Nuerburgring

Another jump-start penalty!

I gotta get my act together. After serving it on lap 3, I came back out in 4th-5th and having to fight with Dean to keep position. Then just did all I could to hot-lap until my scheduled stop. Took tires and a couple gallons of fuel to continue hot-lapping to get back on the podium. Lucky for me, Kent and Banta decided to pit way late and I got 2nd from Banta. Great finish for having to pit twice basically... Id have liked to have challenged Kent, but the penalty prevented that.

Good win Kent

Came down to the first corner, and when it was my turn to whip around the post saw daylight and thought I had it made ... I didn't see the car off my left quarter panel angling for the same daylight ... I came out the better for having the inside and only lost a couple spots getting going again.

I chased down Shane who was chasing Cory in the early laps. Decided I'd pit ahead of them and see where we were after they pitted, and came in at the halfway mark.

When someone finally pitted and came back on I thought, "Geez, I lost that much ground?" But, wait ... a lap or two later Shane comes out of the pits and slots right back in between Cory, evidently, and I.

I tagged after Shane until he wobbled going into that long backstretch, went side-by-side with him through the kink and pulled ahead braking into that final chicane.

Took a position from Fernando when he was on pit road, and he came pretty close to getting it back though I was able to hold on to it in the end.

Was a good run. Congrats to Kent.

Well I must admit I was surprised with this race. Had only last bight for prep and my best was a 2:05, reading the prerace and watching Tim last night I figured I would be battling for 3rd at best in this race.

Qual I waited and waited for everyone to leave hoping for clear track. Bob was in front of me so I just cruised on my out lap to allow a big gap. Lap 1 I was pushing hard but knowing all I was doing was warming the tires for a lap 2 hot lap. Surprise! Did my best lap on my first, turns out it was good enough for Pole.

Race, I got a decent start and was shocked to see Tim on my bumper as we entered T1, I was trying to be patient to avoid a spin with my somewhat cold tires but I could see Tim behind my not making any move to pass. Through T2 I noticed Conor! where did he come from and he was diving down the inside into 3. All I could think of was this is gong to be a short race, I went extra wide on entry hoping to avoid a collision. I could see his car and figured he must of realized he wasn't going to make the pass stick and I turned into towards the apex to setup for T4. That's about the time I felt the bump and I saw Conor spin in my mirror.

My apologies Conor, if I drove behind view I would have see what was happening and given more room. I even watched the replay (which I never do) because I was concerned I had made a poor judgement. Pretty much looked like you took a shot at a pass and bailed out on it to me. Still sorry your race ended there, would have been interesting to see if I could hold the lead.

Back to the race...Tim was about 1.5 behind me most of the first 2 laps, then lap 3 I was all over the place and he closed the gap. Finally lap 4 I found a little rhythm and opened it up to about 2 seconds. Next thing I knew Banta was 5 seconds back in second. I stretched that out to about 13 seconds by the time I pitted lap 13-14 and came out in second! wow where is Tim? oh I see he is 10 seconds back in 3rd. David pitted the next lap and I ripped my two fastest laps finishing with about a 15 second lead.

Very pleased with my drive, needed a little confidence builder after my last 4 races ending in DNF's

Before tonight, my best lap was a 2:07.9xx. after the virus and a reformatting of my HD i spent all of last night restoring everything as best i could. I started running some laps at about 5:30 this evening and tweaking on tim's setup i was finally in the 2:06's, then 2:05's. in qualifying i popup out a 2:04.9 to snatch 4th from Fernando but my target was Tim in 3rd who i missed by a tenth.

In the race i didn't get a great start but i didn't lose a spot either. i got 3rd when Conor spun. i got second a few laps later when Tim pitted (for a stop and go i found out later). I ran in second for the next 10 laps or so losing about 8 second to Kent in the process. My car had picked up a push in the race for some reason, and was struggling in the tighter turns to get around. I got the lead when Kent pitted, so on his out lap i judged his relative pace to me and seeing he was much faster than me i pitted the next lap to. I was only going to take fuel, but i didn't even get that. i had setup my fuel for the pitstop on the formation lap and i guess i i didn't set it high enough. i guess i did stop early, on lap 15 rather than 18 like i planed. i dicked around in he pits trying to figure out what was going on, but eventually took off. i came out in 3rd and i wasn't sure i would make it to the end. i was lucky, i had put enough fuel in the car to last the race, but just barely. One more lap and i would of run out. So i finished 3rd again and i will take that. Winning here is getting harder and harder.

I have to stop messing my races too. My start was good, was able to react pretty quick and with a little wheel spin, but, my rpm limiter was turn on and that was it. I lost a place I gain and another one by T1. First laps where a fight to regain my position back. I got a good run to make a pass on the outside but was getting pushed out, running out of room had to brake but hit the car in front of me don't remember was Dean or Shane, sorry for that. After that I was chasing David. Both were running same lap times. It was a surprise to saw Tim on my back, but I remember saw a car moving a bit before the green lights, guess he was recovering from a stop and go penalty. He passed me at the same time he and I pitted. Then there it comes my big mistake. At start I put 9 laps of fuel that were enought to finish, for some reason I put away some galons, but looks like they were to much. I have to pit again in lap 17. Got out from pits and was on place 7. Was able to finish in 6. That mistake cost me a 4 place, and probably a good fight with David and maybe podium.

Yea it was only my fault for the spin, Kent. Its just so hard to see outside and around these cars that i was just worried that i was going to slam into you. Anyway, the move itself was just stupid for me to do. I dont know why i was so impatient at the time....maybe i thought i had a run on you after the previous corner; don't know. I normally don't make moves like that so i have no clue where it came from. Even when i was in the process of trying to pass you, i was thinking "what the fuck am i doing?". It was too late and i had to commit to the pass and unfortunately it kicked me in the ass.

As for the spin itself, i think it was mostly the curbing that made my car unsettled which made me spin out. I may have hit you as well, dont know, didn't see the replay but mainly it was the curbing that caused it. After that, i hit the wall and stalled the car which ended my race there.

That pretty much killed my chances for the championship in this series, hell, im leading all of you in the category of DNFs. I guess i should just focus on the F3s....