USA nGT: Brno

Wow what a race! One of the most fun races I ever had.

First and foremost, Matjaz - I am taking full responsibilty for the contact in T1. I got a great start and 'thought' me and Heinz both cleared you, in my mind there was no one anywhere near me so I dove all teh way to the curbing. Beleive me, I was totally shocked when there was contact. My fault completely and I am really sorry you got the drive thru for it. Of course I am not willing to give up my win :)

Qual: What a joke, I saw the wet forecast and left my stall right away, knowing that the track would only get slower. Made a nice gap to Dennis ahead of me but the into teh final straight he had an off and on and I caught him exiting T1. He was gracious enough to let me pass, wish I could say the same about the other 6 cars that were on their out laps that totally held me up. 2nd on the grid.

Race, well T1 I already described. Took me a total of 28 seconds to get rolling again and after lap 1 I was already up from 27th to 17th due to a LOT of cars stopped on track. Most of the rest of the passes I made until I got to 5th were pretty straight foreward. I was driving the wheels of the car, totally not what I wanted to do.

Had some great moments with George Pol, Brian Fairly, Kris Trott, John Mueller.

Eventually I caught up to Matjaz, after his drive thru, and he was battling with John Mueller. This was crazy, Matjaz was having a hell of a time with John and their pace slowed to the point that Kris Trott was coming back at my rear.

Finally Matjaz and I both got a screaming run off of T3 and it was 3 way into the braking zone when John realized he was done and backed off letting Matjaz through. Then I got John on the main straight.

I would like to think I was faster than Matjaz but you know, getting past is another story. We had a few really fun laps until Matjaz got collected by a slower car. I actually slowed to let Matjaz back by but then I saw in my mirror he was spinning out and I just got back to business.

Now I am running 3rd and 25 seconds behind the 2nd place car and making up about 1 second a lap. No way I can improve my position without someone else making a major error. So again I was shocked when I finished my pit stop and found myself just 3 seconds behind Heinz and 13 seconds clear of Garret? I think. I very quickly realized I had more speed than Heinz and just tried to keep the pressure on him, difficult to do since we both were driving on very slick tires. Lap 27 I made a nice exit off a corner and he looked like he got wide and he didn't fight me.

Rest of the race was just about keeping it from spinning out.

Grats to everyone that made it, nice racing Heinz, Garret and Matjaz.

WOW! What a sweet race opener!

Congrats to Kent on the comeback to take victory. Well done to Garret on getting on the podium.

Qualifying was tricky to begin with, was great to see the words Dry, but raining clouds under that, so I thought the best thing to do was go out on slicks and hope for the best with the very first flyer. Rain started to come down when i came out my garage though, but it wasnt hard, and the track still had some grip... But the Quali times were so drastically different, i think the right choice was hard to make, but the grid was decided after 10 mins.

The start was excellent off the line from the front 4 rsr's.. rocketing away from the rest of the grid, watched matjaz collect Kent .. I was wondering what the call was going to be because i thought perhaps matjaz should have tried to lift a little, but the angle kent was coming from and the angle matjaz had i think they both couldnt see each other till Kent hit the apex .. where matjaz was....

Matjaz got away, Garret in hot pursuit and me following. Garret made a small mistake which let me passed at T6, and then Matjaz got the drive through .. couldn't have been better for me and my Team as Greg had rocketed from 13th to 5th .. woohoooo..

Counted chickens before they hatched as gregg seem'd to get a disconnect :( unlucky Gregg..

Garret was pushing hard behind me, but i was able to dictate the pace we set and was trying to look after tyres, while garret was all over the place behind me :) still managed to both keep it clean and safe and was a nice stint keeping each other company.

I was watching where Kent and matjaz where on the time sheets and wondering what Garret would do in the pits, and if Kent and matjaz would risk kno new slicks to catch up to the front again..

I dove into pits first and went with no tyres, as they were coping well till that point.

The laps after my stop i think decided my race result because i had 2 problems after my stop...
First were backmarkers having a battle with each other and barry behind them with me trying to get passed as quick as possible... I was just making a beautiful pass on barry K. when the backmarkers had a touch and one spun out and collected me and put me in the wall . bah.. .. I think either Emilio or Fernando not sure, a hard knock to swallow .. This helped barry who got a bit of a gain again but obviously still needing to stop infront of me .. I caught up quick but problem #2 was getting passed him .. I thought i should have found a way passed him before it was too late, but it was just one of those things and couldn't .. wish you let me through barry, we werent even racing each other really :) !

So I finally get passed after doing some slow 2m3's and barry dives into pitlane right after :( .. knowing this was vital in my race for the win, Kent came out 3 seconds behind me after pits .. I knew it was over .. 7 laps left for the master he is to work his magic and take the win .. I tried my best to keep it, but he was just alot better on the old set of rubber ..

Happy to take the 2nd and looking forward to the rest of the season.. Should be a cracker!

Well done all

Not the result I hoped for but it was a fine and very action packed race for me, very enjoyable. In my qualifying run there was rain but track was still dry so I went out on dry tyres and managed to get the best out of the rapidly changing conditions. It was hot as hell and I forgot to open the radiators so my engine started to smoke on lap 2 but it was already to damp at that time so my tyres became useless to improve my lap 1 time so I decided to park it.

