Mid Ohio Grand Prix

That was good times. Nice to see AJ made it back for a rematch against Conor. Sad to see him DNF again while looking so competitive. :(

Expert driving by many, today. Conor, Jordan and Tom; absolute top class. I didn't think a no-stop could be fast enough to be worthwhile, but Tom proved otherwise. Well met.

Qualifying was stronger than expected and I started 4th. Well, correction...I qualified fourth. I started dead last from the pits as the field entered the second sector of the race (see screenshot #2). I was sure this was supposed to be a rolling start, so while the time to hit the grid was expiring, I was just turning back to the game from my laptop and missed the formation lap. That was a real drag, but having nothing to lose can make for an exciting race and it was just that.

Plenty of close racing throughout but with a notable 3-part battle against Kevin Banic. I think the second time I tried to overtake him was leading into the keyhole (see screenshot #3) and I outbraked late and cut across the corner and just about saved it but looped. Feel bad about such a foolish move, Kevin, but really glad you were on your toes and charged away with the position to enjoy a new safe gap to breath.

After the pits I had someone on my tail and thanks to my brother who was spotting for me on TS, I realized it was Conor in first. Conor: I tried to make room for you to get through as soon as I could, but for the first straights you were way too far back to take it and then I had no choice but to wait until the next lap because it would be too risky trying to let you through in the complex later sectors. Hope I didn't hold you up too much (but with your result, evidently not). I really wanted to let Conor through as quick as possible because I knew riding in his draft, I could probably keep behind him for several laps (my times were going really well on the medium 1-stop strategy). After a lap or two following Conor, we came upon Kevin Banic for what I think was the final round of our battle. Kevin let Conor through heading into the keyhole (what a corner this is!) and I went for it and snuck in there behind Conor (see screenshot #1). This, unlike my last attempt to overtake there, was perfectly clean and would seal the position for me so that I could eventually catch and overtake Melton after he made a spin in the same corner later on (and sadly went on to DNF, tough luck Chris).

Near the later stages, knowing Tom was on a no-stop, I was gaining a good second or two per lap at times. I know I should have left well enough alone and just ride the 4th position home, but I pushed a bit to see what would happen and ended up spinning myself once or twice (nothing cost me a position though). After the last spin I said "forget that" and drove it really easy to the checkered flag.

I can't think of all the names, but I had to make my way through a very large number of lapped cars (because I occasionally spun and let them back past again and had to lap again) and they were all really gracious about helping lead cars through and everyone picked smart, predictable times to do it. Great driving by everyone today.

Thanks everyone. I don't expect to race this series anymore, so have fun as it goes on.

Wasn't too sure about racing this event. Came home from a grueling day at work 30 min before the race with no practice. Fortunately, I recently ran this same track with these same cars just two weeks ago so I had a decent setup waiting for me to use. Made a few changes to the dampers and strategy and was ready to go...

The car was very comfortable and fast but I wasn't able to grab the pole. AJ and Jordan ran excellent laps and I knew I had to have a hell of a car to be able to win this one.

The start was hectic. We were bunched up on the starting line so I had to maneuver quickly after the green lit up. In turn 1, AJ ran wide and went up on the curbs which sent him back. I chased Jordan for a lap until he spun in T2. From there, all I wanted to do was just keep the car under me and not commit any stupid mistakes. Traffic was very numerous but courteous so I was quite thankful for that. Nice solid race and it appeared to have some good racing through the field as well.

Justin, no probs, man. I was in no rush so I just waited till I had an opening. I had planned on getting ya down into T3 before sector 2, but I caught a little bit of the curb in T1 and lost some ground to ya. No issues at all...

you guys made pitstops?

becuase we did this race about 2 weeks ago in that Chapter event....i somehow automatically thought it would be x2 fuel and tires....stupid on my part

Anyway i went into the race predicting everyone would be on hards and would be making a stop around lap 21.

but my setup i was running from that chapter race 2 weeks ago had just enough fuel to get me across the line today.

i guess i know why Lee and McCarrell were so much faster than me now.

good to see AJ back, how many 16 year olds can say "yea i was racing with AJ Allmendinger earlier!"

anyway good racing guys, watch out for those curbs now :P

That was a great race. Mainly because I was much faster that I thought I would be. Thanks for the setup Ryan. This is a very tight track for cars this fast and everyone did a good job in traffic.

I was pretty fast in qualifying and managed 4th row. I managed an ok start and ended up running in 6th. Thats where I was able to dice with AJ for a few laps before he said goodbye and disapeared off into the distance. I ran a clean first stint and had a great scrap with Tommy before making my one and only pitstop. I came out of the pits right behind Tommy. I followed behind for about a lap and then Tommy caught traffic and had to check up. I slammed the brakes to avoid hitting him and got the damn car up on the curb. Like a giant magnet that curb just stopped me dead in my tracks. No damage but what are you going to do when your rear tires are off the ground. I don't think I was the only car to get a DNF by getting curb jacked.
Still it was grat fun. Congrats to Conor and the rest of the finishers.

Great race, a lot of fun and very intense. I thought I would be a lot quicker here compared to other drivers, but I qualified 17th. Then I was not expecting the standing start and was not prepared. Also my gearing setup had a very long first gear so I ended up almost in last. After about 5 laps I had moved up to about 14th place or so. The first 15 laps or so were very dicey with tons of cars in front and back of me. David Fridley and Kevin Banic were both following close behind me for many laps. I really drove pretty conservative hoping to not make any dumb mistakes. My pit stop was not good and I dropped from 8th to 10th. I eventually made the positions up though. Had a lot of fun, sorry to see my teamate get caught up on a curb though. I hope to make the next race.

first sorry to scott for spinning him on the first lap. cars were all bunched up and trying to manuever the turns and it was an accordian affect with me being the last car in the train. tried to slow up but just touched him and he spun.
damn curb got me again..got 2 wheels in the grass and was just easing the car onto the track and drove on the curb where i stopped dead in my tracks. i think it was the same amount of laps when i did the same thing 2 weeks ago lol