WSC: 2h of Spa-Francorchamps

The race was great, until rFactor decided to crash :(

Another DNF to my sports cars rank, 4 out of 9.......

That was brutal, exhausting and fun.

Congratulations to all the winners, podiums and champions.

Apparently, I didn't get the memo that the race started immediately after warm-up. I was checking to make sure I had the right setup loaded, and missed the start, so I had to start from pit lane. I had to pick my way through the majority of the GT2 and GT1 cars. Add a large number of mistakes on my part and you have an exhausting race. But I was determined to survive what is now my longest race at R2P.

Sorry to those I got in the way of. Apologies to Chris Melton -- I thought you were giving me room, I took it, but we got together.

Great racing all. See you next season.

Before I write up an official report, I just want to apologize to Omar. I have not reviewed the replay yet, but from what I remember we were both coming up on a P2. We took the corner and you originally went toward the left of him. I went to the right as there was ample room. I do not know what happened then because you were right in front of me and we made slight contact. My front left was locked up and I saw you had some bad damage to your car as well.

Until that point it was a really fun tight race. After this little mishap things just went downhill.

Full postrace report soon to come.

Started out bad when I got a drive through for starting the pace lap too soon. Kind of sucks to get a penality before the race even starts. Was having a really fun race until I caught Brian and spun him trying to cut to the inside. Really sorry about that. I lasted until my pitstop without any further damage and decided to try med tires and maybe double stint them but spun it on the outlap and had to pit again. Tried to just bring it home but collected a spun car towards the end and got a flat tire. Made a mistake and only changed the front tires and had to take it real easy to the end until I hit the invisable wall and toasted my engine. Only 1 min left so I stayed parked mostly off the road until the end and was just about to hit esc when Matt came around and rescued me and pushed me to the end.Saved me from a dnf.
Thanks for a great season and I'll see you at some of the races this summer. Hard to put in enough time practicing during the summer so I'll be at the tracks I know.

Ted

Fun race guys. This track was a bit exhausting but that's what endurance is all about. Good racing on everyones part. Last lap, caught up to my teammate Chris. Last few turns his car disappeared and I thought I'd bring it home when all of the sudden his car reappears about an inch from my grill. Did an "Oh Crap" move and seen him get a tad bit loose and that's when I went for the move. Crossing my fingers their was no contact when he disappeared (or maybe I disappeared). Anyways........Congrats to all the Winners, Season winners and racers. Good racing with you guys.

Thanks Brian Cox and Matt Willoughby for making this possible.

Johnny

Heading into the final round here at Spa, my expectations were to gain points to secure the team title. The driver's title would be a long shot and since my teammate Barry had the lead, I wasn't going to battle him for the title.

In the middle of qualy, I disco'd giving me flashbacks of the first two races of the season where I disco'd as well but during the race. I rejoined with less than a minute to go and fortunately had my outlap time counted so I didn't have to start behind the GT field. I was, however, in the back of all of the prototypes in P14 overall.

My only hope of a decent finish at this point was to run a strategy that kept my time in the pits to a minimum hoping to outlast everyone.

On the pace lap, a P-1 car spun off-track in the bus stop chicane and everyone stopped to let him back in. I didn't think people would actually stop and I plowed into the back of Andrew wrecking my front aero.

After the first round of stops, it looked as if my strategy wasn't working out. I didn't gain on anyone in the P1 field and came out in the back of the P-1 pack and I lost another spot on track. Shortly after, both Michael and Barry DNF'd. I'm not sure what happened to Michael. Barry lost the motor absolutely gutting him.

Both of their DNF's changed the complextion of the race for me. We were fighting Michael for the team title and I was now in a position to pick up the driver's title due to Barry's demise. The team title was secure no matter where Matthew wound up. To have any shot at the driver's title, I had to have at least three cars between myself and where Barry would finish.

At this stage, I only had one car between Barry and myself. The rest of the P-1 field were way up the road. The next closest position was almost 30s up the road. I ran through my 2nd and 3rd stints not gaining anything on the next position. I was resigned to take 2nd in the points at this stage and see Barry take the title.

I came in for my 3rd stop only to find Andrew getting serviced by my crew. I waited behind him losing 30 odd seconds. Anton pulled in behind me as well. It seems the 3 of us were using the same stall.

Just before my last stop, it seems that Omar and Evan had a disagreement about real estate. I passed Omar as he was re-entering the track. I passed Evan in the last round of stops gaining a huge advantage over him as my strategy finally paid off.

With less than 30mins to go, I was in position to take the points title. It was bittersweet knowing I was possibly taking it from my teammate. In the end, I finished on the podium from 14th at the start and I squeaked by Barry for the driver's title. Sorry mate.

Congrats to Matthew on the win and wicked pace! Congrats to Anton, RvS and Beef on the class wins.

Had real good time,I made a lot of mistakes though,I try'd this race for the length and like the Mod a lot,Except for the slow spinout thing. I think 2nd lap I came up on someone who was being careful or having a little trouble and its sooo stupid and so slow when the car spins, I feel so helpless just trying to ride out the spin. In race twice going into 1rst turn car ahead slowed real quick and real slow,So i go to outside so I don't tap him and clipped the rail where it has a little bulge,It grabs the car and spins you in opposite direction. OK that time but did the same thing awhile later,LOL. Pit,Fix keep going,The worst crash was going up the corkscrew(I forget the name right now) and Lost it somehow, I dont remember how or why right now but I did. Its like I'm saying,"I think I made it,I think I'm going to make it out of the way" and WHAM! Someone got me,Going backwards I was able to keep it on railing,Pit,Fix and keep going,I work back to 22-23 and going into First turn I did exact same when some one slowed and I guess my SPEED ADJUSTMENT was off today,To keep from tapping him I went leaned left and Dam rail jumped out and spun me again! I let it go backwards a little so couple cars coming could go through and coasting so slow,My WTF Corvette went OFF the end of the world! Big hole right about there,I switched to outside view and it floated like a leaf for quite awhile then the Game said thats enough and closed on me.13 more minutes and I would have finished! LOL,I had fun and congrats to podium and all who finished.

Good race all congrats Champions Garret, Joao, Johnny the P1 and GT2 champs were so close good stuff!! Also congrats to race winners Matthew, Anton, and the roadbeef :)

My race looked to be a tough one, I for whatever reason can not get a handle on qualifying a GT1 and Steve had me by nearly a second in Q.

In race we had similar pace and I followed closely for maybe the first half of fuel. Steves setup was a bit different from mine and my 5th gear through Eau Rouge helped me get a good draft on Steve to get past down to the entry of Les Combos. We battled no more than 8/10ths away from each other for the rest of the stint and it looked like it would be another classic matchup down to the flag. Unfortunately Steve had a pitstall where a P2 was already sitting, this set him back 13 seconds. Then on next pit he had troubles again dropping him back further. Good thing as on my supposed to be last stop I only got 40 liters of fuel and had to drive around and put another 50 in. Got a lucky one over Steve we should have more fun next season :)

Good racing all very fun season and I look forward to next season even though I do not think I will be able to attend all of the events.

Thank you to Matt and Brian for making this possible obviously this went very well!!