Everyone was very nice, but certainly None of the Mazda staff and the other drivers were looking at me or Rich as seriously as the rest of the drivers. It was pretty hilarious at the event though. It was raining really really bad, and fortunately from the very first session, I managed to put a big margin between me and the other guys in difficult conditions and when I came off the track, Andrew Carbonell (Pro driver for Mazda and data coach) looked at me, shook his head, laughed and said "this is crazy". It was cool to see him in total disbelief. He then showed me the data and I was less than 5/10ths off of his benchmark time. It wasn't something I expected really and the traditional drivers were really just flabbergasted.
After that, especially the next day, I had all of the drivers very interested in me and iRacing and the younger guys especially. One of the older champions came up to me and said that it was a big surprise to him and he wanted me to win, so that was pretty cool and Mark Drennan (who no lie, is a GPL sim-driver and knows Huttu and everyone) was very respectful and we had a great time off track w/ loads of respect for one another. I lost my advantage as the track dryed and was still trying to learn the finer points of the tires and car and Drennan was charging and consistent fast so it was a really close battle in the end and a lot of fun