Round 2 Thomson GP

Finally a good result, after a long series of bad mistakes during season one.
I really struggled during all my practices to find a way that would let me survive until the checkered flag. I guess I hit every single light pole on the track, that were kindly replaced by Thomson's mayor before the race
I know Tim very well albeit is the first race against him here on SRO, and I expected him to be extremely fast even here with an understeering Honda. At the end of the qualif session we had a gap of about 82 milliseconds, so I was prepared for an hard fight all along the race, as happened a lot of time in the past between us.
My forecast was wrong however, cause Tim was on my same pace during all the first 20 minutes, but I gave him only one chance to overtake me, when I almost died immediately after the jump on the straight, losing enough speed to let Tim try a deep braking at the hairpin. Luckily enough he was just a bit too long on that braking leaving me the room to cross the line immediately, taking back the lead without leaving it until the end.
The rest of the race was a pure focus exercise on driving around this murderous circuit, trying to avoid any crash with the wrecked cars I met during the race, that would be absolutely lethal. I guess I was just a bit more lucky than Tim to find the lapped drivers on some good spots on the track to pass, and my advantage increased a bit during the rest of the race.
At the last lap I risked to frustrate all my efforts again at the jump, but I was lucky enough to remain in control of my car with a good countersteer, completing a good hat-trick.
Grats to Tim and Jukka for completing the podium, and thanks to Caitlin for his brilliant live streaming as ever

Now we go to Deutshlandring, another track I never raced on. I hope to have some time to learn it!

See you chaps

 

I think he is Louis Defor...

 

What an embarrassing race that was... Managed to crash during quali, and got stuck for ages between two posts. By the time I got back to the pits and repaired I had time for one last attempt. And managed to bin it on the jump - shown in all its glory on the broadcast.
So started in P13 I think, but figured the only was was up. Tangled with @Martyn McClune on lap 1. Not sure it was entirely your fault, Martyn. The attempt on the inside was probably a bit ambitious on my part, and when I went onto the grass, I think I should probably have backed off and settled in for the rest of the race. Anyway, after the big off, I went back to the pits for repairs and was well and truly last, but it gave me a good chance to do some catching up and I passed Martyn again and I think someone else. I was actually keeping it on track ok while I was chasing, but as soon as I had some clear air, the leaders started coming round to lap me and I started getting flustered, went off a number of times, and even managed to go off on the straight before the jump while checking my relative. The track is just brutal and really punishes any lack of concentration.
Anyway, a pretty poor show from me, but congrats to the podium and again to @Caitlin Penny for good commentary. Special thanks for not showing much of my disastrous race
Until the next one

 

Thanks Stef it was just one of those racing incidents.
You would think we were scrapping for the lead lol
I radically changed my car setup in practice making the car much more responsive handling wise. I also increased coast to lessen the effects of bad down shifting then heading off the track. Managed to balance the brake bias better and dial down brake power to stop lockups and tyre flat spots. All in all I had a much better and faster practice with 1.53 lap time .
I have never driven the Eagle without its weight penalty so it really doesnt make too much of a difference to me . Hopefully I almost have a good base setup that i can alter for each race.
Cyas in two rounds time when im back from holidays

 

I actually had never intended to pass you there as I thought I was too far back, I was just showing my nose to try and distract you
Unfortunately I didn't spot the bush I'd been using as a brake marker and was at least 10 meters too late on the brakes - hence why I flew by you so easily and ended up just shy of the barriers!
After that I was comfortable behind you until I made a silly mistake in Devils bend and lightly hit the barriers (you can see it in the broadcast). After that I was trying hard to re-catch you - and while on some laps I would pull half a second or more back, these were made up for whenever I made a small error or managed to drift too much.
When I nearly span in the hairpin by the pits any hope of catching you was over unless you were kind enough to crash.
I had thought I'd at least get the fastest lap point by then, but you managed to steal that by a tiny margin right at the end as well!

Anyway, it was a really fun race and everyone looked fantastic on the broadcast. Well Matteo and Jukka for 1st and 3rd, and also to everyone who finished to be quite frank! (something I think I'll be saying next week as well )

Yet again I've forgotten to thank Kaitlin for his fine commentary, I'll get there eventually!

 

Hi John,
as someone before me pointed out, Louis de Forcrand is surely Louis Defor. I met him the day before the race on the server with his usual name, but I was surprised when I realized he had a different name on the day of the race. Defor is surely an abbreviation for his surname. Don't know which decision you will take, but he did a lot of practice laps for this race and a DQ would be a bit too much maybe. I appeal to the court's clemency for him. 10 lashes would be enough

See you

 

Hi John
I am off on holiday for one week so will miss next week returning to race the week after

 

Gaaaah. I'm so, so sorry for creating all this unintended confusion.
Matteo is right: Louis de Forcrand is my actual name, but set my AC name to Louis Defor years ago because the two part surname often creates problems (indeed it did this week at least, but the wrong reason). Last week I switched it to my real name to see what the result would look like on a server but forgot to switch it back before the race, and while I did notice it after we were done driving I had no idea it would lead to such trouble with the scoring system. I should've mentioned it then!
Thank you for putting up with the problems that tend to follow me around, and sorry again John for making you go through the lap time lists by hand.
I accept my ten lashes, and am ready to help you in any way I can. And of course will not do this again.

 

Thanks John, I’m back in now.

Louis Defor will join you Friday in virtual Germany!