My start was as good as I can do but Kent was once again a bit faster and managed to get alongside of me. I didn't see him but I heard his engine so I knew he was there on the outside. Braked late for T1 but still kept the inner line and suddenly there was Kent shooting by on the outside. We touched slightly but that was enough for him to spin out. It's so tough to judge the situation from the cockpit where you don't have a visual feel to what's happening on the outside but from my point of view it didn't feel like a classic punt so I decided to continue and let the steward make a decision about my penalty. In a way I felt quite releaved when I saw a call from the steward to do a drive through penalty so I went in and rejoined in 8th I think. Then fun began as I was overtaking for positions and was soon joined by Kent who was very fast so at least I knew his car survived the first lap incident without major damage. I was trying to pass someone ahead of me while Kent was trying to pass me and what a great fight it was. We both made it through the "traffic" and I was still ahead until someone ahead of me went sideways and I was to slow to react. We collided and I was forced to go off track which was enough for Kent to pass. I saw him in the distance for some laps until I went to pits for refuelling. I didn't change tyres and came out of the pits in 4th just behind my team mate Garret. I soon realized his tyres were fresher than mine so it will be very hard to challenge him for the podium finish. Did my best but my tyres were starting to go away after some nasty over driving in my first stint.

Still it was a fine race and my apologies to Kent again for T1 punt... it looked like a classical punt from the replay so I fully accept the penalty from the stewards.

Congrats to my team mate as well for 3rd place and a very solid drive!

Heinz... I dont think the contact was with me... I did had close calls though...

But the worst... the crash at T1... Lap 1... found a car stalled in front of me big crash... punctured tyre... on to the pits... almost a full lap lost... what a beginning of the season... and then... A PRETTY FUN RACE... always some car to fight with... I had good pace... one of the 7 faster on track... too bad I lost a lap right on the start of this race.

Nope Matjaz, I watched it too, but like I said above, had I a clue that you were there I wouldn't dived to the apex like that. Clearly a racing incident but the stewards have to enforce the lap 1 punt rule.

I totally agree with you though, with the 2 of us having to race mid pack it made for one of the most exciting races I have ever been in. I even watched my race replay all the way until you got taken out. What an unfortunate turn of events, was looking to be a classic battle.

Wow, what a start to the season.
The rain in prac and qual was a nice change. Although when qual ticked over and I saw the track was dry but going to change, I strapped on the slicks and went for a run as quick as possible. To my suprise ist started raining after turn 4, and I knew I was only going to get one good lap in before conditions got slippery. That lap earnt me 10th on the grid, and I was happy with that.
Got a screamer off the line, but had to button off as someone up front had bogged down, so 10th is were I stayed. Managed to stay clear of the early incidents, and found myself up in 5th after only a few laps, realising the faster cars ie. Matjaz and George, would be hunting down the spots again, I didnt put up too much of a fight when they appeared in my mirror.
The stand-out for me was my battle with Brian, which started when the lights went green, and finished with me about a second from his tail an hour later. Full credit to Brian, as he waited for a good part of the race to put a pass on, and pulled it perfectly. We pitted on the same lap and emerged from the pits with me a little farther in front, but me taking it easy on the tyres allowed brian to catch me again.
It wasnt long untill we caught J Mueller, and I was happy to sit back a little and watch Brian try to get by, this went on for a few laps, untill Brian got by on T1, which in turn opened the door for me as John had gone wide. Sorry for the contact John, but like I say, I was inside and next thing I knew you had come across and just managed to catch the front of my car. My heart stopped when I saw you spin, and made a concious effort to try to tap you out of the slide, I thought I had missed it untill I looked in my mirror and realised you had straightened up. Brian must have been watching his mirrors too, as he ended up in the grass, but managed to rejoin, and the battle resumed.
Brian got another chance to pass with only a few laps to go, took it and that is were he stayed untill the end. I could see him struggling with grip on the last laps, and thought I may stiil have a chance with only a few turns to go, but alas, Brian was solid as a rock. Great driving all round.
Was happy with a T10 to start the season, although 8th would have been nice, 9th was good enough for me.
Congrats to the podium, I know a lot of the front runers had to make their way through the field a few times. A credit to their skill.
Must say tho, I have never seen so many yellows in a R2P race, it looked like a few of the backmarkers had fun, but need to appreciate the importance of letting the faster cars come through without incident. A few new names in the field ment I was alittle cautious around some, but hey, its all a learning experience.
Thanks to R2P and the stewards for the event, hopefully a taste of things to come for the rest of the season.
(sorry for the novel!!)

Lol,anytime i get a good launch at the start,someone in front of me bogs down.
HEINZ.Up until i watched the replay,i had no idea what you were talking about.It was me and not Hendrick by the way.My story.As the pitstops were cycling through,i was 3rd at that time and had Kevin putting some pressure on.In fact,i always keep a watchful eye behind me with the monitor thingy and looking back.As it happened i didn't notice Kevin peel off behind me into pit lane and actually thought he then almost made the pass when in fact it was you who then hit the spun car.For the next few laps i must admit i didn't glance at the PD monitor and was concentrating on keeping who i thought was Kevin at bay.As it was,i don't think i did anything wrong,even tho i know you are way faster than me,at no time in the couple of laps were you in a position to pass.I met my brake points,followed my usual line and thought i was racing for position.If i had realised it was you,i would have let you go.

And this is why I have never been fond of automatic penalties. Great sportsmanship by both Kent and Matjaz here. I applaud you both for it. And it was real cool watching you two come up through the field again too.

Really injoyed this race. Only my 3rd GTR2 race.

Thanks for mentioning I was the one chasing you Barry K. I don't have the names turned on so I was wondering who I was chasing. Was a fun chase.

Lap 1, turn one, was fun too. Now I can never say that I don't ever get lucky. Because this time I was lucky. 3 cars all over T1 and the RED SEA parted, just for me. Amazing a hole opened up. Didn't change my line at all.

Grats to the Podium. hmmm top five in slower cars? Going to be interesting for sure.

Kevin

Did I mention how much I enjoyed getting to drive the RSR again? Man what a car, first 15 laps it was so predictable and responsive. Well now that I am into the restriction phase I might change things up a bit and try out the old trusty 360.