hairpin though Stretch manages to come on top this time.  The track had more surprising in store as @JBR-Kiwi , holding on to second place with @Mikepjbell nipping at his heels , runs wide at turn 8 dipping a wheel off the curb and in to the gravel sending him round and round.  Then just as Kiwi is recovering, Lee does a carbon copy of Kiwi at turn 8 and spins himself out though unfortunately Shucker was following Lee so also spins.  Though this isn't the last turn 8 has to offer as on Lap 5, Mike having been gifted second place following Kiwi's spin a couple laps earlier, also runs wide and spins on the exit though bonus points have to be given to Mike for the most consecutive spins of the week.
 
 
Results

 
 
Race 2 - Sardegna C N200
In a small change to the schedule, race 2 this was Sardegna rather than Red Bull Ring due to some not having Gr2 cars.  Sardagna is a fast flowing track with the only proper braking points being turn 1 at the final hairpin so in slow cars like N200 it's important to be smooth to keep your speed up as high as possible.  As usual, this race didn't have any qualifying as the grid is set as the reverse of the finishing positions of race 1.
 
Race
Unlike Race 1, this was a standing start though which caught Phil out as due trying to launch properly only bogs himself down as everyone else pulls away on the run to turn 1.  As I won the previous race, I started at the back but made a nice dive down the inside of turn 1 much to Mike's surprise but thankfully narrowly avoiding hitting anyone.  Turn 1 bunched up the pack and a few knocks going in to turn 4 saw a few us knocked a little wide costing time on the run down the hill.  Out front Kiwi and Tom @LordBaguette were having a good battle for the lead, Kiwi tried to take the inside line for the right bend before the final hairpin but causes both of them to run wide in to the wall though ever the gentleman Kiwi gives the place back to Tom.  Leading up to the final hairpin, I get a good run on Macca and move to the outside to take my normal line as I see Macca braking way too late so I leave the door open for him to overshoot the corner and run wide and giving me the perfect switch back to retake the place.  This put me on to the tail of Lee and Crispy which due to them battling between themselves I caught up quickly and thanks to a bit of contact and distraction of each other they both run wide at turn 4 giving me an easy double pass.  Mike, in third, in an attempt to close the gap to Kiwi in the lead tries some shake and bake with Tom by bump drafting him down the start finish straight.  This work out for Mike though the extra speed causes Tom to misjudge turn 1 and run wide and dropping him from 2nd to 7th.  Tom rejoining the track causes a few people to go offline giving me an easy pass on Paul and a run on Stretch up to the final hairpin which goes slightly wrong as Stretch moves to think about a pass on Phil clipping me on to the grass to the hairpin which causes a little contact at the hairpin but we both make it away without too much time lost.  Though it does allow a recovering Tom to catch up and he and Stretch battle over the next lap.  In the heat of their battle, there's a little side contact on the run to the final hairpin but rubbing is racing though it does cause both of them to run a little deep in to the hairpin as Stretch performs a perfect pit manoeuvre on Phil spinning him in to the inside barriers.  This drops Phil back as James @Lurch gets passed as they run down the start finish straight.  Phil fights back over the next lap and gets a good run on James down the hill though a small bit of contact sees Phil pull a nice drift king to hold the slide at the cost of some speed as Crispy and Lee sweep passed on each side just as Crispy runs on to the grass causing him to miss the apex of the hairpin and Phil to regain one place.  Meanwhile just in front, James gets a run on Tom out of the last hairpin and it becomes a race to the line which causes Tom to make some unorthodox moves to block James and hold on to 4th.
 
 
Results

 
Race 3 - Red Bull Ring Gr2
Red Bull Ring is a fast track with some slow corners at turn 1, 2 & 3 which can cause plenty of unforced errors in braking too late or too much throttle on corner exit.  As this race was the one to include tyre wear and a choice of tyre, it opens up the strategy as to what to run and if people will be pitting.
 
