FKR GT3 Endurance Round 3 Race Reports & Screens

Q - 12th
Race - 6th
My leap from 12th on the grid to 6th place was largely due to the lap 1 incident, I did get clipped at my rear left side and seemed to have some suspension damage as my car was digging in on right hand turns. The damage was manageable so I did not need repairs.

I moved up to 5th place after someone got a disconnection. I put my lights on when the shadows started to stretch only 6 laps into the race.

On lap 8 I had a spin at T1, I think it was because of my suspension problem, luckily I only made very light contact with the tyre barrier and got no further damage.
I dropped from 5th to 7th as @Xavier Eugeni and @John vd Geest passed me.

By lap 21 I was right behind John vd Geest who pitted so I was back in 6th place for now. I had planned a later pit stop so I could finish the race with a set of soft tyres.
@Dan Houk was ahead of me by about 10 seconds in 5th place. At the end of lap 25 Dan Houk pitted so I moved up to 5th and tried to put in some good laps before I had to make my own pit stop.
I pitted at the end of lap 30 and put in some fuel did gearbox and engine repairs and put on a set of soft tyres, when I exited the pit lane I was now in 7th place.
Not sure when or how but I was now in 6th place (someone pitted ?) and on lap 34 was right behind Dan Houk with hopes of getting 5th place, my hopes of 5th ended when I went into the bend too hard and spun, I ended up on the grass again after sliding across the track, I though @Andre Hildebrandt who had moved over for me was going to hit me but he went wide avoiding me. @Xavier Eugeni was now just 3 seconds behind me, 5th place was gone so I had to make sure that I kept 6th place.

Fortunately for me Xavier's Cadillac was not so fast here as it was at Brands Hatch so I was able to hold on to 6th place.

Really good race, grats to the podium and to all finishers and hope the non finishers have better luck next time.
Some more screens I took

 

(Unfortunately at the end of the race I was a bit nervous, so I forgot to save the replay so I could not make any pictures.)

Ok, this race was a torture for me.

First of all, I do not understand why I'm slower almost 1 second in qualifying and in the race than in practice. I practice on online server with same conditions. During the week I took the 2:08.1-2xx without problems, now I was unable to do so. I would have to go 2:09 in the race, instead of 2:10. Very bad performance. I do not understand why this is the difference.

In addition many factors complicated my race.

Approximately from the 15-20. lap I struggling with a double downshift problem and at least twice/lap came up this error, which greatly worsened my pace. The car every time started to slip, I try heavily correct and brake to prevent it. It's been a waste of time for a whole second.

I managed a great start, but the Mercedes very-very fast. Acura has the chance such a fast track as the lame antelope against a cheetah... So @James Dziuba immediately retook the first position. At the first few laps I tried to stick with more or less success, but he eventually moved away from me, so I began to pay attention to @Dario Walker who coming and getting in attacking position. After a double downshift mistake he overtake me, but he made more mistakes, so the 2nd place seemed pretty stable for me, and I would have been satisfied with it.

The tire change and refueling took place without any problems. This time all backmaker were behaving very fair, thank them for this, no one has stood up me.

Unfortunately, towards the end of the race, Dario came back to me and then he crossed quite badly right after the Carousel. I was too close , could not avoid, so we crashed. Engine 10%, body 18% damage.

In addition, the criminal penalty system perceived that I managed an offtrack overtake, so obliged me to give him the 2nd position. So I had to stop and let go Dario and finish third.

Due to the injury I experienced a serious speed reduction, I could no longer use the 6.gear. I was quite nervous about the incident, so in the next lap I hit the wall between Kink and Kettle Bottoms. (Engine 18%, Body 64% damage...)

The situation was even worse, I was 15 seconds slower, four or five laps from the finish line. I did not want to go in pit fro fix because @Johan Hendriks was just a minute away, so I was risking, and finally, at a rather slow pace, I got caught in the finish.

I congratulate for James, he producing a really fantastic qualification result and keeping the steady, fast pace in the race, so that was a well deserved win. Sadly the Mercedes pace with Acura is not very worth comparing. But anyway, he is a very fast driver!

In Dubai (another great track with lots of curves! ), I would like to complete a race without hindering factors. (I hope the double downshifting is a software problem. I bought my steering wheel for less than 3 months, it would not be nice if a Fanatec model would produce such errors…)

 

Well... a little disaster for me too. P4 on qualy really made me happy. Start the race in safe mode, givin room to my left, but I was pushed heavily to the right it T1, and crashed to the tyre wall. As a result, windshield broken, wheel about 30º to the right and big damage on my suspension according to my crew chieff app.
Was really hard to take to the pits, and 40 secs more reparing to spoil my race. Sh**! But I NEVER quit a race. Only discos can take me out. So just keep going, faster as I could as the leaders were only 20 secs behind. About 30 min it the race or so found @Roger Hinds and don't know if was him or me, but his car was very laggy. Impossible to attend an overtake on this condition, so decided to pit much more earlier than planned.
Bad decision maybe. My tyres never recover the tempature needed, so made 2 or 3 spins at least.
Didn't feel comfortable till the day come again, and I was closing the gap with Ken, but he was on fresher tyres, and he never was on my radar.
Seemed old good times on rf2 [edit: r2p], almost 20/30 minutes pos were Dan-Norman-Me-Rob....

Amazing time presets, Rob!!

 

on PCARS 2 server we used I noted it was yellow , not green, meaning the connection could have been compromised.

