rFR GP S12 - Race Reports

Nice report. Though you should've added that I lost my car only beucase I had a pucture

Then you should maybe read it again I mentioned that the sentence before, so it should be self-explanatory

Oh right. I must've missed that line. Next time write more clearly 

You should've stayed there at Bardzkie ... <3

Nice report. Though you should've added that Arek lost his car only because he is a garotinho juvenil.

USA GP II – Indianapolis – Season 12 – Round 11/16 (Sunday, 04.06.2017)

Bad luck of others by Hypothermia

Intro & Quali

After Round 10 at the Hungaroring (Top 5: Tony-Arek-Igor-Sexy-Peter) next stop was Indy, the second of three times we would race in the United States this season overall (third will be the Season-finale at Austin, Texas) and another new expieriance for me.

Gvidas shocked everyone by taking pole by more than 3 tenths of a second off Igor G,(+0,313 sec) in second position. Tony and Arek shared the 2^nd, Peter and me the 3^rd row. Gatis was 8^th alongside Kimmo and so was in front of Gustavo in 9^th – could be important for the Constructors-Championship ..


Race



There are some guys amongs us, who seem to have fucking bad luck just all the time. And Gvidas definitely is one of them. His stunning pole was wasted after two corners. The unlucky Lithuanian had one of his nearly 'typical' humble starts and Igor as well as Tony were through at turn 1. [1]

My own start was enough to get a glimpse of Gvidas' 3^rd place, but Peter went deep at the inside of turn 1 to take 4^th (pretty optimistic – so it all could've just been a karma-thingy ... ;P) Arek was about to take 5^th, but got blocked by the Jordan. Gvidas now got into further trouble - (you took quite a risk with the setup, didn't you?!) he hit the back of Tony's car slightly and then couldn't avoid contact with the barriers. [2] He was left without front wing and had to crawl back almost the entire lap.

Peter had good early pace and forced his way past Tony. A daring move and some persistence payed off. [3] Arek finally relegated me to 5^th and it soon became 6^th, when Edijs also found a way around me. [4] Gatis as well as Kimmo were both eager to pass, too. [5] But Edijs had to fight some setup-related issues with his car and was lacking topspeed (Renault-engine? ;P) and I retook 5^th at the beginning of lap 2. Gatis pulled out a great move and followed me through. [6]

So Igor led and had already built up quite a gap to Peter in 2^nd. Arek had found a good rhythm and was close behind the Jordan. He took 2^nd (race decider, heh?!) [7] and only one lap later Igor handed him the lead 'on a plate'. (Igor ._. again ..?! Boy ... :/) The Ukrainian spun at turn 5 and dropped to 7^th! [8] Championship-leader Tony seemed to struggle a bit and I could match his pace for the moment. In the other McLaren-Honda, Gustavo was stuck behind Edijs and Kimmo (one eye on the CC ... good! )

After some (partially pretty desperate) attempts to attack Tony I couldn't make any more progress towards him and a turbo-charged Igor (blood-pressure ok?!) became bigger and bigger in my mirrors. He was lucky not get hit by spinning Gatis, but not as lucky as Edijs in the Red Bull. When Gatis spun, he first hit Kimmo and then Gustavo. Edijs was in the right place at the right time and through into 6^th ahead of Gustavo and Michael, but Kimmo and Gatis fell to 9^th and 10^th.



In the meantime Tony had reeled in the Jordan and took 2^nd. Peter – as usual – tried everything to defend, but had to relinquish the position. [9] Then, on lap 18, he was the first of the 'front-runners' to pit for fuel and tires. Arek, Tony and Igor came in one lap later and my own stop on lap 20 saw me rejoin right behind Tony. In 4^th, as the McLaren had become undercut by Peter, who was back in 2^nd position. Then – on lap 21 - bad luck had its next entry: Tony hit the gras under braking for turn 5 and spun into the gravel. He dropped to 5^th behind Igor. I was in 3^rd now (does that smell like podium ..?).

I knew there could be a chance to make it a 'Ferrari 1-2', I just had to stay focused and put as much pressure on Peter I possible could. Just as I began to worry more about Igor coming from behind than catching Peter, the Brit made a mistake that probably cost him P2. [10] He was able to counter my first move and I got 'sandwiched' between the Jordan and the Williams. [11]

On the following lap he made another small mistake and that was enough for me to take the position at the end of the insanely long start-finish-straight. [12] He tried to come back once more with a harsh move [13], but then I finally got him on lap 34, after Igor also had fancied his chanes massively. [14]

Now he normally would've had 2 more laps (total 37) to strike back ... but due to a wrong setting on the server, the race was 2 laps short (35)! I still had my hands full with Igor, who tried hard. So desperate, that he hit my sidepod and spun. (oh when ...? xD) [15]



Finish & Résumé

In the end Arek could celebrate his 2^nd win of the season and I made the 1-2-finish actually happen! (our first 1-2?) Peter was close behind and scored a well deserved podium (sorry, but that invitation ..?! ). Igor wasted another possible podium-finish (enough pace for the win, I'd say!) and was 4^th in front of Tony, Vince (Wertenbach, Reserve), Gustavo – who had a stressful race, Gvidas – who had recovered to 8^th after his and early incident (started from pole!). Alaster held his Minardi in front of Aurimas (Brawn) – they fought to the line and completed the Top-10 with 9^th and 10^th. Michael scored some important points for Williams (against Red Bull), Gatis ended his race in 12^th and Jeffrey (Reserve) was 13^th.