 
Qualifying
A fast lap at Red Bull Ring is all about that fine line of taking the shortest and fastest lines possible but without running wide or cutting the inside of corners too much else you can get a lot of penalties as Tom found out as he picked up a penalty at the final 2 corners which ruined his first flying lap.  Kiwi gets his first lap together and takes provisional pole which he further improves on over the next few laps.  Lee manages to put in a good lap early on to move himself up to 4th though this is soon down a position as Phil follows up to move himself to provisional 3rd.  I had been struggling to walk that fine line and picking up penalties preventing me from setting a fast lap but I get one in towards the of qualifying to take pole position.
 
Race
As race 2, this was a standing start which could be interesting with how tight turn 1 is though with the exception of a couple people running wide, turn 1 is kept clean.  Kiwi, who started second, has a better turn 1 than me and a better exit as he takes the lead on the long run to turn 2.  I try to retake the lead but out brake myself and run wide letting Phil to move himself up to 2nd place.  Turn 2 doesn't go too well for Tom or Mike either as they share a bit of contact though mostly get through unscathed.  There's a decent straight between turn 2 and 3 which gives me chance to line up Phil for a pass in to turn 3 for me to retake 2nd as Phil gets a love tap up the rear from Lee then a small side swipe from Tom.  Phil and Tom run side by side up to turn 4 but Tom out brakes himself and runs wide but manages to hold on to his 4th place though this is short lived as Tom gets a little out of shape through turn 1 of lap 2 which causing some fish tailing but through skill (or luck?) it's all gathered up and Tom carries on with his race.  Through all the action of the first couple of laps, Lee had managed to keep it clean to be in 4th but running wide on the exit of turn 3 sees him take a trip through the gravel.  Lee manages to keep the car pointing in the direction though and tries to rejoin the track as quickly as possible where he's side swiped harder than Mike on Tinder and spun off in to the gravel.  The start of lap 4 sees me almost copy Tom on the exit of turn 1 as I get a massive kick of oversteer, I gather it up but my mistake allows Phil to take 2nd place off of me.  Though Phil, in an effort to finish at least one race this week, doesn't fight too hard as I make a move at turn 2 to retake second much to Kiwi's annoyance.  The race then enters the spinning phase as Tom loses it at turn 4 shortly followed by Mike pulling a pirouette round the final corners as Tom takes another turn, this time on the way in to pits as the autodrive didn't take over fast enough.  As we move in to the final half of the race, the strategy comes in to play as Mike and I had switched to hard tyres for the race while everyone else had been running mediums.  As Phil had pitted for new mediums, this brought him out behind Mike who was still on his hard tyres from the start of the race so Phil tries to make a pass at turn 1 of lap 9 but doesn't managed it and tries again at turn 2 but out brakes himself and runs wide giving Mike a little breathing room.  Phil, on fresher and faster tyres, gains on Mike and tried again at turn 2 and turn 3 of lap 10 but again Mike manages to keep ahead.  Until Phil has a third attempt on lap 11 but this time Phil gets it all wrong at turn 2 and the game resets Phil giving Mike enough of a lead to hold on 3rd place until the end.  While Phil was making a meal of getting passed Mike, up front Kiwi and I had been having our own battle.  Both of us were trying to do the whole race without a pit stop however I was on hard tyres while Kiwi was on mediums.  This had worked out for Kiwi for most of the race as on slower tyres I was unable to gain on Kiwi.  However as the tyres became worn, the race came back to me around lap 9 as Kiwi's lead of ~5 seconds was down to just 0.2 by the end of lap 10.   I tried to make a move at turn 2 of lap 11 but due to some perfectly timed ghosting by the game Kiwi held on to his lead on the run to turn 3, I closed up and tried to run around the outside of turn 4 but without much chance of success as Kiwi squeezes me on corner exit.  Kiwi manages to hold a reasonable lead which I fail to close down on the run to turn 2 of lap 12 but due to having no tyres left, Kiwi brakes extremely early which catches me out and causes a little bit of contact but with some defending in to turn 3 allows me to take the lead and quickly pull away.  As Kiwi has a large enough gap to Mike in 3rd, he pits for new tyres for the final lap giving me a gap to cross the line for the win.
 
