rF2 S397 GT3 @ Tor Poznan - Fri 22 Jan 2021

[Alex Townsend]

Just a little heads up, while I haven't actually tried it myself. GTE and GT3 Porsches might be quite different.

Yes! They definitely are. I've always felt the GTE Porker to be pretty much on rails at Le Mans or Sebring, very satisfying to drive. Also, I got a bit of a complex about Poznan and the Porsche too, so I loaded up and tried the 488 GT3 round there, night and day and I was well over 2 seconds faster to boot...

 

[Herlev]

GTE and GT3 Porsches might be quite different.

I believe the GT3 are rear-engined and the GTE are mid-engined, so very different indeed

 

[Magnus Dahlgren]

I guess a rather late race report, but nevertheless!

Got on the server late, navigating rF2 is a constant obstacle course and the way it handles skins. I think I manage something like three practice laps before switch to quali. Used quali as more of a practice session, so no real good time was set but I didn’t think I would either! Sadly a few people had connection dropouts/problems during the race start which luckily(for me) meant I could get more practice during all the reoccurring warm ups. Managed to quickly cobble up a rather comfy setup as the only thing familiar was the track(and a few drivers of course), but my mind was rather blank as I didn’t know what to expect from the race since the combo was new to me.

Got away cleanly and stayed out of trouble the first lap, found myself behind a group of cars I felt I really couldn’t catch, but then everybody was skidding off track like it was all the latest rave and I found my self in fifth(if I remember correctly).
Now, what I didn’t tell you is that all this time I had @Ole Marius Myrvold behind me the whole time putting on the pressure like crazy! My partner who was watching me drive, she found it very exhilarating!
So I guess we(or at least you Ole, hehe!) knows how to put on a thrilling show!
After an extended period of having a Norwegian breathing down my back the car decided it had had enough! My tyres were almost chewed up! So I was unable to defend the Corvette-disguised InteCity-train with not much time left. After I got demoted my brain started to hurt as it had looked at the time and fuel gauge and started doing math, maths that didn’t spell out great!
Before the race I had calculated rather roughly with my minimal practice time, however I forgot to consider the formation lap, a slight hiccup that I didn’t think would be much of a problem, I used around 1.1L for it(for the moment I can’t remember my starting fuel). Anyways, with just some minute and a half to go I had less fuel for one lap, hoping it would be the last I took a chance and went in to short shift mode, @Colin Peach or @Steve Le Gallez (I’m sorry that I can’t remember exactly who!) was some 3 sec behind me but on this short track and the fact that it looked like he was in a battle with another driver of his own I felt safe banging around one lap in 5th and 6th gear, but alas... The leader wanted to dance just a little bit more than to my liking, faced the music and went in for a splash and dash! Forgot which button I had mapped to change the amount so the crew happily topped up 20L and changed tyres without a care in the world!(I wish they sometimes had the ability to understand the context of a race and put two and two together) Stingy as a bee I gunned it, got overly eager and slightly confused by the markings in the pit and got off the limiter to early! Beep beep! Drive through!
Came out, two guys had already finished the race and were so drunk on success that they where partying in the middle of the road in T1, smashed into one of them, but my Italian steed proudly proceeded as if nothing had happened.
So last lap and I had a DT, I feared I would be DQ’ed serving it while crossing the chequered flag but that wasn’t an issue, just another small one which was a very slow BMW entering the pits, I’m sorry if I did anything wrong there(no contact but got alongside for a brief period) but whoever you were I was in a rushed state and just needed to get in the pits real bad! Cruised through the pits and came home in 9th I think.

I Thoroughly enjoyed that race even with my irritating mishaps!
Also the fact that people seemed to spin out rather easily, does anyone know if this track/surface is hard on tyres? When the time came and I couldn’t fend off Ole my tyres were yellow and halfway down to the rims... I know I didn’t have the most optimal setup for the track but the tyre wear did seem a bit excessive and I know this is a rather old track, did anyone else felt like the track just ate up your tyres too quickly ?

Cheers @Ole Marius Myrvold for arranging, hosting and the great battle you gave me! And also to everybody else who partook!
Let’s keep on making RD’s rF2 club races as great as they are!