GTx Donington

Totally unbelievable. 3 races in a row at Donnington taken out on the 1st lap :(

Then, while chasing back I was behind Laperrierre (or something like that, sorry if I hacked your name but the results aren't up yet) and every time we would come through the final chicane he would lag and his car would jump back into mine. The aggrivating thing was it wasn't the same every time so I couldn't anticipate it. Anyway it finally flipped my car over on the back straight.

The damage wasn't that bad, but I was far too unhappy to continue :(

Damn I'm tired after that 1. grats to Sam as he ran away with the win.Also Grats to Dennis M.I put so much pressure on you for so many laps & you would not make a mistake.Finally on the last lap your rear end slipped & I got by. some of the best racing I've had! thanks Sam for letting us race it out, saw you in the mirror:)

Well David .... I know it won't give any comfort, but I felt unhappy too during the whole race. I had prepared well for this one, stayed awake until 4:30 AM (my time start of the race), knew I had a good setup and qualified well. So the last thing I wanted was to brake just a little too late and tap you. Hope you accept my apologies cos this is ofcourse not what I wanted .... and neither did you. I waited to give you at least my postition back. So I was in 15th after lap 1. After that the whole race was playing catch up. Getting 4th in the end isn't that bad considering what happend. But happy? ...... no not really.

Grats to Sam on a solid win and to my teammate John for a great 2nd place. And ofcourse to Dennis for completing the podium.

Whew, that was a long one!

Tried out a different car again tonight- the Maserati. Felt quite at home in it- I wasn't quite fast enough to compete with the Ferraris, but I was very consistent (when my concentration was good). It was easy to catch, no bad manners.

Frank Laferriere was showing a nice solid ping, but once or twice a lap he would spike a big lag. I got whacked by it while following him on the first lap, and somebody piled into the back of me because of it. And David went a good 30ft in the air after the lag hit braking into Goddards- I went right under him with a good 10ft of clearance on his way back down.

The Maser doesn't have a complete motec, so I was really sweatin' the last couple of laps, not knowing how many were left. I pulled into the pits with the fuel guage reading 0 liters, and wouldn't you know it turned out to be the last lap! My pit box was probably 10ft short of the s/f line. A kindly steward chatted to me not to escape, probably thinking I thought the race was over. Thanks for watchin' over me ;) I took fuel and gunned it to the s/f, was very lucky not to lose a spot.

I spent the first half of the race thinking I was going to end up 9th or 10th, so I'll take 7th and be happy. Next time, though, I'm draggin' the Ferrari back out. 'Course, then I won't have any excuses :P

That might have been the toughest 90 minutes I've raced. After qualifying 6th I figured it could be a good race if I didn't make too many mistakes, and untill the final 2 laps where John slipped by my plan was working out pretty well. The first half of the race was tough trying to get some separation from the car behind while running mostly in 4th. I finally started getting some breathing room behind and by the time I pitted I was up to 3rd I think. Once the pit cycling was done I was amazed to find myself in 2nd but the pressure was on from Mr Mueller and he was unrelenting the whole 2nd half of the race untill the last couple laps when my car started sliding a bit and he finally took 2nd from me, good job.
I'll take a 3rd anyday.
Congrats Samuel for the win, and thanks for hanging back there so long and allowing us to race for it, I hope we put on a good show ;)

Good race guys and good job to the winer{Samuel K}good job man,u basterd u lapt me 11 times dam slow the hell down man lol.On the star on the race it was mest up some guys in Lambo was lagin and he took out 2 or 3 car in the first turn orr the second turn,It was lag so my car was mest up, and 2 loos for no rizon dont know why it was but the rest was ok antill i got together with Ferarri it was {Stive} Sorry man i tryd to give u room but i took both off us off the track sorry man never goin to happen.Am glad that he abl to race and finishd 8th good job.So thats oll i got to say Thank You latin me to race and good job 2 all.

I'm sorry about that David. And yes, i already saw the replay and my car had a lag. You hit me tree or more time. It's weird because i didn't feel the inpact. The lag either. I will chek my connection. Somebody know the reason of that?

