PC AOR GT3 S10 - PC Tier 2 - Round 9 - Sugo - 15.08.18 @8PM UK time

[S4Howie]

ROUND 9 - Sugo​

Event Information:
● Date: Wednesday August 15th 2018
● Lobby opens: 7:45pm (UK time)
● Event starts: 8:00pm (UK time)
● Event format:
- Qualifying: 10 minutes
- Race: 45 laps (44+1)

● Weather Conditions:
For weather conditions and progression, please visit the Weather Centre.

● In-game time-of-day information:
- Qualifying time: 7 October - 18:00 (PM)
- Race start time: 7 October - 19:00 (PM)

Manual Rolling Start Information:
● Formation Point:

● Acceleration Zone:

If you are unsure about the Manual Rolling Start procedure, please read the instructions and watch the explanatory video.

Notices:
● Rules & regulations: Before you take to the track in the league race, make sure you are fully aware of the rules and regulations of the leagues. As a driver in our leagues, you are required to do your very best to ensure clean and fair racing at all times.
● No-shows: If you are unable to attend the race, please inform the League Coordinator and leave a post in this thread BEFORE the race takes place. Note the rules of participation here.
● Lobby settings: If you are unsure about the rest of the lobby settings that will be used, look here.
● Save your replay: As a means of helping the stewards with any enquiries, all drivers are required to save their race replays and keep it stored for at least one week after the race has taken place. If you are involved in an incident or see something during the race that you feel needs to be investigated, you are free to make a stewards enquiry - however if enquiries are submitted without replay or race footage available, it is likely we can't do anything.

Useful Links:
● League Rules
● League Information
● Race Calendar

Informed No Shows:
@Rickybrosh
@WMDRMartin
@borates

 

[S4Howie]

Welcome to Murata, Japan!

Sportsland Sugo is one of Japans main motorsport venues. The small town of Murata, part of the Miyagi Prefecture has a rich history.

Make sure to visit the regions hot springs, stop by the Aoba castle or enjoy the breathtaking scenery of the Matsuhima islands.
With our race happening in August, take part in the Tanabata star festival, a colourful celebration which tradition can be traced back to the Chinese Qixi festival. It celebrates the meeting of Orihime and Hikoboshi, represented by Vega and Altair. The legend says, these lovers were separated by the milky way and they are only permitted to meet once each year.

Sadly, the area was devastated in the 2011 magnitude 9 earthquake and tsunami, resulting in the meltdown at Fukushima and the tragic loss of countless lifes.

With reconstruction and recovery ongoing, we are visiting Sportsland Sugo for a night of racing.

Qualifying will be under heavy clouds, with rain expected to last the entire race.

 

[Rickybrosh]

Hopefully my leg doesnt hurt to much tonight and i can make it, after that im going on a roadtrip for 2 weeks so will miss the 2 races after that. And yeah im going to F1 in Belgium

 

[Insulaventus]

Im set up at my new place at last Will commentate tonight

 

[Newy656]

After being away for the last four days I've only managed about 20mins practice for this race, with these tricky conditions..... I may skip quali & start at the back to not be in anybodys way!

 

[Shooter80]

I've done like 4 laps in the dry here since February, I'll see you in the back @Newy656

 

[Rickybrosh]

My leg hurts to much will be watching the stream intead. Good luck all

 

[mikkisbee]

Sorry guys had to retire, some severe fps drop caused by the weather-lighting combination… Nearly unplayble when someone was behind and the headlights glared from the track. Never had such issue... Retired when the lead pack was starting to lap me, didn't want to ruin anyones race.

 

[TicklishPicklewickle]

Tfw you finally got the spare time to put hours after hours into perfecting your setup. Come race day, it's absolutely shite. Couldn't keep it on the track, straight up driftshow. I know people tell me to make my own setup rather than snatch other's but why would I do that when I can take another guy's setup with the click of a button and then adjust the tyre pressure a bit and that is way faster than one I create on my own? I was 2 seconds down in the race vs practice. I know it can't be compared but 2 secs are quite a large difference..
Anyways rant over, it's probably just due to a lack of experience with creating setups. Hopefully I'll do a little better next time, which won't take much effort, really

 

[Fistopheles]