A superb race for us as a team – 25 points gained on McLaren-Honda meant we would travel to Canada with the gap down to 14 points! With 5 races to go the title-defense seemed possible again!!


Sorry for the delay guys, I'm a bit busy those days. Thanks for reading!

Nice job and thanks for your time and effort, Andy!

Only now I noticed I was on top of the standings post or whatever it's called with my bike 

Outstanding as always, thank you for doing this!

Thanks always for this! It makes me want to race better!

Arek wrote:Only now I noticed I was on top of the standings post or whatever it's called with my bike 

!!!! Couldn't find you so far at Istanbul ...

Gatis Stalshans wrote:Outstanding as always, thank you for doing this!

Thanks a lot Gatis!

Alaster wrote:Thanks always for this! It makes me want to race better!

Thank you Alaster! Well, that's one hell of a compliment, thank you!!

Canada GP – Montreal – Season 12 – Round 12/16 (Sunday, 11.06.2017)

Hurt by Hypothermia

Intro & Quali

We had high hopes to carry the momentum from our rather 'unexpected' 1-2-finish at Indy over to the next North-America-GP in Canada. But a wish and the reality are often worlds apart – so the race turned out to be one of the 'tougher' ones.

In case of pace I was just in the middle of nowhere. Don't really know why my brakes didn't actually work like predicted, but I just didn't really have any confidence in the car. Quali proved that and saw me start from 10^th on the grid, as I even missed out on my fastest lap from practice by more than 3 tenths! Tony nailed it once more and secured his 9^th Pole-Position of the season (!!! - chapeau! This alone makes for ... 18 points?! Hell, that Championship would be so much tighter without those extra points! ) and had a very promising looking Igor alongside him on the front row. Arek at least got something positive out of Quali for Ferrari and started 3^rd. Including Canada, there were still 5 races to go, but to keep our hopes for the Constructors-Championship alive, every single result would be crucial.

Race



Tony kept his lead into turn 1, but the battle for 2^nd soon boiled over. Tom came from 4^th, passed Arek but then hit Igor and pushed him off the track. [1] (Wondering how he'd have reacted in Igor's place ...) The Ukranian dropped to 4^th behind Peter. I already got past Gvidas before turn 1, but he braked later than me, understeered right into my path and blocked me. That allowed Edijs, Gatis and Kimmo through, leaving me 11^th and with a lot of work. [?] (Nice 'Sainz-ish' squeezing there, Gatis )

Next one to get into troubles was Arek. When the leaders couldn't agree on who should go first, Peter suddenly moved slightly to the left under braking for the hairpin. Arek just hadn't any time to react, touched the Jordan and lost two positions to Vince (Wertenbach, Reserve) and Gustavo. The scrapping continued only one corner later, at the end of the long straight. [2] Gustavo, Igor and Vince were side by side and Gustavo decided to take the final chicane a bit more conservatively (and hell, it was lap 1, so being a bit more cautious on lap 1 is always the best, right? ) than the others. Arek was a bit surprised by the McLaren's 'early' deceleration, hit his rear end and got slowed down massively. That in turn caught Gvidas by surprise and the spinning Benetton finally also involved Kimmo into the accident. Main profiteer was Edijs, who survived the chaotic incident unharmed and was now 4^th behind leader Tony, Tom and Peter. Vince and Gustavo were 5^th and 6^th now, but Gustavo might have damaged his car slightly, when getting close with Arek, whose car also wasn't the fittest anymore. The Pole was still only 7^th – not what he'd in mind after starting 3^rd. Gvidas came out worst – he had to wait for the whole field to go by, before he could spin his car back round and rejoin the race. Igor pitted (well, I don't know why ... fuel issues? 'Igorus-strategy'?) on lap 1.

I also was damn lucky not to get hit by anyone there. A trip over the escape road brought me past Gatis, but I obviously had to give the position back. The Jordan then ran wide at turn 2 [3] and lifted me further up the order into 8^th and soon it was 7^th, when Vince made a mistake fighting Gustavo and Arek.

