W-GT3: Enna Pergusa

Not only had I not done a proper sportscar race on gtr2 for ages, I havent raced at Enna for a year or done a wet race in that time. I'd completely not seen the Variable weather so was very surprised to be racing in a thunderstorm for 90mins on basically a dry setup.
Qualified 8th, thats respectable I felt. And at the start held that place, couple of people going off and I was 6th for a while before a few little errors of my own running wide and I think I dropped to 9th. Was getting too much oversteer for the conditions so was being very hesistant and slow on the throttle.
I havent done a pitstop in gtr2 for donkeys years either so they took ages as I forgot to stop the 'repair' when i had no damage that effected the handling, and also forgot to press enter on the clipboard :( lol, so sat there for an extra 20secs. Did a 2 stopper and as I got the feel of car, track and conditions pushed harder and was upto 4th, then after my final stop back to 8th. As others pitted I was back to 5th with Tim breathing down my neck for the whole stint somewhere from 5-1s behind all the time meaning any mistake and he would be through. Except for Darren at this stage of the race I think Tim and myself were the fastest cars for awhile, pushing each other on we took 50secs out of Joao in that stint lapping about 4s a lap faster then him. Id had a good clean race with no major errors, until the penultimate lap! Id caught Joao and was looking for a way past as he was much slower, into the back chicane he moved to the left and kept his speed so I couldnt tell at all if he was letting me past or taking a defensive line, anyway it put me off enough to clip the tyres and smash myself up some which put me back into Tims clutches. My handling was now crap and in the first chicane I went off and Tim nipped past on the final lap whilst Joao went through the pits. Tried hard to keep up with Tim and saw him go off at the chicane and take the escape road, it was one of those moments where your so busy watching the car infront fearing he's having an accident that youll have to avoid and I outbraked myself just enough to catch and smash the tyres again! 88mins with no scratches and then twice in 2 laps I whack the tyres with silly mistakes! Crawled back to the finish with a puncture but Joao had re-caught and passed me just before the line. With the 3rd fastest race lap I'm gutted to lose 4th in the final minutes, but it was a great race and Darren... what a drive! =)

The rain made the race interesting. Those chicanes are dangerous enough in any conditions. Darren drove a faultless race to a well deserved victory meanwhile I managed to stay safe.

Early on I was pressured by Toni Talvitie until he made some mistakes and gave me enough breathing space to concentrate on my own race. I settled into a good rhythm that brought me safely home in 2nd.

The drying track caused my tyres to overheat at the end and when Darren caught me on the final lap, I was very happy to let him go by and lap me to save myself having to complete another lap. After concentrating hard for 90mins I was pleased to see the end.

Perfect day for me, after some bad results over the weekend it was a nice start to this week. Before the race I was struggling to get the Viper to make a 1 stop on the fuel, I thought maybe 54 laps if it was dry so I had to make some changes. It still felt good even when I got on the server and tried it on a damp track and the conditions would help with the fuel situation too so I stuck with it.
Qualified on slicks as the track was just damp to begin with and those slicks seem to handle even the wet with no problem. When it came to race though, there were reflections in the track so I knew it had to be full wets.
Got a good start out of the final turn and never looked back, I was careful and didn't make any errors until the end when I caught Roger. The rain had slowed and my front left was starting to get hot and I took a bad line through the first chicane and had a little spin. Took it easier after that although the grip levels were improving all the time. Not easy to finish a 90 minute wet race on this dangerous track so grats to all the finishers.

Well, what a fun race.

I ended up starting 12th after a crash in qualifying at the chicane in Roger's picture.

I got off to a good start, spent the first few laps seeing where the grip was and just trying to keep the damn thing in a straight line. I had a couple of moments, almost hitting the tyres then BANG, ended up smacking them and crippling my car. Got back to the pits, decided just to fix my aero and not my suspension (95secs extra would have been a race ender). The car felt fine after that then I came in around lap 25 for my final stop, took on new tyres and a full tank of fuel. Somehow managed to lap 3secs a lap quicker than my first stint until the end of the race.

I was gaining and losing time to Mark all the time and when the track dried out I decided to take it steady. My front left was hitting 130C+, didnt want to get a puncture so close to the end. Coming out of the final turn on the penultimate lap I saw Joao in the pits, great, 5th place. Then Mark ran off over the grass at T1 and I nipped into 4th, I couldnt believe my luck.

Really happy with 4th after starting 12th in such awful conditions. Grats to the podium and all who finished.

I am not a fan of Enna, the rain made it even worse. I did have some interesting "battles' though. Basically just trading mistakes with people around me to switch positions :) Eventually someone crashed at the chicane with the tire barrel things and I got a bit distracted and joined them.

Glad that track is over so we can move to some fun ones. I am enjoying this mod and it should be fun trying to make the F430 hang with the more powerful cars at some better tracks.

tough race dammit. took ford in the end after quick
runs on dry circuit and it was so fun to drive.
on actual event it was raining so struggled a bit
( too stiff chassis ) but fun drive.
awsome cars, nice race, cu on next one.

Eek, that was all a bit of a nightmare race for me.

When the going gets tough, the cream rises to the top. Well done Darren!! An incredible performance!! Also well done to Roger and Toni.
Actually, well done all finishers! if you made it, you're OK!

I quali'd on the slicks, then put wets on for the race. Quickly fell back to 4th and 5th, made up one, then after a few laps thought the tyres were wrong. Obviously the track was just so wet, I made the error of thinking maybe I should go back to the slicks. Uh uh, mistake nr 1. After a few crap laps seeing me lose time in buckets, pitted again to put on wets. Immediately started putting in faster laps, but not good enough by far!
Passing in these conditions near impossible. Can't see brake maerkers, can't see brake lights, very difficult. Overshot a few chicanes. Mistakes, 2,3,4,5 etc.

And then, after my third stop to top up on fuel, few minutes to go before the race end, I conked the tyre barrier in chacane 1, hard. My last mistake. Engine dead, race over.

Nice racing guys!

Bummer Boyd - I saw you skidding around the place from time to time. It looked like you were having fun - up until your race ending chicane collision that is!

Those chicanes are lethal. Even if you try to take it easy they can catch you out. I nearly ended my race about 3/4 distance. Toni did something and dropped way back so I slowed down a bit to try and avoid any bad mistakes myself. That upset my rhythm and I messed up the entry into chicane 1. I must have missed the tyres on the left by 1mm. I really thought I had done it. I don't know how Darren kept up such a good pace for the whole race. That was really impressive.

Is there a replay to download for this race anywhere or does anyone have one they can pass on to me? thx mjwicks(at)hotmail(dot)com

For me its a faster race lol, one good lap in qualy 9° and i load the bad setup for the race and i have more difficulties with cold tire to save the car on the tarmac.

And finally i lost brakes at the chicane at the beginning and fly away the track at 460 km/h lol.

Cya next race all.