rFactor 2 Round 4 Kicevo - Wed Oct 5, 2022

Stream VOD (have a look at that BPM monitor!!)

Well... what a race that was?!

Firstly... it has to be said. WHY YOU PICK THIS TRACK YOU SADIST?!

But anyway... as expected I was way off the pace in qually, find it hard to keep pace with just the clock to bear so I started on the last row of the grid.

Spotter activated and onto the grid. I kept saying over and over that this race would just be attrition, just needed to keep it out of the ditches. I visited them many times in practice and ended up on my roof!! I couldn't believe it when we all made it unscathed through the first turns. Then came lap two, cloud of dust coming into turn 3, held my breath and hoped a car wasn't sitting on the track for me to hit! Up to 6th!

I knew there were limited places to pass and I was already trying to work out how to defend from faster cars coming through.
Coming through the second sector and I see a red car is off on it's roof... up to 5th!

Now as expected my pace was a little faster in the race. The car in front braking into turn 3 caught me out and I was so close to running into the back of him, this unfortunately let @John vd Geest back in front down the straight and @Caitlin Penny down the inside into 4 just as a car skidding off into the undergrowth on the outside, 6th place.

I could keep pace with the cars in sector 3, making sure I wasn't unsighted by the cars in front and hitting a concrete tyre (which I knew from practice would be car death!). I struggled like previous races to get the power down onto the straights which I would need if I had any hope of passing anyone. Penny puts a wheel on the grass and spins and I am back up to 5th! Heart rate is up to 130!

Battle resumed with VD Geest, just so difficult to get a run and pass, I would have to wait for a mistake. With 22 minutes to go I got my wish and I was now up to my regular 4th. Now little did I know in all this time battling @Rob Swindells who was on his roof earlier in the race was just about 4-5 secs adrift!!

16 minutes to go, a red car looms in my mirrors and I prepare myself. I had worked out my defensive lines and knew where I would be slow. Through turns 1, 2 and 3 I would have to rely on my spotter because there is no way I could take my eye off those critical apexes. I had already seen many run wide and end up in the dirt on the outside. Two wide through T1, knew Rob was there somewhere but didn't know where. Trying desperately to stay wide but not go off! His nose appeared beside in T2 but looks like he lost momentum and I could get to T3 apex. Heart rate up to 140!

10 minutes to go and the battle still raged until it looked like Rob outbraked himself and went wide... phew... a reprieve!!!

I now had 4th secure, just had to steer clear of ditches and solid objects! I said I would be happy with a top 5 so I was already really happy. Penultimate lap and spotter says "yellow flag sector 2, P3 has gone off". UP TO 3RD!!!

WOW.... I SURVIVED... WITH A PODIUM!!!!