To be honest, I´m glad that this series is finished. This car is not in general bad and at some point I learned to drive it, but it was always good for some mishapes. Also today, but maybe that happend because the wheather adds the heat for a more realistic simulation... My spin in race one was on my own, so nobody affected by it apart from myself. I was a bit surprised by fourth and catching up to Bill and Paul at the end, but not enough or too late to start an attack. Second race started really bad, I locked up and got on the gras. I first thought I just gave Jens a relatively small tap and that I could repair it by letting him through later in the race. After watching the replay that was not accurate because Jens touched because of my contact Gerhard, who as a consequence spun around and probably blocked other drivers as well. Sorry guys, especially Gerhard who had two though races. So I´m not sure what to do about that. The second place felt way too good for such a clumsy manoeuvre and was very luck because Jens and Paul touched in the last turn on the last lap.
Final race, must say the car has grown during the series as some pace was found. Manage pole in race one, but still needs to step up my start it seems. Lost 2 position and was hunting Ken. Close and going wide thru turns a few times but did not mange to pass. Half stint we gained on Paul. Ken & Paul had contact so from there I mange to pass. Could build the gap to the end and took 1st place Did not set the final lap on 2nd qualification so ended 3rd. Did a better start but was struck by the T1 incident, there was some contact and I lost 3 positions. I thought it might have been a dive bomb here, but as Philipp mention he got on the grass and other incidents pilled up things. Not any major damage so still good pace, still not easy but passed Klaus and got in contact with Roel. After a rather long side by side from T1 all the way up to the crest, I got past him. When got on Philipps tail, he let me pass rather easy, we now even (With reference to our Formula BMW gentleman agreement some time ago ) My pace still good and gained on Paul, but not so fast I would have liked. On the final lap he missed a bit on 2nd to last turn so my exit was better on the back straight. In the final turn we had contact and both spun. Looking at the replay it was for sure me hitting @Paul Anstey, but I would consider that a race incident as turn in on me with the smallest of margins, and brake something like 50 meters to early gave me little to no possibility to avoid contact. I had already my mind set to try out-brake on the outside at this point slowing down my reactions. We both spun, lost 1 position and went over the finish line in the same order as we entered last turn. Was aiming for fastest lap, but Phillipp killed that by 0.008s in race 1 and Ken by 0.078s in race 2 Thank you Ken and SRO for hosting, next up USF2000. Open wheelers not my strongest card but will for sure be fun anyway
For my return race(s) after being away for 3 weeks I wasn't expecting much. I hadn't done any practice until 35 mins before Qualifying, so was very happy to improve my times as we got closer to the race. After checking how the car launched in Warmup, I got a great start and made two places before T1, after which I was able to stay within 1-1.5 secs of Paul, even with Jens breathing all over my back. I was using the setup I had run at Race 2 Mores, where I had made some significant changes to it from Race 1 and which I think managed to match my driving style to the cars quite edgy handling. When I saw I was closing on Paul and he seemed to be having a few tyre issues at the same time, we had a little contact going into the 2nd from last long right handed turn, which slowed us both enough to let Jens sneak through and get the win. In Qual 2 with the confidence gained in the car from R1, I managed to get pole and at the start of the race I used the same technique as R1 to hold onto 1st place through T1. After that I was able to ease out the gap to Paul and stroke it home for the win. Grats to both Paul and Ed in combining with me to bring home the Gold in the Teams Championship and to Jens for his Drivers Championship.
Race 1 incident with Ken was my fault. Tried to defend early as Ken would have had a run on me down to the last corner. Didn't realise how close we were and I took out my team mate. Sorry Ken. Race 2 incident again was my fault. Jens had a run on me down to the last corner. I should have kept the inside line but instead went back to try and take the usual line. Again I didn't realise how close Jens was and I made contact. Should have waited for Jens to give him the place. Sorry Jens. My racing excuse is severe toothache. The last race I barely finished hence my quick exit and the reason why I'm typing this at 2am as I ant sleep. Well done to Jens and Ken for the race wins Well dome to Jens for another series win and to my teammates for the team championships. On to USF2000. Should be good but like Jens modern open wheels aren't my favourite
In race 1 I had an exciting scrap with Paul after he dropped back from his incident with Ken. This battle was hard but fair and we swapped places a couple of times until Paul secured the P2. A podium finish was very welcome though. Race 2 was a different matter ... a few cars had problems in turn 1 and I chose the wrong side as I tried to go by a spinning car. By the time I rejoined I was in last place. I was following Gerhard and I guess his computer gremlins were still playing him up because his car suddenly stopped right in front of me. When my heart started beating again I saw Gerhard was behind me ... there was no impact so I assume he had some sort of game freeze. The rest of the race was spent trying to catch the field but only made up one or two places. Congratulations to Jens on his Drivers Championship victory and to BVR for taking the Teams title. Thanks to Ken for running this series and to Gerhard for suggesting the mod
@ Bill - you are completely right, i had a frozen screen for 3 seconds, very sorry for your heart Both races were a disaster for me. I was happy with my pace, but in Race 1 my pc crushed down at the start, i had to quit immediately. Race 2: i was very aggressive because of my bad luck in race 1. Leaving the box for Q1 i got a stop and go penalty for speeding. When i came in, the next round, i realizead, that i was choosing the wrong PIT LANE, there are two in Barbagallo, it took the left one. Next round, pitting again, then only 1 lap was possible. P4, was ok for me. But in Corner one, Phil missed the braking point and kicked Jens, Jens crashed me, it was a fine game of billiards. i was last. i catched up bill, but without brain and patience i tried to take Klaus which resulted in a spin of mine and last position was the result. Thanks to all of you for joining. We hope to see you all again in the next series which starts with an excelent car-track combo: USF 2000 at Zolder! https://www.simracingonline.co.uk/racing/seriesinfo/124
I think my braking point was not wrong but silly me pressed the brake pedal too hard and last the control. As said above, sorry for that.
