Austria reports

[bullwinkle]

I did my pb in qual and still was only 12th you guys are getting way too fast. In race I was surprised by my finish when race started my wheel went very tight on me and was like driving a truck it was very hard to steer and wore me out. Some fast guys had issues and I was able to profit from it.
I was a fun race had some close calls but very pleased. My team mate helped me so much and we made some good points.

 

[J-P SImard]

First congratulations to Daniel for his first victory, he led the race handily and was clearly the fastest driver yesterday. A very nice hat trick.

For my part, I did not optimize in qualifying because my last lap was ruined. I followed Daniel throughout the first stint and I was able to keep pace but overtaking him was another story and I didn't have the speed.
When it stopped I decided to stay one more turn pushing as hard as possible to come out in front but I had no tire and I lost control at the first chicane to finish on the slope has right. I got back on the track with a damaged car and then stopped, but I came out just in front of Dj but 10 seconds from Daniel.

Then I pushed hard to catch up with Daniel and I was gaining some time, unfortunately in the Ridnt turn I went out a bit wide, hit the slide and I got tangled up in what seems to be a track bug. I was stuck but I was still struggling and I think I could have made it to the end but it would have been too long and anyway against the rules.

A frustrating DNF for me but the good side is that the fight for the championship is intact hoping that Ed is there next race to defend his chances. Dj and Dave are getting closer too, nothing is lost for them too.

Looking forward to seeing you on the track.

EDIT: I would like to apologize to Nikos for hitting him in qualifying. I was in a fast lap and I was improving and I didn't want to ease off but in the end I should have, you had as much right to do your turn as I did. Sorry.

 

[deecee52]

Qually
Went out and set a time the best time I could but then had to sit back and watch guys that are normally behind me push me down the order , they had a better understanding of how to drive this track than me and punished me accordingly .

Race
My strategy was all about looking after the tyres , this track seemed mega heavy on wear and was so easy to overdrive and make the wear worse

Had a OK start I felt a bump as someone hit me into turn 1 but no damage or drama occurred I then settled behind Ramon managed to get past him on the entry to the last corner but then he was crawling all over me for the next 2 laps .

I was trying not to punish the tyres whilst cold so was going slower through the corners , this allowed him to close on me on the next striaght , only some late braking kept him behind , once my tyres came in I managed to pull away and start to try and attack Dan who in turn was giving DJ a hard time , we stayed this way for a couple of laps then DJ made a rare mistake and went into the barriers on the last corner both Dan and I took advantage and went pass .

I now chased after Dan but as is always the case when I manage to pass DJ shock had set in , my brain became scrambled and I promptly threw myself at the scenery , I then spent valuable seconds practicing donuts on the grass .

Got going and went to my pitstop , middle stint went ok I was mostly on my own and I gradually moved up the field , after my second stop I again came out in clear air and set about lapping as quickly as I could , I eventually caught sight of Ramon and started chasing him down , from the amount of smoke coming of his tyres he was trying to hold me off , my own tyres were in good condition so I could push hard , he eventually made a mistake at the chicane which let me get a run on him , I managed to pass and pull away to a 3rd place finish .

Big congratulations to Dan Tani , if my memory is correct this is his maiden league win , so well done , but please dont do it again

 

[myself9]

I practiced a lot this week and came up with a setup which I thought would be quick and stable during the race. Quali/hotlap? Not so much.

I jumped into the server as soon as the practice session started so I could fine tune my tyre/fuel strategy. Made it though a couple of laps when my game froze HARD. Had to push the power button on my PC in order to turn off my machine. When I started it back up, rF2 was completely dead. The launcher would start, but when I hit the single or multiplayer button, it was a black screen of death which required a hard reboot.
Tried everything, uninstalled and reinstalled twice, unsubscribed to everything and deleted all mods. Got the game running with about 5 minutes remaining in quali. Not enough time to get everything configured before the race. Serious bummer.

I had a great time watching the race via Twitch and the LiveRacers stream. Especially since I got to watch Dan finally take his first victory here. He and I have been racing together and helping each other improve for decades, so I was thrilled to be able to watch it unfold.

 

[lamer of fortune]

Another DNF unfortunately. Training laps were fun and I thought to have found a good setup. Qualifying times of you and tyre wear told me a different story. Started on P11 or so I gained a few positions from general mayhem and could keep that until closing in on Teammate Ricky. That made me nervous as our in Race encounters were difficult in the past races. And so it happened again, after 2 laps I decided to go for it at the long straight, we tocuhed and ended in a spin. Sorry for the impatience which was completely unjustified by the following performance. I hope you came out unharmed . Decided to not have another go and then you went to see the pit. Following that my tyres started to melt away making a controlled driving almost impossible. Especially after the Schlossgold turn the rear was very hot and slippery. I did not do long enough stints in training to experience this. I did a few scenic detours with nice mountain view until my single pit stop. It felt better after that but then in the attempt to get out of Ramons way a mis understanding sent me into the rail where I got stuck. Still a lot more fun than the previous race but same result.

 

[Daniel Tani]

A HUGE and HEARTFELT THANK YOU to Shannon Flynn. His expertise and insight made a fairly quick car an outstandingly fast and stable car. Without Shannon this win, my first here at SR4L, would not have been even remotely achievable.

I did make one ( I usually make several ) huge and costly mistake that threw a win into the bin but luck intervened and handed it back to me.

 

[DJCruicky]

You did well Daniel T, well done. I crashed in that same place too on lap 11, had some damage after that.

Dan Bayford was very quick at this track too, well done to him. Had a nice battle with him the first third of the race. His fight came to a stop after he had a longer pitstop than me. Think if DanB had have had a quick pitstop think he could have overtaken JPS as JPS had a spin just before. Then DanB got tangled up with a backmarker, so bad luck for him.

Me, found myself in the lead. Ok, only because everyone else had problems . JPS stuck in a fence, DeeCee doing doughnuts on the grass . Was doing very well. At one point I was 5 seconds ahead of Daniel T, but then had some bad luck with a backmarker and lost half of that gap, grrr. Daniel was catching me slowly for a number of laps but I found some more speed and I started pulling away from him .

Not many laps to go I could almost smell the victory champagne. Could this be my first win of the season? Nope, as Daniel says above "luck intervened" for him, as I got blocked very very badly by a backmarker, I was on the grass. I saw my win drive passed me. Finished the race a second behind Daniel.

Shame, but 2nd is very good. Bitter sweet feeling.
CU all next time.