 
Results

Race 1 - 12 Laps Willow Springs Gr4
 
Even though the Audi TT has been given a Balance of Power (BoP) nerf recently, this race looked like it was going to play out in a similar fashion to Laguna Seca a few weeks ago.  The Audi TT is significantly faster but is Front wheel drive and suffers excessive front tyre wear meaning a pit stop is required.  Choosing a different car though would mean being slower on ultimate pace but able to do the race without a stop.  Which would be quicker in this race of strategy...that @Mikepjbell screwed during practise by explaining the assists he use causing Phil to force them to be off for qualifying and the race.
 
Qualifying
Out of the 12 racing, only 4 chose not to use the Audi TT so qualifying was going to be difficult for us.  The four were myself in the Toyota GT86, The birthday boy @JBR-Kiwi in the Dodge Viper, @tronic44 in the Peugeot RCZ and first time racer @techno in a Lamborghini Huracan.  I got out the pits first and so crossed the line first, I set a new PB of a low 1:16 but this was short lived as Mike crossed the line shortly afterwards with a blistering 1:15.8 whose pace already surprised himself with everyone slotting in third down.  On the second flying lap, the times and positions didn't change much with the exception of Lee  @GazzaGarratt jumping up to fourth, then on his third qualifying lap take his first pole from Mike by a tenth.
 
Race
 
 
Unlike the last few weeks, we were doing standing starts, which saw Lee on pole get nothing but wheel spin allowing a better starting Mike to hold the inside in to turn 1 and take the lead.  A bit of door to door action saw Tom@LordBaguette get squeezed leaving Kiwi on my tail going in to turn 2.  Keeping an eye on Kiwi in my mirror, I missed my braking point for turn 3 allowing Kiwi to make a pass and move on up the podium positions.  This was relatively short lived though as on the tricky last corner both Lee and Kiwi run wide giving me an easy second and as Kiwi got a better run on to the start finish straight, it saw Lee drop from second to fourth in one corner.  Lee stuck close to Kiwi though and manages to re-pass him at the top of the circuit on turn 4 which also allows Tom get passed on the downhill section.  The leader, Mike, touches the dirt on the way down the hill allowing me to close and get a run on him in to the last corner but the Audi is monstrous through the final corner so Mike pulls a small gap.  Lap 2 it was Tom and Phil's @phil bottle turn to run wide at the final corner and losing them places.  Tom running wide, left Kiwi again chasing down Lee and on the following lap, making a pass on the downhill as Lee runs on to the dirt and very wide costing him several places.  As the saying goes, third times the charm, on my third attempt to follow Mike through the final corner he gaps me but I get a better exit and close up down the straight to take the lead through turn 1 which is all to brief as in a copy of Lap 1, I run wide in to turn 3 allowing Mike to retake his lead who then runs wide in turn 6 letting me back passed.  Kiwi has a couple of bad laps of running wide on the last corner and ends up behind @jordie1892 who battle for the place with Kiwi making the pass, Jordie retaking the position before Jordie runs wide on on turn 3 of lap 11.  To end the race Phil and @Lurch get close with their final position coming down to the final corner where Phil runs wide allowing Lurch to take the place by a little of one tenth of a second.
 

 
To somewhat show how tricky the final corner of this track is, I think half my notes for this race revolved around someone or other running wide 😆
 
Race 2 - 3 laps Sainte Croix A Gr3
 
There was no qualifying for this race as we decided to try out a reverse grid based on the results of the previous race.  The race is only 3 laps but as it is one of the longer tracks in GT Sport so there was going to be plenty of time for action as the faster cars at the back made their way through the pack.
 