Alrighty-o, I had a few Audio issues. The game was weird today, put my audio up too high so it's probably gonna be hard to hear @Insulaventus in the beginning stages of the race. I think we kinda fixed it later on, so there's that.
ANYWAYS, that was great. Holy Guacamole Batman, so many good fights, also Congrats to @rciq , @dakuza and @Cleeuwn for first, second and third respectively. Also thanks @Oblit0r your defending has given us some great material to watch, the fights with @ShaggyDan, with @Gosku and @Newy656 were really awesome. I seriously don't know where to start. Also Great defending by @ShaggyDan from @Midweekcoma . If you can't tell, I'm a bit riled up from that. That was a joy to watch and commentate.

 

[Oblit0r]

Bad race for me, just didn't have any pace. I felt pretty fast in the dry on this track, but I was struggling to get into the 27s doing mainly 28s in the wet in practice. In the race I was doing 28s and 29s, losing a lot of time on braking and couldn't find grip coming out of the corners.
Tried to keep a couple of guys behind me driving defensively, but they were just faster than me and I knew sooner or later they would pass me and just pull away.

Was dreading this race, glad it's over

Congrats to @rciq @dakuza and @Cleeuwn for the podium spots!

Couple of defensive moves I'm not sure if it might have been blocking, especially one against @Newy656 in one of the final laps, that's why I gave you the position a couple of corners later. It was right after rciq lapped us. Sorry for that.

 

[Smolda]

After disastrous last race (where I spun a few times and had to restart the game after qualifying started, because my wheel stopped working) I wasn't expecting much from this one. Didn't have much time to practise, maybe 2 hours or so.
Qualyfiyng went bad, as I expected (almost no dry practise), but could be worse. Race was actually not that bad, I even gained one position on lap 3 I believe. Had some nice fights and didn't do any bigger mistake. I was even thinking about overtaking @Mattster in one of the final laps, but outbreaked myself on turn 4 and had to throw the car on grass to avoid a crash. Unfortunately, after the race I found out (from the stream) that I maybe pitted too late ... @S4Howie , @TicklishPicklewickle - I pitted at the end of my lap 39, if I'm not mistaken, but the leaders were already on lap 40. Do I get DQ?

 

[TicklishPicklewickle]

After disastrous last race (where I spun a few times and had to restart the game after qualifying started, because my wheel stopped working) I wasn't expecting much from this one. Didn't have much time to practise, maybe 2 hours or so.
Qualyfiyng went bad, as I expected (almost no dry practise), but could be worse. Race was actually not that bad, I even gained one position on lap 3 I believe. Had some nice fights and didn't do any bigger mistake. I was even thinking about overtaking @Mattster in one of the final laps, but outbreaked myself on turn 4 and had to throw the car on grass to avoid a crash. Unfortunately, after the race I found out (from the stream) that I maybe pitted too late ... @S4Howie , @TicklishPicklewickle - I pitted at the end of my lap 39, if I'm not mistaken, but the leaders were already on lap 40. Do I get DQ?

No you're good. Lap 40 was the last lap you could pit. When you pit on lap 40 you have 5 laps left to run (we count your out lap as well)

 

[dakuza]

Great race! Nice to have a mistake free race after the disasters at Brno and Hockenheim.

I had been very slow and inconsistent in the practice races so didn't expect to do well here even though I usually am decently fast in the rain. Made some drastic setup changes before the race to fix the pace quickly dropping after first laps. The changes payed off and totally eliminated my setup worries. The car was pretty slow in first but very fast in second and third sector. The game plan was to make sure not to give any opportunities in S1 and then pull away in S2 and S3.

Qualified 4th in a very tight grid, very happy with that. Only @rciq being significantly faster. Start was tough with my team mate @Lusti next to me. Had to be very careful to not crash both of us out. Still managed to squeeze past to 3rd before the chicane and started increasing the gap behind quickly. Battling 2 wide in the corners had given @Cleeuwn and @rciq in front a decent gap so I had my work cut out for me. At the start I had some VR head tracking stutters, but those fortunately disappeared once the pack spread out.

After slowly but surely closing the gap to @Cleeuwn he had an unfortunate spin and donated 2nd place to me with @rciq 3 seconds ahead. It seemed that @rciq was struggling a bit and I was able to get close enough to start thinking about an overtake when he made a slight mistake in the last turn. I was able to exploit the mistake and take the lead.

