rFactor 2 Round 2 Albert Park 2022 - 2024-01-28

Q 1st lap was the best. i had it coming down by 2-3 tenths in other tries at 1st sector but then pushed that time away allways.

R little bad start and @Bonni Massimo had a jump on me which managed to take back soon.
After that was chasing top 2. About the halfway of 1st stint seemed that @Robert de Ceuninck started to slip little here and there and got by after his little too big slip.
End of the stint gap between me and @Roman Granatovich was about the same until i started to have a feeling my tires are in better shape. Decided to force him into earlier pit so dived in and took only tires. Out lap was then horrible! traffic here and there and couldnt doit. It was genuine chance to get position and with clear track P1 would have been mine.
Have to say traffic was little demanding for me and in very bad spots like T1 where had to allmost stop. Sorry for all the bad words i shouted from my sidewindow!

In the 2nd pit would have lost it then such was the speed of Roman's pit crew. Around 12minutes to go and stopped dreaming about winning and just took car home.

I gotta say huge respects to Roman on sportsmanship on track. There was traffic one time when we were very close and lapmarker blocked us badly for extended period of time. Saw P1 taking it super cautious and give that poor guy some time so didnt want to be rude and do anything stupid. Often people just panic and do what ever and the lapmarker ends up in gravel.
( :edit: oh it wasnt a lapmarker but a driver who hadnt pitted and thought his driving for position with us? hmmph..)
Think the other chance that could have maybe done it if come out without crash and now i have to cry myself to sleep as 2nd spot is a disaster! ;

 

Fabulous racing tonight! I really enjoyed myself.
I had one strategy - stay on track. I knew from practice how even a minor collision with the wall could wreck the steering or displace a wheel.
It worked pretty well overall. I did hit the wall once but miraculously no damage.
Lots of crashes and spins ahead of me on the opening laps but I sailed through and settled into a nice rhythm. Some good racing amongst the back markers, the 'battle of the errors'. Some fun yo-yoing as a gap would stretch only to be ruined by a spin or a fishtail.
Then the leaders started to stream through after about 20 mins. Roman, Kiril and Toni were flying, swiftly followed by the other chasers.
Apologies to Kiril and Toni on the final passes. Someone span in front of me and I didn't see Kiril in my mirror at all, and then I had a slippy moment in front of Toni. Fortunately, both got by with a bit of tyre smoke.
Couldn't get under 2 mins all night. I have no idea how you guys were hitting 1-45... Great work.
Finished with 0.5 litres in the tank...
Such great fun tonight. It was an honour to take part.
Thank you admins and racers.

 

another difficult race. unsuccessful qualification and constant pressure almost the entire distance. It was hot. I just can’t find the settings for stability, it’s a very nervous and dangerous car. Thanks for the race everyone, see you in a week at GP3

 

Twitch VOD

These cars want to kill me.... AT EVERY TURN! I am amazed I can finish these races in this car pointing in the forward direction with all my wheels still on my car!! Whatever I do with setup can't seem to dial out major oversteer. I think the rear wing must be cosmetic as it provides no downforce

Anyway... to the race...

Threw everything at 2 qually runs and met my target of getting in the top 10. My 2nd lap was just about a second faster than my personal best.

I felt the start was pretty good, had to duck right because the car in front didn't seem to get away. Managed to squeeze into a gap on the inside of the track, I didn't really want to be on the inside at T1 & T2 here. It was getting fiesty leading up the straight and I was close to @Kiril Kirilov into T3. I gave a stab into T4 but just didn't have the overlap and the door closed so quick. We touched and I held my breath hoping that he was able get pointed in the right direction again. I breathed a sigh of relief when he regained control.... totally my fault, I was too impatient, sorry!

First few laps I could keep up with Nick and Kirill, even felt like I was being slowed down. The top bunch had gotten away, Nick ran wide then it just left Kirill and I to do battle. I managed to put a little pressure on up the "straight" and I think he braked a little too late and couldn't get it slowed down to take T10 and ran off the track and I was through.

I was able to pull a couple of seconds gap but Kirill never really went away. I saw the leaders pit and come out in traffic behind us. We weren't getting lapped but it felt disheartening that we were caught so quick. I knew my tyres were getting hot and would be in worse condition than theirs. It wasn't long before they were through which just showed the pace advantage of the cars ahead.

Kirill pitted and came out about 15-20 seconds behind. I decided to wait a little longer for my fuel to burn off and sticking to my strategy. I would see the gap coming down a bit so I decided to come in earlier than planned. When I stopped I was held for 27 SECONDS! Did I miss my pitbox and get penalised with extra fuel time?? I checked replays and it showed I was kept in 10 or more seconds longer than Kirill. I tried my best to close the gap but I just couldn't do the lap times.

My crew chief hadn't said it was the last lap and I was looking at fuel numbers and getting worried. I saw I had a big gap behind so I pitted thinking I had an extra lap. But I think I came out the pits crossing the finish line and did another lap. Looking at the replay you can clearly see the chequered flying but I couldn't see it

Seemed my team mate had run out of fuel close to the end, so I did what should be done

 

Complicated race immediately on lap 2, a touch received a bit hard, which I did not understand well the reason...... However, the problem affected me the first part until the pit, in the 2nd part more regular thinking about finishing the race

 

Also... was it just the track, did everyone have a short draw distance in their mirrors only displaying the track and the barriers? No trees or other TSOs?

 

I was thrown against the wall on the first lap, race over