Team: Red Bull
Participants: 15
Qualifying: P14
Race: P5
Objective: Finish P15 or better PASSED
Qualifying:
Run 1 Mistake turning in at final turn. Cut the corner and disqualified what would have been a decent banker lap. Run 2 forgot to close DRS around turn 1 and spun. On second hot lap attempt I get hit from behind and spun into the wall, puncturing on of my rear tires. I never got in a hot lap and finish the session in P14.
Race:
Lap 1 Ground into the wall by Warleb as he goes past into turn 1, dropping me to P15. Jaegermeister goes wide at turn 4 but shoves back past. Bloodybullet goes wide at turn 8, and I go past for P14. Nachirri goes wide at turn 12 and I scoot past for P13. Pass a couple drivers having an apparent yard sale in the runoff area at turn 17. Wave at them as I go past and move up to P11. Lap 2 Carnage ahead of me around turn 5, but I'm not quite able to capitalize and squeak past Rob. Hit from behind by bloodybullet as I'm slowing and turning in to turn 8, but it works to my advantage as I stay in control and slip past Rob on the inside of turn 9, claiming P10 as I cross the bridge. Then Rob disconnects. Bloodybullet tries to go outside into turn 12 and hits me heavily, pushing me into the wall. Fortunately only slight damage to front wing and I'm able to continue with no ill effects. Drop to P11. Bloodybullet gets wide around turn 17 and I take back P10. He pulls into the pits at the end of the lap before disconnecting. Lap 3 Scing collides with me around turn 8 and shoves me over through turn 9, dropping me to P11. Lap 4 Chasing Scing and the rest of the pack. Have DRS but can't capitalize. Too hot into turn 17, then wide around turn 19. Pack gets away. Lap 6 Mistake at turn 2, but fortunately I don't take my wing off. Scing has gone WAY off at turn 17 and I go past for P10. Lap 7 Pass MurKzZz while he's pitted for P9. Lap 9 Chasing BB Juggernaut. Lap 10 Jaegermeister has gone into the runoff at turn 2. Then BB Juggernaut makes a mistake exiting turn 5 and pinballs off the wall and across the track. I avoid getting tangled up in it and move up two spots to P7. Pass Anthony while he's pitted for P6. Lap 12 Pass Carver while he's pitted for P5. Lap 13 Pass MurKzZz while he's pitted for P4. Lap 16 Near collision with lagged FrenziedSien car! Pass Warleb while he's pitted for P3. Lap 17 Being lagged out, I am unable to defend against Anthony and Giles coming up behind. Drop to P5. Pit stop for options. Come out just in front of MurKzZz in P7. Lap 19 MurKzZz gets into the back of me and pushes me wide at turn 8. Drop to P8. Acceleration mistake out of turn 9 onto bridge. Slight damage to wing but I'm ok. Lap 21 Catch MurKzZz while he's pitted for P6. Lap 24 Caught up to Warleb, then he pits, giving me P5. I just get in front of Anthony coming out of the pits to grab P4. Lap 25 Pass Carver while he's pitted for P3. Lap 27 Set fastest lap of race up to that point! Lap 28 Anthony hits me from behind going into turn 8 and goes past, dropping me to P4. Lap 30 Final pit stop, for options. Carver gets past. Come out in P5. Lap 31 Warleb shoves me wide around around turn 4. Drop to P6. Then the game suddenly drops me to P7??? Get DRS on Warleb, and almost get him at turn 12. A little contact but no harm done. Lap 32 Warleb overlooks turn 2 and I go past to take back P6. Lap 38 Battle for P5 with Carver. Almost catch him at final turn. Lap 39 DRS is on the fritz. Even then I almost get the pass on Carver into turn 12. Almost get him again in final turn. Lap 40 Overtake at turn 2 for P5, but I can't make it stick and Carver shoves me wide into the wall exiting turn 3. I get hit heavily from behind by Scing braking for turn 4, driving me into Carver who's turning in and spinning me around 360. Somehow I escape with no damage. Drop to P7. Valer disconnects giving me P6 by attrition. Lap 41 Chance at Carver when he goes wide at turn 8 but he recovers too fast. Lap 42-43 Battle to the checkered flag with Carver. Finish on the lead lap. At the post race screen I see that I have actually finished in P5. Lag was giving me incorrect telemetry. Best fun series finish so far woo hoo!
