Team: Red Bull
Participants: 16
Qualifying: P4
Race: P6
Objective: Finish 13th or better PASSED
Qualifying:
Went out 3 times during the session, each time on primes per my plan to start on primes for this race. Run 1 Did a 1:09.494 on just one hot lap. Run 2 Had a SUPERB lap and did a 1:08.860, again on just one hot lap, which got me to P2. Run 3 Another one hot run, no improvement. Finished the session in P4.
Race:
Had network trouble this time that really ruined what could have been a much better race. You'll see in the video that it looks like I'm getting unfairly barged and punted around but its because to the other drivers I am lagged out and they can't see me...
Lap 1 I have a decent enough start, until MurKzZz shoves me over and nearly puts me in the guard rail, dropping me to P5. I get P4 back when someone in front overcooks the entry to the hairpin and goes wide. Lap 3 Scing shoves past around turn 2 putting me back in P5, then Giles does the same through 3-4 and I nearly say hello to the guard rail again. Now back to P6. Lap 4 I get inside on Giles going around the hairpin and I'm gaining on Scing using DRS when Giles comes up along side me, behind Scing, and is bashing into me, very nearly putting me in the wall. We brake for the chicane and he cuts across me on the exit (I'm also getting hit from behind so I can't stop), hitting and spinning me and I lose my front wing in the barriers. I get stuck trying to safely right myself. To make matters worse, I am beyond the pit entry, so I have to do a whole lap without the benefit of my front wing. Going into and through the hairpin I am driven into by both marksman and jaegermeister. I am P13 when I finally hit the pit lane. Hemps goes past while I am pitted. I leave the pits P14, dead last among the remaining running drivers. New wing. A set of new options. Nothing to lose. Time to make some hay and see what I can salvage. Lap 7 I have caught up to Hemps at the end of the previous lap, and I get the DRS pass on him down the back straight. Lap 11 Deja Vu of a recent race as I exit a corner to find boothy crashed and spinning across the track. By the grace of the racing gods I am not tangled up in it and I press on. Lap 12-13 I just get past Gavos as he's coming out of the pits. Safety car is deployed for boothy who has wrecked out. Lap 14 I just miss my chance to jump some cars that have pitted. They come out right in front of me and we are queued behind safety car. As a result of lag, as I'm warming tires benny appears out of thin air beside me and I can't react fast enough - drive through penalty for passing under safety car. At that moment Giles and Scing are both disqualified, due to an event caused by lag (they hit the safety car when lag reset their position!). I pass a pitted car and move up to P7, but I have a drive through yet to serve. Lap 15 Benny has been grinding into the back of me all down the back and across start/finish due to lag and gets past around turn 2. In hindsight if I had backed off and just let him pass and get a penalty I might have been ok...There seems to be a moment where I just get back in front of him as we're going around the turn, "passing" him, so...ta-da ANOTHER drive through penalty for passing under safety car. Down to P8 now, and TWO drive throughs to serve. Safety car goes in at the end of the lap, and I dive in to serve my penalty along with a group of drivers that got caught out by the lag and got drive throughs. Gavos barges past as we go into pit lane. I come out of drive through number one in P11. Lap 16 have a bit of a duel with benny but I'm unable to get it done (partly because of the caution I'm having to use being lagged out to most of the field). Lap 17 Serve my second drive through and come out P11, once again dead last among the remaining running cars. Lap 18 Pit for primes. Lap 23 I've caught up to gjones. Lap 24 Very scary mistake on the curbing at turn 8 that could have easily ended my race. Lap 25 I have DRS on gjones but I don't quite get close enough. Lap 26 I get the DRS pass on gjones this time and catch benny while he's in the pits, bringing me up to P9. Lap 27 Getting a bit wide in turn 2 I lose the spot again to gjones. Back to P10. Lap 28 I get the pass on gjones in the same place where he got me on the previous lap, and this time I make it stick! Get a bonus when he pits at the end of the lap. Lap 33 Catch Gavos while he's in the pits for P8. Lap 40 Coming into the hairpin I get squeezed out by benny and get spun. Gavos also gets past. Back down to P9 as I head into the pits. I don't realize until its too late that benny, my teammate, has pitted in front of me. PIT FAIL. I sit there for an eternity and come out in P10 on a fresh set of options that will take me to the end. Lap 43 Catch gjones while he's in the pits for P9. Lap 45 Catch Gavos while he's in the pits for P8. Lap 49 Hemps gets disconnected, moving me up to P7. Lap 50 Out in front somewhere, Warleb retires from the race, giving me P6, where I would finish.
Honestly, considering my lag situation, I think I did well to finish at all, let alone finish in 6th. Can't ignore that this is my best performance in the weekly fun series so far, either. And I loved that mid race fight that I had with gjones!!!
Race Department Weekly Fun Series Stats
Starts: 3
Finishes: 2
Best Grid: P4
Best Race: P6
Podiums: 0
Wins: 0
Points: 9
RaceDepartment Random Fun League Race 5 - Monte Carlo 75%
Team: Lotus-Renault
Participants: 7 + 4 Legend AI drivers
Qualifying: P4*
Race: DNF
Objective: Finish 9th or better FAILED
*Pole was held by AI driver Trulli who, due to a glitch got an impossible 5 second lap; I was third fastest human driver
Qualifying:
Did 2 different runs, on primes per plan to start on primes. Run 2 gave me 1:11.990 on second hot lap, good enough for P4. Never really got a chance to get good speed on the first run.
Race:
Lap 1 Had an excellent start that got me right around FrenziedSine, but Giles squeezed by inside as we went through St. Devote. I got around Trulli(AI) easily at Mirabeau for P3, then...lap 1 safety car! Giles went into the pits for some reason (maybe damage), moving me up to P2. Lap 4 I get an excellent restart after the safety car, then in front of me benny overcooks it coming into St. Devote and I take the lead!!! Gift on a silver platter.
For 7 more glorious laps me, the Monaco specialist, is in control. I am not rattled by the excitement of leading, knowing I am in an amazing position so early on. Nor am I rattled when Giles catches up to me. I hold him off without a single mistake until he pits at the end of lap 11. Lap 12 goes perfectly... until I head into the tunnel, and disaster strikes.
This DNF was a heartbreaker. I don't know that I would have won...but I'm fairly certain I was fast enough to have gotten third as long as I didn't screw up with my stops. I could have had a podium...at Monaco...*sigh* One thing made me feel much better though. I watched Giles have exactly the same accident when he was winning another Monaco race with not a ton of laps to go. For some reason the inside wall of the tunnel is very sensitive, and even the barest touch is often game over. It is very strange how easy it is for that terminal crash to occur there in multiplayer, especially since the same thing does NOT result in a terminal crash in offline GP/career. Ah well. I did do one better and made it 12 laps this time. I'll just have to be a little more careful in the tunnel.
Race Department Random Fun League Stats
Starts: 3
Finishes: 2
Best Grid: P4
Best Race: P5 (x2)
Podiums: 0
Wins: 0
Points: 20
League table rank: 6th of 10
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Race Department Lifetime Club Stats
Starts: 6
Finishes: 4
Best Grid: P4
Best Race: P5 (x2)
Podiums: 0
Wins: 0
Points: 29
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