The tail of my M6 was the red flag @rciq had been waiting for as he no longer showed any sign of struggling but was all over the M6 pushing very hard. I had been very consistent when catching him but after the overtake I lost my rhythm started making small mistakes that eventually gave him the opportunity to make a great overtake into T1.

After pitting @marley 57 gave me a good scare being ahead of us both in 1st place. Not knowing if he had pitted I was afraid my 2nd place was gone. Eventually he pitted and I got my 2nd place back with about 5 seconds in both directions, allowing me to concentrate on doing clean laps and avoiding mistakes until the checkered flag.

Congrats to @rciq for the win and @Cleeuwn for 3rd. Thanks for @Insulaventus and @Fistopheles for the commentary, nice work even with the technical difficulties!

 

[Shooter80]

Was a pretty good result for me, which was sorely needed after two unforced mistakes in the last two races cost me tons of places.

Didn't have tons of time to practice leading up to the race, but somehow remembered it quite well from it being one of the Season 9 TT tracks. I already had a pretty reliable setup for the M6 in the wet, and just focused on running in the wet when I could get on. I refused to run any dry laps until the Tuesday prac race, and I qualified last. On race day I was all set for starting last again, but grabbed my Barcelona setup, stuck softs on it, did a handful of test laps and was just hoping not to embarrass myself too much.

Somehow I qualified 8th, still not sure how that happened, my first hot lap was almost 0.5sec faster than anything I'd managed earlier. So I just parked it up, knowing I wasn't going to better that, and had a chilled 5mins before the race. Was nice to find my Barcelona setup was useful for more than spinning headfirst into a wall and finishing 12th.

Start of the race went as usual, lost a place to the car behind, made it through clean (impressive driving by all) and found myself in a big pack of cars. I'd planning on pitting on lap 2 all week, expecting a bad starting position, but stuck to that regardless of being higher than I expected.

In the clean air, I managed to get good heat in my tyres, car felt nice, and my pace was good, but the pitlane was so short that it was only a few laps until I'd caught up with those at tail of the field. Being dead last and aiming for 6th - 7th, I had 10 cars to get ahead of. I think I overtook 3 on track before they stopped, 2 others when they had spins, and the remaining 4 I got while they were in the pits, and found myself running in 6th with @Lusti a few seconds ahead and less than 10 laps remaining.

My sole aim for this race was to not spin, as I have the last two races, and I was happy with 6th, so thankfully resisted the (most likely pointless) urge to try to push for an overtake on Lusti, and just brought it home, while aiming to stay close enough to profit from any mistakes he made (which he didn't).

It was probably the maximum result I could have had at this track, all things considered, and I think I've improved on some of the things that contributed to my recent spins, so I'm happy for sure.

Thanks to everyone for the clean start of the race, to @Smolda and @Oblit0r for some tough, fun, battles, to @S4Howie and @TicklishPicklewickle for organising and hosting, and to @Fistopheles and @Insulaventus for the great stream (lots of fun to watch, a job well done in my opinion, especially in spite of the technical problems you were facing).

Congrats of course to @rciq for a well earned win, @dakuza for making him earn it and for an impressive (but not surprising) 2nd place, to @Cleeuwn for rounding out the podium in spite of the incidents along the way, and to our new Championship leader @marley 57, only two races to go now...

I'm away from Friday till Tuesday night, so I'll not get much practice in but if I can't drive Watkins Glen with one of the setups I already have for the M6, then I really should be asking myself what the hell I've been doing for the last 1.8 seasons...should be fun

Cheers!

 

[marley 57]

Firstly big congrats @rciq , to finish first, with the AMG, in the rain, don't know how you managed that lol. Also @dakuza and @Cleeuwn , you both had great pace and fully deserved your podium positions. From where I was sitting it looked like you guys were having a tonne of fun out in front.

From my perspective, delighted to finish in p4, it was the best I could've hoped for. Qually was a bit of a disaster as my first run was invalidated, I then failed to allow enough space to the guy ahead so had to abort that. Finally posted a time but made too many mistakes.

