rFactor 2 Round 3 Spa Francorshamps - Sun Oct 15, 2023

Really, so you think that I deserved to be taken out like that? Really lame.

 

tough race but probably the most satisfying taking the lead on the final lap for the win.

Was happy I could stick with Daniel on the mediums at the start as knew it would pay dividends later in the race when the roles were reversed, thought I had gone too long on the mediums when I came back out in 4th but I think the pressure got to Tim when he threw it at the scenery and shortly after I just avoided the carnage with Kostas moment with the lapped car, race nearly ended right there.

From then on was free to hunt down Daniel on the soft with low fuel load, catching and passing was one thing but the DRS was so powerful it was impossible to escape after, so we traded places on the camel , I decided to make a move at the bus stop to mix things up as had good straight line speed in the slipstream but got passed right after on the camel straight again, lucky I was behind on the final lap so I was in the pound seat for a DRS pass on the final lap for the win.

well done Daniel for sporting driving, a pleasure to race against, phil brown for a podium and my team mate robin for a solid 4th place from the back of the grid.

 

Great race Nick, cars all over the place at the beginning but just hung back long enough to watch one after another take the fall.

 

Nearly collected in the incident on Kemmel straight at the start of the race. I saw the incident happening ahead of me and breathed off throttle just a bit to avoid. Apparently the cars behind me didn't get the memo (the big yellow flag's usually a good indicator )....took a hit on the right side of the car when a car went blaring by me, directly into the wrecking cars ahead

...and then I get an 'unsportsman like conduct' warning from the game for some reason. Luckily, it was only a warning and not a DT or worse. Light damage but it set me back 4-5 seconds and away from the pack, thus not able to take advantage of DRS. Just tried to be consistent from that point on. Had one off and had to go get a wing put on.
Considering the car and the fact I had zero practice up unto last 45 mins or so before the race, I'll take it. Feel like I could have been competitive up around P4 or 5, looking at best pace, but it took me a long time to really extract potential from the car. Maybe next race I'll have a bit more handle on the thing.

Thanks again to Toni for the setup. Really helped and gave me something to work with rather than trying to throw setup things at the car hoping something would stick.

 

1 - I was in my box properly for the longest time, however, just before it set us and started the countdown to green my right leg had went numb trying to hold the brake (brake is quite heavy and I couldn't hold it any longer). I put the car in neutral and had one foot in the clutch and the other on the brake. Car stalled and wouldn't refire. I guess at that point when I drifted outside my box it seemed to trigger setting us all (or perhaps others were doing similar - not sure)....bit of a scare there. Thought I was done for.

2 - I think I had either .25 or .50 points myself. Would have taken effort to collect a full 10, imo. Even 5 means you were probably just pushing on through when getting the 'cut track' warnings. It's pretty easy to back out and watch the flags that are there with the message. Yellow/orange - you're about to get tagged with points. Green/white - it'll disappear and will not give the points. Just breath throttle a bit is usually enough, though there are a few exceptions.

 

On 1. The replay makes it look like I'm very far back in the start box but was definitely locked in as all the red arrows had disappeared, don't know if it was causing the long delay though?

 

@Nick Westy, That was a cracking race mate, well done on the win.

Managed to get a good start but had the brake balance a click to far to the rear and nearly lost the rear end braking into turn one but managed to hold it and by the end of the Camal straight I had gone from P4 to P1, I managed my pace and tyres from there trying to keep Nick out of DRS and any slip stream but when I reached traffic Nick was able to close up and apply some pressure and from there we exchanged the lead over several laps where neither driver could really escape the DRS or slipstream.

I was planning to go much longer on my first stint but Kostas who was very much in the mix with us took an early pitstop which at that point kinda forced my hand, If I allowed Kostas to undercut me I would have a guy on softs in front and then when Nick pitted I'd have a guy on softs behind against my mediums, not an ideal situation. lol!

So I pit the lap after Kostas to keep track position but now I'm behind Tim, I'm now thinking cool Tim's in the fight too so if I can get past as soon as possible and also keep kostas behind there'll be two cars between myself and Nick on those brand new fresh softs so hopefully a bit of fighting amongst the three of them might give me a bit of breathing room.

Not sure what happened to Kostas because he was just starting to close in on me and I only glimpsed the aftermath in my mirror or even what happened to Tim, but the time I lost behind that back marker and with the other two drivers gone I was now very much in Nicks sight.

My tyres were holding up pretty well and when the pass came I was able to prevent Nick from pulling away and we exchanged the lead a few times once more, but counting down those final laps I knew overtaking on the second to last lap was gonna be disadvantageous for the final lap but it's one of those decision where the regret would be not overtaking and then not getting another opportunity so I took it and paid the price on the final lap.

All in all it was a really good race with some enjoyable battles. Thanks guys.