GTC-East Zhuhai

Paul Doncheck that was some great racing man. For almost the entire race! need to calm down so I'll post later

Well, despite i couldn't reach my offline speed at this track, everything seemed to develop a bit better for me in this race than usually in this series. But two laps before second pitstop I was turned over by other car in a rather slow turn. I have checked my replay and I couldn't find this incident to be inavoidable. I don't know where is "Car reset" button in GTR2, beacuse I never needed it before and I don't like such buttons. So I have had to retire.
Well, looks like I should have more practice to go at other part of the race where such things seem less likely to happen...

Barry - That was absolutely fantastic racing. Both you and Bobby got away off the start better than me - and I wanted to be so cautious through the first few turns, to avoid any shunts.

There were just so many ducks & dives trying to get past you through that first 16 laps, I lost count - but you were solid. Great driving - and I look forward to many more! To me that race was what it's all about!

Grats also to "Superman Sam" & Kent. Bad luck to Bobby in T1 on the final lap.

I STILL can't nail a decent pitstop - which then means all previous efforts are lost - plus what WAS a 1 second deficit with Barry turned into nearly SIX seconds. I sure had fun closing it down - though given the 1st half of the race, I doubt I'd of got past Barry anyways!

If work/family permits - I'll try doing another EAST race again - the standard of driving here is awesome. Until next time...

A great race for me as well!!! I was pushing 100% all the way, pulling away really slow from barry and losing time slowly to Sam. During the last 5 laps, my cellphone kept ringing in my pocket, and it was distracting me big time, losing some 3 seconds off sam, and it had to happen in T1 on the last lap, i lost control, becasue they kept calling me. Anyway im not mad at my girlfriend for keeping calling me, it was an emergency that had to be taken care of, and i shouldnt have had my cellphone in my pocket during a race anyway :P

I dont know what happened to you sam, you were way ahead of me, anfter the pitstops i was ahead of you (very surprised) We had a good run for 4 or 5 laps where i was pushing my hardest, setting my fastest time there i believe (just short of a 34, i think it was 35:0xx). I was forced to be brutally consistent, running mostly 35's and some 36's.

A couple of backmarkers decided to race me when i lapped them, trying to overtake after being lapped. i think sam had the same problem with one of em. Anyway noone got hurt, and it was a great race for everyone i had on my sight :)

Qual was not real bad but was quite a bit slower than I expected, 2nd on the grid.

Got a good start and passed Krueger before T1 and was able to hold the gap until first stop. We were only about 1 second gap when he ducked in. I pitted the following lap and fumbled with the pit board, almost putting on wets LOL. Wasn't a total loss but I figured Sam got me now. Did my second stop the next lap and fumbled the pit board again! This stop was 12 seconds long than it should have been.

I rejoined 3rd and that didn't surprise me after 2 horrible stops. To my surprise the 10 second gap was closing and a lap later I was gifted 2nd. Now the gap was 11 seconds and again I was closing. I was very surprised the next lap when that car pitted? Wow I am leading by 24 seconds? Well the rest of the race was conserve mode with zero drama.

Turns out Sam had to 3 pit because his crew was at the VIP tent when he made his first stop and no one was there to service him. I must remember to give the bottle of champagne to his crew for this win.

Booby, I think it was me that flashed you by and then try to race ya. It was dumb move on my part, but thought I saw something..... Just glad I didn't end up punting you or anything. ;)

I was way off pace, but that doesn't bother me. I'm just proud that I finished the race and improved my position from qualifying. This was the first official finish for me. I'll start working on podium finish later on, but I still need to get used to running with 20+ cars on the track.

Thanks for a great race, gents.

Ed

HOLY CRAP THAT WAS FUN...8P I'm all wored out.

Team CanAm finished in the top 10 at Zhuhai with a 3rd and a 10th 8)

That was one intense race and great fun again!

From the start to the finish it was never more tha a 6 second gap between Paul Doncheck and myself. Qualifyed 5th and finished 3rd. Paul ran me down twice because I was making stupid but small mistakes and Paul would be in my mirrors again and it got very intense as he kept trying to move to the inside and I would hold my line high thru the corner and come out and just stay ahead of him...it was a blast! Managed a couple of great pits and even came out of my 2nd pit right behind Samuel but couldn't run him down. It became a race with Paul for the rest of the race.

Congrats to Kent and Samuel and another Great Race by R2P

nah wasnt you ed. the guy was diving on me right after i passed, we were side by side for a corner or two... was exciting, but he was being lapped, lol

Darn... I was happy to get in the race from the waiting list and had a decent qualifying lap which gave me a pole , but had a 'little' too much wheelspin in start and Kent was 1st when we came into T1 .

Settled for 2nd after trying to make a move in opening laps , didn't feel smart to pressure Kent this early on and i thought that i'll just try to hang on and lets see after the pits then.

Gap was staying reasonable and i thought i'll pit a lap earlier than Kent , to get some advantage maybe. Came towards my pitcrew and did a normal stop imo , but to my surprise my crew was carrying my tires away LOL . Like wth... :o Dude with the board wasn't very interested either and after a couple of seconds trying i gave up and went for another lap :(. I noticed in the practice that my pitstall was the 1st in line and very near of the pitexit light , didn't think that its so close to the limit thou... Check the picture i sent -> 1. Last possible moment to stop. 2. This is already too far. 3. This is where i stopped.

I obviously cutted the pitlimiter line and crew went for a coffee instead of serving me :s . Came back in next lap and took it veeeery slowly this time LOL , got new rears then came in again next lap to get new fronts and finally all my 3 stops were over :p LOL .

Started to push and chase down Bobby and while last pitstops were done , we were in 2nd and 3rd place . After few laps of trying i finally got a good run into mainstraight and managed to overtake Bobby on T1 braking , that was good fair racing there Bobby , thx 8).

Noticed that Kent had a 20+ secs lead , so i consentrated on keeping it on the track and it went ok , had a one misunderstanding there when lapping a car in T7 , but we got through it with minimal damage and i was pretty happy to save the 2nd place for the team , but disapointed to have such a bad luck in pits.

Thx all and grts for the podium , cya in next one... ;)

edit: Ofcourse big congratulations to Kent for a solid drive , you would have been hard to win here even with succesfull pitstops :).

edit2: Look how early my pitcrew is turning their back on me and starts to carry my fresh rubber away LOL.. bastards :p

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Samuel

After spinning on my hot lap in Qualy (my fault), and having a bad start to the race getting spun in the first 2/3laps and effectively starting from the back again, I had a great race.
Unfortunately my race consisted of fighting back up the grid to finish just ahead of where I started, however that made for a very interesting and enjoyably race.
Sorry to Yury Korn - after having a few laps catching you and racing, you caught me out by breaking very early into the second last right hander. I darted to the inside to avoid ramming your rear. I managed to slow in time for the corner and started to turn at about 10-15MPH as you turned and caught me with the inside of your car which flipped you. This was a very weird incident as I don't know how that would have happened in real life at that speed, I felt back about the incident but like yourself couldn't find the incident to be inavoidable.
Once again well done to Kent and everyone on the podium and to Paul for his fourth.

Graham.