The race itself was both terrifying and fun. Had a really good battle with @Lusti in his bimmer, initially I tried to push him hard but soon found out his car was fast in all the right places. So after being blinded by the spray, and taking a small trip into the sand I decided for the sake of survival, it was probably a more sensible option to let lusti dictate the pace. After 20 laps or so, lusti made a small mistake which allowed me to sneak past. After that it was all about managing the gap and not make any mistakes that would result in death. Man I hate the rain, but it was really satisfying to finish p4.

Thanks to @S4Howie and @TicklishPicklewickle for organizing this. And also thanks for your commentary @Insulaventus and @Fistopheles

 

[Newy656]

Quali 14th, about what I expected as that was the first dry run I did,
As for the race (apart from my finishing position) it was a fun race with plenty of battles, Thanks @Midweekcoma for giving me his quali & race setup just before the start. Great fun battling it out with @Gosku & then a little while later @Oblit0r, you drove a great defensive race & made it difficult for me to make a move. With @Shooter80 now catching us I decided to pit on lap 28
But couple of laps later my teammate @Midweekcoma caught up to the back of me, I knew he was faster so I decided to pull over slightly but I ended up going to far off track & spun it loosing position to @Gosku although this time I seemed to be struggling more for grip & he started to pull away.

In the closing laps I found myself in the fight with @Oblit0r again, I did manage to get passed this time... to only half spin it round T4 but Oblito0 had now were to go but into the side of me causing him to spin so I waited for him & let him through.

Couple of defensive moves I'm not sure if it might have been blocking, especially one against @Newy656 in one of the final laps, that's why I gave you the position a couple of corners later. It was right after rciq lapped us. Sorry for that.

Was a close one but no worries all cool mate.

Congrats to the podium guys @rciq @dakuza & @Cleeuwn
& another fine commentary job by @Insulaventus and @Fistopheles

 

[Gosku]

Super fun race!. Started race 10th had good start but had little contact and took it bit too carefully into t2 but slotted back to 10th and went on from there. For the first half of the race i was running behind @ShaggyDan and @Oblit0r and mostly trying to keep up with them while being tailed by @Smolda and @Newy656 there were couple times that i almost lost a place with closest one being inches from taking both me and @Newy656 out when i closed door way too late due to my rear stepping out. After shaggy made his move on oblitor i started to get close but didnt just have the speed for overtake. Lap 20 had slow slide into t1 and somehow just managed to hold it but that meant that i lost a place to newy. After spin i saw @Shooter80 3 seconds behind on relatives knowing he had pitted lap 2 i realized i had to get out of that pack and into clean air and lap 21 dived into pits.

I dont know if others did this but in the pits i decided swap new tires and go for charge knowing tire wear would be and issue later on the race and with these old tires i would be stuck behind everyone that had pitted before me like i was earlier in the race. After 15s stop i was way back and went on for full charge dropping laptimes to 1.27 from 1.28-1.29. i was bit scared that leaders behind me would catch me and stop my charge being 5s behind but my pace was very similiar to theirs and managed to keep myself unlapped. After 10 laps of time trial laps and trying to make up my slower pitstop it all started to happen. Lap 31 got place from newy spinning. Lap 36 catched back to oblitor again but regardless of his good defending lap 38 he finally made a little mistake running bit too wide and i made a move into p12. After that i saw the gap in front was 4 seconds and i knew i had the pace so i went on charge and on lap 40 @Smolda came out of the pits and made move next lap into t1. Next was @Mattster only 1s ahead so it was only matter of where i can pull the move so i ran 1 lap behind him looking for overtake and lap 43 made move into t1 having much more grip and taking inside as mattster slided bit wider. After making move i kept having the pace but ran wide on corner after the backstraight having 2 wheels on the grass and just hoping that the car doesnt spin lost like 2s but luckily managed to keep car straight and p10. After that i just cruised into finnish line for season best p10!

What a race losing concentration to even a second meant a spin and for me pushing for overtakes in the end and relaxing for a bit after making those and almost spinning from that just showed how on limit the track needed to be drived but that only made the race much more brilliant. As for result i think i had the pace to fight for couple positions higher but race like this i wouldnt trade even for a win. Again the consistency and good clean fights from everyone even with these tricky conditions is just amazing and @Fistopheles hope u got what u asked for after last race