Race
 
 
As race 1, this was a grid start which caused carnage from the start as @Shucker couldn't race but forgot to remove his entry so was at a stand still at lights out causing Mike some issues.  The majority of the pack got off well and running 3 or 4 wide heading for turn 1 was a risk for a big pile up but with the exception of Pete getting knocked wide and pushing Tom wide it was mostly clean.  The exit of turn 1 had Rich @tronic44 in the lead being chased by Kiwi, Lurch in 3rd with Phil and Lee bumper to bumper in 4th and 5th respectively.  Mike had recovered from a stranded Shucker and was 3 wide with myself and Gary going up to turn 2 where I managed to take 6th with Mike in 7th and Gary in 8th.  Rich makes a mistake runs wide at turn 6 letting Kiwi take the lead while Lurch runs wide out of turn 4 allowing Phil and Lee to close the gap.  Phil takes the inside in to Turn 6 but like Rich runs deep while Lee also follows while helping Lurch in to the wall too giving me an easy pass straight to 3rd place.  Sadly in recovery Lurch spins a few corners later and retires form the race.  Rich goes offline through turn 8 which allows me to run round the outside of 9 and take the inside of turn 10 to move myself up to second place.  Mike shortly follows with a nice move to overtake Rich at the hairpin at turn 13 with Rich losing a further place as Tom makes the pass down the start finish straight at the end of the first lap.  The race calms down after the manic first lap as most people have found their rough positions and running with gaps though a few mistakes give chances and passes.  I haven't really been able to close down the gap to Kiwi but in pushing Kiwi runs wide turn 10 on lap 2 allowing me to close right up but with some work still to be done if I want to get close enough to try a pass.  I fail to close the gap with my last option being to try and out drag Kiwi to the line but due to misjudging my speed from the tow I brake too late for the final corner allowing Kiwi a clear run to the line.  Lee, Gary and @slamminbones all get close with Lee managing to overtake Gary who shortly after takes the position though Lee manages to pass Gary right at the end.
 

 
Race 3 - 4 Laps Tokyo East Loop (Wet Race)
 
This race was scheduled for a previous week which due to time constraints it was not possible to do so it was re-run this week.  In the practise for the previous weeks race, Bones was quick and topping the times but was struggling to achieve the same times during this practise session.  Though I think everyone was struggling to adapt to the slippery conditions after two dry races on some of the softest and grippiest tyres available.  Due to the time, we didn't do any official qualifying for this race so the grid was decided by the  practise times.
 
Race
Sadly there is no footage of this race due to someone, who might have been me, forgot to save the replay which is a shame as the drag to turn 1 was interesting.  Again we started this race with a standard start but on Tokyo the start line is in a tunnel so the track is dry and it's a looong run to turn 1.  We all go off relatively clean but the differences in cars became apparent as Pete's speed saw him take the lead just as Phil in his Aston Martin also made a charge through the pack.  Phil takes a defensive inside line in to turn 1 and brakes early catching me out causing me to have dive for the outside as I brake later.   Due to the conditions both Pete and Lee run wide touching the wall but getting away mostly clean.  Pete takes a drive at turn 2 to take the lead from me as Lee runs wide again this time picking up a penalty for hitting the wall.  Towards the end of the lap, I make a pass on Pete retaking the lead as Lee closes up to Pete too.  Lee attempts to pass Pete by going round the outside but due to the lack of grip they run wide and in touching the wall, Lee spins and sadly the game doesn't reset him until most of the pack has passed.  Lee is chasing down Bones in to the final hairpin where Bones does his best Tokyo drift impression which Lee takes advantage of but Bones gets a better run and with the help of the tow repasses Lee down the straight.  At the end of lap 1, I cross the line in the lead with a gap to Mike in second who has a gap to Kiwi and Phil in 3rd and 4th who in an attempt to close in on Mike try some shake and bake bump drafting though Rich has been sneaking up on them and makes a surprise pass on Phil at turn 1.  Lee succumbs to some technical difficulties as his wheel slips on the desk causing him to go all pinball wizard by hitting every wall trying to re-clamp it.  Kiwi without the need for shake and bake, manages to pass Mike who then tries to convince Kiwi to slow down on the straight so he can be in the tow - for some reason Kiwi doesn't.