 

Lined up third on the grid behind Gyorgy and James who each respectively banked really solid lap times in Quali. This was going to be a tough race If i was hoping to gain any positions.


After the lights went green Gyorgy managed to get a great start off the line firing the Acura in to 1st position initially but was soon to be retaken by James Dziuba in the Merc through T1. Approaching T1 I was pretty much side by side with Xavier but on exiting T1 I managed to push ahead and all I could see in my rear view mirror was complete carnage where both Kevin and Xavier unfortunately collided. Staying in Gyorgy's slipstream we began to break away from the rest of the field who had made it through T1 unscathed and gradually built up a bigger gap.


As the sun was going down I was settled in behind Gyorgy who was starting create a gap, despite making a mistake and unsettling the car through The Kink losing a few seconds I didn't fall too far that i couldn't catch back up to Gyorgy's slipstream.


As night rolled in I was beginning to make some big gains on Gyorgy (who was having technical troubles at this point?) particularly through Carousel and Canada Corner, it was a cat and mouse game for a fair few laps with Gyorgy making gains on the longer straights and myself gaining ground through some of the twistier sections. I finally managed to push past Gyorgy through the inside of T6 and completing the overtake on the outside of T7 in to the Hurry Downs.


After overtaking Gyorgy I started to push for a gap and even started gaining on James who at this point seemed unreachable... This Merc was a real monster during quali and it was still eating those straights up in race trim. Through Carousel onward was really the only section i could push to make up any ground on James but I still had Gyorgy hot on my heels, I knew my position was still under threat.


Pushing too hard trying to make some ground on James and build a gap from Gyorgy I ended up braking too deep and spinning out the rear by releasing my brakes too quickly in to T5 handing P2 straight back to Gyorgy who seemed determined not to lose P2. Thankfully no damage was caused and i continued on.


After losing a fair bit of ground I got my head down and settled in for the night aiming for consistency. Lap after lap of darkness passed with only traffic to keep me company and Gyorgy's brake lights in the distance. As each lap passed i could see the brake lights getting closer, with only traffic to contend with i was hopeful i could make some lost time up before i had to pit where i was expecting to lose time due to refuelling. The traffic where fantastic for this entire race and just want to echo Gyorgy's opinion on that, thanks everyone


The chase. Tried to squeeze in a shot of the moon and constellations just for you Rob.


Passing more traffic (I can't remember who was in the red Audi, apologies) and getting ever closer to P2.


I was right behind Gyorgy by the halfway point of the race but running on fumes my pit window was open and it was time to fill up with gas and give her a fresh set of hard tyres that would take me to the end of the race.


I came out the pits in 4th position not too far behind Johan Hendriks who was now in 3rd position but still due to make a pit stop and just in front of Xavier who i believe was a lap down at this point. Now it was time to get my head down, settle in for the rest of the night and try and keep my times consistent along with keeping my car facing the right direction. The hard tyres worked surprisingly well through out this entire race and this week my fuel calculations where bang on target, much praise to the pit crew who didn't lose any nuts or bolts this week


After Gyorgy pitted i found myself further behind than I had hoped, it was now time to get the boot down and start hammering in some good laps again in the hope to catch Gyorgy by day break.


Pedal to the metal on the exit of Carousel (I love this bend so much).


Brakes glowing red under heavy braking radiating heat into the front tyres as temperatures where at their lowest in the early hours. This along with an evolved and heavily rubbered in track helped the front tyres maintain a lot of grip preventing any understeer.


Sun and temperatures are beginning to rise and again with only traffic and the faint lights of Gyorgy in the distance to keep me company I kept pushing and closing the gap.


Dawn breaks and I find myself not far from 2nd position now, I continually keep gaining good chunks of time through Carousel and Canada Corner. Despite technical difficulties Gyorgy was doing a great job of maintaining a good pace.


Happy hour was very happy for me, finding myself in a battle for 2nd and having lots of respectful traffic to negotiate through. Thoroughly enjoyed this part of the race.


I was able to push past Gyorgy once again at T6 by taking the inside line, from here all i had to do was lock down 2nd position and keep banking consistent laps if i was hoping to stay in front of Gorgy who was still suffering from technical issues.


And then this happened... I was busy admiring Gyorgy in my rear view mirror coming out of T8 and entered the Carousel with too much speed, I went out wide touching the grass which sent me spinning 180 degrees. Now rolling backwards in to Gyorgy's path giving him nowhere to go but in to the kitty litter we collided, spinning me another 180 degrees. Continuing on with Gyorgy right behind me still i assessed my damage, right rear suspension and my front right steering where busted up pretty bad with only slight damage to the front and rear aero, with my steering only slightly leaning to the right it was good enough for me to carry on with the race and nurse my car back home. With an intense feeling of guilt for taking Gyorgy out in my spin I was going to give Gyorgy back 2nd position in to T1 but he had fell too far back by this point so i continued on to take the finish in 2nd. Gyorgy, if you have any dispute over that incident i don't mind giving up 2nd place to you.


And across the line. Finishing in 2nd position i was exhilarated but couldn't help but feel a hollow sense of victory after taking Gyorgy out with my spin. Over all it was still a fantastic race and thanks to the organisers and everyone who participated also .

 

@Dario Walker: I can not expect to complete the championship without any difficulty. After you spin, I could have been better decision and overtake staying on the track in the right side, so also my fault thats bad situation - which was really a simple but unlucky racing accident. I have to accept the consequences and I have to pay much more attention.

There is no dispute and please do not feel guilty yourself. You well deserved the 2nd place, nobody can take it from you.
Congratulation!