I was watching the Moto GP race on TV during practice, but I took a few minutes to try to make a timed lap, but I missed my braking point in T9, cut the track, got warned, so I escaped.
Q : 17th and last
On the grid however, I was 16th (the post above), good start for me, I was 11th in T1, then Tasker did a mistake, I was P10 in the end of Lap 1, I realised that since fuel is a problem in this race (the full tank won't the full distance in a "normal" pace, actually, the majority of the drivers will make a pit stop in both races) and since I was not 100% sure to get the car in front of me but I was quite confident that the cars behind me would stay behind, I simply decided to slow down and save as much fuel as possible.
During the next laps, as some drivers retired and other pitted, I slowly gained positions, and in lap 13 (I think), when Degreef and Larose pitted, I was actually 1st, but of course, they was much much faster than me so I let pass Degreef and tried to defend to Larose (as a good fellow tbr that I am
), but of course Larose would also overtake me in almost no time.
In the last lap I was a bit afraid because I was not sure I would finish the race, I finally ran out of fuel in the very last meters of the last lap, but I had enough speed to cross the finish line in 3rd position.
R1 : 3rd
So in race 2, I was starting 6th, and as my strategy for race 1 worked well, I decided to do the same in race 2.However, I was in the middle of the pack, so the start was a bit more difficult, I mean, not that I did a bad start or something, but I had to battle in the very first turns, actually, almost until the end of S1 (Turn 7), then I was behind and could start to apply my saving-fuel strategy, so it was pretty much the same story, the guys retiring, the guys pitting, me gaining positions, and once again, after Degreef's pit stop, I was first, but Löffler who did a different strategy (pitting in early-race rather than mid/late-race) was a few seconds behind me, and on the last lap I did a little mistake (due certainly to a combination of certain elements which led to a certain pressure I guess
) and he was able to overtake me, I could follow him but not really try to fight back since I was also checking the clock, all this would lead in the strangest finish I ever saw in my short sim-racing career, in the last straight, Degreef was just behind me, Löffler just in front, and Löffler slowed down to be sure to cross the line after the time was over, but Degreef accelerated and finally won the race as he crossed the line just after the clock went 0:00.
Of course as R2 lasted one less lap than R1, I had still ~6 or 5 litres left when crossing the line (I haven't looked, but I think it was around that quantity). Actually, as the "initial gap" made at start between me and the leaders was much smaller than in R1 (I started last of R1), I think that I had actually a chance to win this race, especially knowing the event of the very last lap, but I didn't -_- bah, that was a tbr 1-2-3 anyway.
R2 : 3rd
So, I would say this was an interesting experience since it was the first time, at least in my sim-racing career, if not, since I started to play video games, that I had to really watch carefully the fuel... of course the driving part was not really the hardest one (some would even say that could be possibly boring), however, I had obviously to change my style, change gears at 5,5krpm, use the higher gear in turns when possible etc. And I'm glad to have finished both races without any pit stop. Finally I would say that IMHO, this was the best strategy for these races, I haven't calculated precisely the time lost on track or the time that I would lost doing a pit stop, but the fact that drivers who were much faster than me (My PB was 2:05.7) finished behind me after being way in front of me before their respective pit stop tends to prove that, don't forget these were 30 minute races, and doing a pit-stop with refuelling is therefore, very costly in terms of time, also, just after R1, I saw the results, saw the people, and considering the fact I would possibly had a 2:06 race pace, I would have finished 9th or maybe 8th of Race 1 if I had raced normally (or not finish at all as I would have done more battles on track)...
However, I must admit I can't see all drivers racing slowly, doing 2:08 lap times and all the stuff, just to be sure to not make any pit stop, also, don't forget that I haven't won any of the races, and as I said, there were some guys way faster than me who possibly deserved to finish in front of me.
About the car, as everybody knows, the fuel consumption is a problem, 6,5L per lap in a normal pace in a 5km track is quite too much, especially if you want to make 80 minutes races (as I read somewhere in the RD Camaro Cup forum), also, despite my granny-pace, my tyres were quite worn after 30 minutes (but that's more because I'm a real tyre killer, so my feedback is not as worthy as could be Andreas' or Gregory's I think), I would not be against harder tyres... In the current situation, we would have to change our tyres twice for a 80 minutes race (still from the hypotetical post I read somewhere in the Q&A thread).
I can't tell much about engine due to my slow pace (especially since I haven't paid attention to that point)... And about the handling, the default setup is very understeery, actually I was more expecting something near from the old-gen Camaro cup that we have in STCC, but I'm OK with that.
Edit : And I forgot, thanks RD, Yves and Gunthar for the race night, that was great
Edit 2 : I also forgot the about the tyres, they were a bit cold, and actually, the front tyres were warmer than the rear tyres (strange for a RWD isn't it ?), that was quite blatant in the default setup, and less present in the setup I used (thanks Andreas
)
