Euro Rhez: EuroRing

If you said to me that I was going to be on the podium come the end of this race, I would... well, I don't know what I would have done actually, but I would have been pretty happy! I didn't think that a podium would come so quickly, in just my second R2P start, and only my first race finish!

I had been doing some testing with the R-GT1, but I wasn't going anywhere fast, bogged down in the 1:15's. I made a few changes an hour before the race, and got myself into the low 1:14 bracket, so I had a bit more confidence going into the meeting.

After making a few final adjustments going into the Practice session, I ran my first 1:13 on only my third flying lap! This I was pleased about. After making a few adjustments again for Qualifying, just like the Buggy race the previous night, I never quite replicated the pace I showed in practice. A clean, clear lap near the end of the session put me third on the grid on a 1:13.525, behind Sam Moss and Pablo Martinez.

I had a strange thought on the warm-up lap... Did I actually put a tank of fuel in? Luckily, I had, but it quite unsettled me! The tight grid at the Euro-Ring freaked me at the start, and Richard Johnstone drew alongside me and passed through the first chicanes. From here I held back for a few laps to get into the groove, although there was just no rhythm to be found at the circuit. I started to catch Richard, and there was an incident between Sam and Pablo at the front, which I didn't see. All of a sudden, I was actually running in second position, pushing for the lead! However, my mirrors were then full of Pablo's car, then Sam's as they scrabbled for position behind me. This fazed me, and I began to push a bit too hard and overheated the tyres. I couldn't decide whether to put the hards or softs on the front, in hindsight, I should have gone with the hards, but anyway. This allowed Sam to really start to harry me, I think we bumped once or twice given my somewhat awkward-at-times driving style! Eventually, I made a big mistake on one of the fast right hand bends out the back of the circuit, and I went into the gravel just before the slow left-hander. We ran side-by-side into the silly chicane out the back of the circuit, but I was off the racing line and thought it wise to back off! My mirrors were then full of Pablo, and it looked like my podium finish was under threat, but he disappeared (what happened Pablo?) and I was on my own again, conserving the tyres for a mad dash over the last couple of laps. By now Sam had passed Richard for the lead and I started to reel him in, especially on the very last lap - I trailed him over the line in a drag for the finish by three-tenths of a second!

The Rhez really suits my driving style I found, but the track was very difficult to race and pass on, and due to passing not being one of my strong points, that hurt me. But, 3rd on my second outing ain't too shabby!

Great racing guys, see ya at Vanport ;)

Oh boy do i fell stupid. :) Qualified quite OK considering only did 1 lap,... but on the formation lap i noticed it was like on ICE! i was like ... WTF...

Surely the race started and everyone seemed to have more grip then me... lots more! On lap 5 or so i noticed that pitboard was showing i had GRAVEL tires loool :) Then pitted to change, but it was all too late.

Too bad would be lots of fun driving this car with proper tires. :(

Grats podium

I had fun tonight.

My qualifying went west when I lost it going into the first chicane damaging my suspension. Somehow I pulled it together to scrape 7th on the grid.

Got a blinding start, but I think Nickolay must have got bogged down because I almost slammed into his rear. Unfortunately, this put me into the path of Janko who squeezed me back into Nickolay. Sorry mate!

Early laps were a scramble and when Justin Rebello and I think Janko had a mishap just before the first chicane I made the most of the oppertunity and squeezed through to 6th. Spent the next 10 laps or so chasing down Nickolay for 5th, eventually catching and passing him when he caught a back marker.

Rest of the race was quite quiet. I struggled with tyre wear towards the end and was pushing through the slow corners and loose as hell through the fast ones.

Still, with very little preperation and a less than perfect setup I had a good race and a good time.

Thanks guys!

I did 1:12.9xx in practice but I couldn't do it in qual, so pole was for Sam Moss. I started second, but I overtook Sam before the first turn. I leaded from the first lap to the 6th one (I had some nice battles with Sam Moss), when I spun, both Sams and Richard passed me, I don't know what Sam Moss did after that because he was going very slowly and I passed him.

I was behind Sam Emmet some laps, I think I was faster than him, but in this track was almost imspossible to overtake, and I made some mistakes and I hit the tyre wall so I couldn't fight for the podium.

Nice race, nice battles, and very clean, can't wait for the next one!

i really got to stop doing races i dont practice for...

and these cars seem pretty fragile! twice i just brushed (and i mean only lightly) either a barrier or another car and according to my 'spotter' i had suspension damage.

Congrats to Sam for his win and congrats to rest of podium.

Just jumped into this race for shits and giggles, it will be my only appearance of the season. The cars interested me, but the track really didn't excite me too much. I could see these cars being quite fun on a track that lets them go a bit more like say Birmingham Short or even Autobahn. I found EuroRing to be not only way too tight for competitive racing but it didn't have a pleasing flow, in my opinion. It was very challenging, which kept it interesting, but I found the mass of very short sections connected by very slow corners to just be too jerky and non-fluid. I like to race a little more wide open.

That said, the race was interesting. Accidents on this track equals roadblocks and the first lap was witness to several. I took damage getting caught up in a mess and drove out the race with some steering damage, but not too much to slow me down significantly, just enough to make it require serious effort to keep it smooth.

I found myself battling for a mid-table spot I think with Barrett ahead of me and Simon on my ass. I knew I was faster than Barrett from practice and from tailing him a bit during race, but the track made it very difficult to overtake when someone doesn't want you to. I had to just keep the pressure on and wait for an opening which came on the front straight, fortunately, after not too long. Simon was hot on my heels for a while and I noticed that he was really pulling me in through the final sector. Not coincidentally, he received a drive-through for cutting the chicane and that relieved most of the pressure for the rest of the race. Tire wear was pretty awful at the end but I had a safe enough gap to drive home with another top-10 finish.

Hope you guys have a good season. Once you get a bigger track, I think this serious will be awesome, especially if this sort of attendance keeps up.

Good race, although I think I could have driven a bit smarter and had a better chance at the win...

Got a good start for once and nipped in front of Sam E, then tried to settle in to a rhythm on this little track. Sam E was always close behind but I could see him sliding around a lot and pushing hard, so I hoped that as long as I kept things tight I should be relatively safe.

I'm not sure what happened with Sam M and Pablo but I was able to steal the lead and Sam E followed me through too, I pushed really hard at this point because I knew Sam M was recovering and could see him often lining Sam E up when I looked in my mirrors.

That was probably a mistake because my right front had gone yellow by the last five laps and I didn't have anything left to defend P1 with. Overall though, Sam M was clearly the faster guy today and deserved the win, congrats.

Sorry for the nudge as you came through, I heard you start braking a fraction earlier than me, so it came as a bit of a surprise when you appeared at the apex as I turned in. No harm done.