AC GT3 @ Paul Ricard - Sunday 24th July 2022

[RasmusP]

Welcome Thom. I found it straightforward enough to learn once you picture the 'M' shaped section after big straights.

Pm sent

That section is as difficult to drive as it is to pronounce, lol.
Just checked what you meant by "M" - shaped and then saw the corner names...
Double droite de Beausset into Courbe de Garlaban... I mean what?!

 

[Interslice]

That section is as difficult to drive as it is to pronounce, lol.
Just checked what you meant by "M" - shaped and then saw the corner names...
Double droite de Beausset into Courbe de Garlaban... I mean what?!

Ye, I wasn't going there with the names!

 

[Aksu]

Only 7 racers

 

[Alfred Wayne]

if it's not too late, I'd take a seat in the Lambo

I'll probably regret it as each corner here seems like a new unsolvable challenge , but it's 101 degrees out, so nothing better to do than sit in the AC and race

 

[JoelK]

Hopefully there's some late signees, I'm for the race even though it would be a small field.

(Call me weird but I really enjoy driving this track )

 

[Interslice]

if it's not too late, I'd take a seat in the Lambo

I'll probably regret it as each corner here seems like a new unsolvable challenge , but it's 101 degrees out, so nothing better to do than sit in the AC and race

You're in Robert!

 

[Interslice]

Hopefully there's some late signees, I'm for the race even though it would be a small field.

(Call me weird but I really enjoy driving this track )

Same ye, I think it a nice track, a poor mans Monza! A bit like an unfinished mod in terms of track side features, but between the white lines it's pretty good

I will finalise the server in 2 hours or so and leave some spare cars, so still time for some late joiners.

 

[Alfred Wayne]

Thanks Brian! Do I need a new password, or is it the usual Sunday password?

Also just to confirm, because I'm converting 24hr cest to 12hr est everything starts in just under 2 hrs right with a 20min practice?

 

[Interslice]

Thanks Brian! Do I need a new password, or is it the usual Sunday password?

Also just to confirm, because I'm converting 24hr cest to 12hr est everything starts in just under 2 hrs right with a 20min practice?

Hi Rob. I have the server fired up already. Qualy will start in just under an hour.

 

[HF2000]

30 degrees celsius in my Nissan! I've taken some measures!

 

[pcmoreno]

https://simresults.net/220724-fT2

 

[Chris Down]

Congrats on the win @JoelK! A very enjoyable race, constantly back and forth. Probably the closest race I can remember, quite something to come back to

Really enjoyable to have a track that is technical enough to have so many different lines with cars with very different strengths, made it a really interesting battling back and forth.

I never managed to get away from Joel who had me in his sights with the godzilla in the first stint. After about 20 minutes he overtook me and I knew after a few laps of trying to get past that I had to undercut to even have a chance of getting back into the lead.

The undercut worked nicely (I must pay those Nissan mechanics for moving the pit box...) and I got out ahead again, and then it was another 25 minutes of sweating Joel did a really good race and managed to get past me again about 5 minutes towards the end. Very strong drive from him and really good job to manage the dead tyres at the end, well deserved.

I will be away for 3 weeks, but I'll definitely be back for more after that. Great to be back! Thanks @Interslice for organising.

My VR onboard:

 

[Kek700]

First of all I would like to apologize to every unfortunate soul that came across me in this race.
I was just being a bit bloody minded, unfortunately as I got in Hans way I had to repeat it with every one else, if for nothing more than to be fair.

just to be 100% correct I did let Aki by, I decided he was not in
my racing group, and saw no point in holding him up.

I nearly got a reasonable place but on the last corner of the penultimate lap, it suddenly became a bridge to far.
There were three corners that really clobbered the car with no tread on its tyres, also I was initially out braked, so I got around that by running a lot of rear brake bias, as the rears were green and up to temperature, the front were very blue.
Well done podiums, they seemed to be having a good race, they should thank their lucky stars they never came across me in this race.

 

[Interslice]

I had a terrible start, been a while since I lambo'd it and didn't realise first would bog down so bad. Luckily it worked out ok as a crash held up 3 or 4 cars in front. Han, now in P3, messed up the last corner and I could esacpe with the fresh tyres. Lambo slowed a bit into the second half of the stint so it was nice to get some fresh air while those behind squabbled

Spent the rest of the first stint in P3, it went steady enough. Then ... I pulled a Joel reverse tactic in the pits and had a slowish out lap. This put @Aksu right on my tail rather than 4 - 5 seconds away... We had a nice little battle until he got past through Nord chicane. At the end of that lap I had a weird spin into the last corner. I was trying to get too good of an exit! Wheel seemed to stick between the upper and lower kerb when i went a bit wider than usual Sorry I couldn't keep you company for another few laps Aki!

Thanks to all for racing and congrats to @JoelK for the win and the podium finishers.