It would be tempting to be disappointed with P5, but really based on pace I think it was what I deserved. Maybe more than I deserved considering that I had major lag issues again. It was just super frustrating to be unable to defend against anyone coming up behind. Still any way you look at it, P14 to P5 is one hell of a drive. And I ticked so many boxes on things I wanted to accomplish and improve. Had a best finish in this series, massively improved race craft across the board that kept me out of trouble and really moved me up in the early going. I even clocked a fast lap of the race, and held on to it for quite some time! Also, this epic drive was a very honest one, which is to say I was only gifted one spot courtesy of attrition in front of me. All the rest happened behind, and I was out racing them anyway when the incidents occurred. I managed that race stellar from top to bottom, and my spin wasn't something that I could do anything about. It wasn't over aggression, just bad positional luck in an unfortunate spot on track. It may not have been a podium but it feels like it was, just because of the vast improvement I had in my driving, and the fact that I was flying around that track. Not to mention I beat Giles and Jaegermeister fair and square, two guys that I usually can't even get close to. That by itself was almost as good as grabbing the win would have been.
Race Department Weekly Fun Series Stats
Starts: 4
Finishes: 3
Best Grid: P4
Best Race: P5
Podiums: 0
Wins: 0
Points: 19
Random Fun Series 7, Silverstone
Team: Red Bull
Participants: 8 + 4 Legend AI
Qualifying: P4
Race: P4
Objective: Finish 8th or better PASSED
Qualifying:
Run 1 1:29.760 on primes, 1 hot lap. This was good enough for 2nd behind FrenziedSien right up until about 5min to go, when Jaegermeister bumped me down to P3. Run 2 During my 1 hot lap, again on primes, Dizz bumps me to P4. I improve to 1:28.563 but stay in P4.
Race:
Lap 1 Didn't have the best getaway at the start. A bit of wheel spin and I drop to P5 as we get up to speed. Also didn't really have room for any kind of maneuver through turn 1. Better to be careful. Big off from Jaegermeister at turn 6 and I go past to take P4. Lap 3 Little hot on exit of maggots/becketts and I lose my opportunity to get superman. Lap 4 Almost get superman inside at turn 3 and again through 4 & 5 but can't make it stick. Starting to have to pay attention to benny behind me as well. Lap 5 Contact with superman at the chicane. He doesn't hit me very hard at all, but I still get spun. Benny gets by, dropping me to P5. Lap 6 Benny loses control coming out of turn 5 and careens back across the track. I'm able to avoid him and take back P4. Lap 9 I've reeled superman back in. Lap 10 Superman starts gapping me but pits at the end of the lap giving me P3. Also catch Dizz while he's pitted for P2. Lap 12 Just get in front of FrenziedSine as he comes out of the pits to grab P1! Lap 13 I'm doing a good job holding off FrenziedSine until I get a little wide going in to turn 15 and he shoots past on the inside. Maybe I should have protected the inside a little better, too, but it was almost inevitable with me on worn primes and him on fresh options + being a faster driver period. Down to P2. Lap 17 Primes are pretty shot and whole lap was off race pace so I pit a lap early for my options. Dizz and Jaegermeister go past. Come out in P4, but I'm still leading superman. Lap 20 Superman had gotten within 10sec, but I've built a gap out to 13.3sec. Catch Jaegermeister while he's pitted for P3. Lap 28 Last stop, for options. I had 25sec over Jaegermeister when I hit pit lane, but it's not quite enough for the delta and he passes me just as I'm coming out, dropping me back to P4. Lap 39 Finish in P4 on the lead lap.
Was not happy about having another spin. I think I'm still somewhat lagged out in these smaller races and drivers keep turning in on me thinking I am further back. Frustrating that I can't really use the inside under braking attack because of it. I don't think it cost me much in the end since I beat superman by 35+ sec. Don't know if I would have beat benny had he not crashed out but that's moot really. He made a mistake that I didn't and I had it all over him from there up until his DNF. I was far less happy about being held up by 3 different AI backmarkers at critical points during my attempt to charge down Jaegermeister for a podium in the closing laps. I could have been within 1-2sec if not directly fighting it out with him to the flag. Ah well... I did learn a lot about how fast a driver I really am in this race, and based on that I am contemplating a change in tire strategy that may give me a better crack at the podium going forward.
Race Department Random Fun League Stats
Starts: 5
Finishes: 4
Best Grid: P4 (x3)
Best Race: P3
Podiums: 1
Wins: 0
Points: 47
League table rank: 5th of 10
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Race Department Lifetime Club Stats
Starts: 9
Finishes: 7
Best Grid: P4 (x4)
Best Race: P3
Podiums: 1
Wins: 0
Points: 66
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