I am very sorry for my first complete race with R2P.
Frank.
(Xcuse for my english)

Great racing, my best start and ran in third for the first leg, I was closing in on second just as I reach 2.5 gal of fuel. Took to the pits, at that point I had to change my strategy in pits, wanted a two stop race and shorted myself 10 laps of fuel. Of course I did not know that when I left pit row, I was behind Dennis for about 20 laps, inching away when there was about 20 laps left I take a minute to do the math, exactly...I notice I was shy the 10 ;aps, I tried to short shift but realized that is just not going to do it, thats when I had to let John M go by. I was so pissed, car was perfect and I was just cruising. I went in for a splash and go and had just enough to finish in 6th.
Overall an excellent 90 minutes of racing.
Good driving.

Great Race.
Chased Dennis for the first chunk, finally I slipped. Thanks to lappers for being curteous, no problems at all. My car was good, but I lost it a few times on the final s or off into the dirt the corner before the long straigt. George Pol was very fast and caught up to me steadily, passed me when I was off track, and then opened a huge gap, lapping me by the end of the race. So a lonely race after the first chase, besides passing lappers. Until the end, got to chase sam who was behind, watching 2nd and 3rd battle. So good race, very happy with a T5.
See you next time all.

After the first lap I swung a bit wide and Lafferriere got past me to take 8th...and he was lagging really bad...I was seeing him disappear then reappear right in front of me then zip back up where he was so I slowed down to keep my distance. But, John Onofrey was behind me and I got loose in turn 2 then wound up in the sand on like turn 8 and John, Kolar, and David got by me...so I spent the race in the back just keeping pace, which is fine since I gambled and started the race with hard rubber so I could stay out the full 48 laps that my full tank of gas would allow then switched to softs/mediums at my pit.

Had an incident with Michael Cash...I went wide in turn 3 and Michael pulled up along side me going into turn 4...I had the inside and didn't back down and neither did Michael, consequently I slide out and bumped him into the grass. Fortunately he kept it straight and I let him by on the start/finish straight. Sorry about that Michael.

It didn't take long for Krueger to lap me, and the funny thing is that I kept waiting for Pol or Poel who didn't get the pole (I suspect due to the eeee factor) to follow him, but I didn't see anyone coming up behind me. Then 5 laps later I caught up to Joe Martinez and Gamlet. Gamlet pitted then Joe let me by...thx Joe. Then finally 7 laps after Krueger passed me John Mueller in 2nd caught up to me. I let him by and I was again alone on the track. 5 laps later Dennis Morrissette pulled up behind me. This was the most strung out top 3 race I've seen yet. Oddly enough Dennis hung back for the next 3 laps...I hope he didn't think I was John. Anyway, I caught up to Joe Martinez again, but he saved me the trouble of figuring out what I should do first...pass him or let Dennis by...by going too wide in turn 7 and mowing the grass over there. But, then I immediately caught up to Ryan and Gamlet and Dennis was now directly behind me. But, Gamlet found himself on the grass in turn 4 then drove right back onto the track right in front of me and sent me spinning into the grass. No problem...it happens...at least Dennis got by me safely. And, I sustained only minor damage...apparently just my front splitter...and thankfully didn't have to pit. Joe got by me, but he let me by at the beginning of the start/finish straight.

I suddenly found myself in 5th due to people starting to pit. I had a bit of a push due to the damaged splitter, so I settled down to ride the rest of my first set of tires until my fuel got low. As I passed the start/finish I found myself in 2nd! Woo Hoo! Yeah, but of course Dennis came out of the pits in 3rd followed by Gregg Mulgrew in 4th and I had to let them by. Next, John Mueller pulled in behind me, I got a bit squirmy in turn 4 and didn't give him a clear shot, but he thankfully managed to get by me safely anyway. That was when Krueger lapped me for the 2nd time. By then the push was really bad and I was contemplating pitting early, but decided to stick to my pit strategy...I intended to enjoy 5th place while I had it.

I pitted and took on soft/medium and lost 4 spots...putting me back in 9th, but then somone pitted and I found myself in 8th for the rest of the race. With the better rubber I was able to pull away from Ryan who was behind me in 6th place though I didn't know who it was at the time. I even started to make some ground on Kolar in 7th place...at one point I was within 7 seconds of him, but I just couldn't find my race line and never got up close enough to challenge him. For one thing I had never driven with softs/mediums...I've always kept them balanced...it definitely has a different feel.

Then with less than 10 laps to go Krueger laps me for the 3rd time...this helped Kolar because I crossed the finish line behind Krueger so I didn't complete my 77th lap and take 7th from him while he was fueling up...so you have Krueger to thank for that Michael! :)

Another excellent race! I look forward to the day when I can actually finish on the same lap or just one lap down...I'm only human after all.