Approaching the hairpin on lap 2 I had to take some minor 'avoiding-action' in order not to get too close with my teammate's diffuser. (Hell, those brakes ...) Gatis was there and took advantage of my wide line. [4] The Jordan granted me some decent slipstream down to the last chicane and when I hit the corner better than him, I thought it was obvious that I'd try a move. He even left me the inside and I went for it – and I was prety surprised when he just shut the door and turned into me, while I was already more than alongside him. (Well ... mate ... I didn't just dive down your inside blindly, but I was already there before we even got to the braking-zone ... :-I). The harsh defensive-move left me voulnerable to an attack from Vince and Kimmo also slipped through. My blood-pressure had raised for a moment and I touched the grass before turn 3, ran wide and another 3 positions were lost to Juris, Michael and Logan (Johnson, Reserve). [5]

Well, it was only lap 3, but 13^th meant I couldn't afford any more incident or mistakes. First victim on my way back was Logan. I made my intentions clear at the hairpin and forced my way through (thanks for leaving space ) into 12^th. [6] It immidiately became 11^th, as Gustavo had spun at the last chicane while defending against Arek. Another unfortunate race for the Brazilian, who dropped to 15^th behind the recovering Gvidas – but obviously pretty good for our chances in the Constructors-Championship!



I now had Michael in front of me and the Williams proved quite challenging to pass. [7] First I had to fend off Logan, who fancied his chances after I had another 'moment' with my brakes at the hairpin and could only just avoid concat with Michael. [8] We finally made contact at turn 6, leaving me off track and behind Logan again. [9] (One could argue that it was optimistic to try a move there, right after the fast righthand-kink, but initially it looked like you'd cover the inside-line and leave some space on the outside. You didn't and instead came back to the racing line just before the braking ... sorry for it! I think I misjudged the situation a bit ...)

Logan then took 10^th from Michael, but took himself out of my way, when he touched Juris' Red Bull, spun and hit me. (Bizarre incident – my car was on 2 wheels for a few seconds, but luckily nothing serious happened to my car!) It came even better for me, as Michael spun his Williams, gifted me 10^th and fell to 16^th.

On lap 8 Juris' 9^th place was mine [10], so I now had Gatis' Jordan ahead again and Igor within my mirrors. Fast. Faster than me. I let him past and hoped he would start to fight and maybe tangle with Gatis and so maybe help me to get closer - or even past Gatis (or both ... :-P). 1 lap later Igor attacked and overtook Gatis – who fought bravely and fair ... and didn't make it easy for the Williams. [11, 12, 13]

I was now right behind the Jordan, but once again my brakes didn't work at their best and I hit the rear end of Gatis' car under .. 'braking' (Big Sorry for that! Was my fault.) for the hairpin. Finally he handed P9 over without a fight. Gatis made a mistake at turn 3 (actually the same mistake I also made earlier .. braking on the grass, pretty uncool there), allowing me, Gustavo, Alaster and Logan through.

The first pitstops were on their way and I moved up into 3^rd position before my one and only stop on lap 20. At the front everything had looked like a 'Tony-runs-away-with-it'-race, but Tom and Peter seemed to be lighter and reeled him in quickly. On lap 4 Tony had to relinquish his lead to Tom and Peter was still in his mirrors. But the hornet had to wait until lap 9 to sting – Tony made a small mistake at turn 9 and Peter went for it.

Tom now began to build up a small gap and the two behind were now joined by Edijs, who had a great race in the Red Bull (great race, despite the 'scene'! ) and Vince also caught them slowly. Lap 14 should change the whole battle in a lasting way. Tony 'hounded' Peter into a mistake and retook 2^nd. Edijs also fancied his chances and made use of the inside line at the hairpin. But at the exit he cut over to the left slightly and hit Peter, who still was there. The Jordan was sent into the wall and lost his front wing (and probably also wasted your race-strategy, hm? :/). With all the pitstops out of the way things began to take shape. Tony had delayed his stop until lap 22 and took the lead comfortably in front of Tom, who had come in early on lap 16. Igor had been 2^nd, but he decided to pit for a third (!) time and came out just in front of me and there was a 4-car-battle for 2^nd between Tom, Edijs, Arek and Vince. Peter tried to catch the pack and Igor and me also weren't too far behind. Vince took himself out of the game with brake-failure and Igor spun to hand me 6^th. [14, 15]



Finish & Résumé

I had come out in 8^th after my pitstop, was now 6^th and slowly caught those guys in front of me. But in the end I was running out of laps. One lap longer and I could've mounted an attack on Peter and Edijs. Tony won comfortably, Tom was 2^nd and Arek could at least secure a podium-finish for the team. After the race I was given 5^th place, as Edijs got a time-penalty for his incident with Peter (4^th). Igor and Gustavo – after insanely enervating races – were 6^th and 7^th (Yeah, not too many points for McLaren-Honda ... that's good! ), Alaster drove his Minardi into the Top-10 for the 3^rd time in succession, Gatis might have hoped for more, but was 10^th in the end. Michael completed the result in 11^th.


After the big high at Indy – with first and second place for Ferrari – Canada was tough. I didn't feel very good in the car this time - the brakes, as I mentioned. Tony now lead the Drivers-standings by 63 points and McLaren-Honda increased the gap to 23 points. So it might have been a little damper to our CC-aspirations, but it could've come worse!


Thanks for reading, see ya at Baku (.. Valencia .. )

Nice report