I'm off on holidays for a few weeks. Look forward to racing with you all again in August

 

[thom462]

Good qualy but crap race from my side. As I had not much practice at this track and no setup work done I was totally content only being 1.0 seconds behind pole time. Had a rocket start compared to the two Nissans beside me but unfortunately that led to a tricky situation as Joel, Aki and me were going nearly three wide approaching first corner. Aki braked for the inside, I was on the outside. I tried to stay to the very inside right on exit of first right-hander, lifted completetly and shifted down even to second gear so that we don't touch on exit but unfortunately as he he went to the apex I was still there and touched the back by just a fraction. Sorry @Aksu for the incident. Actually plan was not to fight for the position but to settle in in P4. Sent both of us into a spin. In race the back of the McLaren was so greasy, was always near to a spin which unfortuanetly happened losing even more time. At the end I somehow could catch up to the fighting guys in front and had at least some good last laps.
Congrats to podium and thx Brian for organizing, great pace by the way, no way I could have kept up with that race speed today.
cu next time

 

[JoelK]

Even though we already re-capped the race on discord, wanted write something aswell, as I'm still kinda pumped about it

(Btw, why no-one has ever told to me, that my mic is so loud and distorting on discord, noticed it on Chris' stream replay and couldn't stand it It's gettin' taken care of now

Race recap:

That was one hell of a race ! During practice I was thinking to Aki about not qualifying, 'cause of the small field to make it interesting and maybe race with guys which we don't get to race with.

Then at the end of the session, the nemesis with the Mclaren showed up and things got turned upside down. We both were like:

Didn't a perfect lap in qualy, could have maybe put it at pole, but just couldn't nail T1&T2. I was pretty sure Chris could run away with, since I pretty much always struggle at the starting 10minutes. This wasn't the case this time though !

The Nissan bogged down on the start and Thomas almost made the run for money on me aswell, but luckily managed to avoid the action at T1. After that it was just trying to push Chris into making a mistake, when I noticed I could stick with him.

And a lot of pushing was required to get to the first overtake attempt.
I had push like a mad man the whole first stint to stick with him to try to find a gap where I could stick my nose in. Eventually got the job done into the chicane, and after that managed to make a gap to only screw up the lead at the pits.

Second stint was basically exactly the same as the first one, once I managed get myself into the toe. Got the job done again in the same corner and about at the same point of the stint. After that it was just a mistake-free cruise to end managing the front left and trying make a bit of a gap to let myself breathe for a second.

This was one of the most intense races I've done. Not everytime you get to battle with a <1sec gap the whole race. Thanks for this one @Chris Down great to have you back !

And thanks for organising as always @Interslice !

 

[HF2000]

I had an enjoyable race yesterday with great battles with Ernie and Robert.
I could have finished 5th but contact with Ernie put me behind Thomas and Robert and when I had closed the gap I was a little too eager for an overtake and did a 'Leclerc'. After that I came one round short to get Ernie.

The pace was quite good. I could do 2.05s consistently where in practice I didn't even manage a low 2.06. So very happy with that.

Congrats to the podium and thanks all for joining and Brian for organizing.

I will take over from Brian during his well deserved holiday.

To start with next week on a track that we haven't done before except maybe be Aki and Joel in real life!

https://www.racedepartment.com/threads/gt3-botniaring-sunday-31st-july-2022.243369/

 

[Alfred Wayne]

I didn't expect much from this race as I thought I'd be off pace and didn't really like the track, but as it turns out I was closer than I wanted to be to the cars ahead and behind me and the track was a lot of fun to race on.

Found myself in front of Ernie for my first stint with just a second or two gap and managed to hold it just until about 30 min when I spun on the last hairpin, he got passed, and I decided to take that moment to pit.

Much to my and Hans surprise, Ernie decided to challenge himself and only took fuel, no tires . It threw a kink in my plans with the quicker stop, but as it turns out it kept him and Han fighting, which eventually allowed me to catch up , which then eventually allowed Thomas to catch up and steal the position Han, Ernie, and I were fighting for

Great racing all. And thanks Ernie for the free position at the end. As you've mentioned in another race thread, usually I'm the one giving you the spot

Congrats to the winners and finishers, see you all next race!

 

[Kek700]

just looked at the replay, what a race it was too, I defiantly had all the luck, poor Han had all my bad luck and his also in one race.
You had such a good pace too Han, just shows you that all the lap times are of little use if the racing gods are against you.
I only had one slip up on the last lap, so although it was a bugger, I took the pragmatic view that I should have retired from the race long ago.

 

[pcmoreno]

Nice race but I am so so much off pace here in this gt3 group. From the practice session I could tell I was up for another 1h practice session and it delivered. At least I managed to keep to the track without major incidents and slowly improved on my lap times throughout the day.

I really like GT3 cars but it's quire difficult to find races where the level is more towards my level

Really enjoyed Paul Ricard, I was a bit surprised by that.

Big thanks to the organizers and congrats to the podium