Endurance Championship - R6: Algarve - 22nd July 2018 (3 Viewers)

[Zemke]

I'm at work again this weekend, but was watching your stream @Battenberg. Looked like you were having a hell of a time with that squirelly McLaren!

 

[Nighttiger]

Sadly I had to retire from the race and I am extremely gutted. My new McLaren Rim started giving major issues with shifting during qualifying and then in the race. Sometime it didn't shift and sometimes it shifted double (down or up so from 3 to 1 or the other way around) which created some very dangerous situation. Around 30% of my shift clicks weren't registered so driving was becoming very very unpredictable. In the end it was so bad the only thing I could do was retire...

A little compilation of the dangerous and annoying situations it created when not shifting down or double shifting, listen to the engine sound and pay attention to the gear indicator:


I am really saddened because I had really good pace and was on guaranteed podium pace and perhaps even more, but every lap was dreadful and unpredictable. Really annoying because this is already the second McLaren rim I received, the first one was faulty as well .

 

[Mark]

Thanks for the race guys. Was good fun as always. Especially the few laps spent either in front or (mostly) behind @Nakor
Clean lapping from the Lmp cars too and always very well read. Cheers

 

[Cluck]

That was a lot of fun. I went into the race with almost zero preparation - I had literally only done a few laps in time-trial, to get a feel for the way the car handles the circuit. I had zero idea what tyre wear was going to be like and no idea how much fuel was going to be needed. Given that the track temp was quite high I just stuck the hard tyre on and went for it.

Lap 1 saw me caught out by @Satchel_Charge braking a little earlier than I was expecting for the double-right hander (just before S2 timing point) and resulted in a collision. I wasn't 100% sure I had hit him as I had received 0 damage but I erred on the side of caution (which turned out to be the correct decision, as I had hit him). We rejoined at the back of the LMP2 pack and set about trying to make up for lost time.

By the time the first pit stop came along I had to start doing some mental maths, whilst racing, whilst also adjusting the pit strategy to compensate. No new tyres, full fill-up at the next stop and 55L for the final stint. I finished the race with just over 3L of fuel left, so those mental calculations weren't far off!

Finished 4th, out of the 6 LMP2 cars and quite honestly I'm more than happy with that. A pity we lost @Nighttiger as another car in the fight would have been fun!

A great race to round out this season, albeit one I've barely taken part in for one reason or another. Certainly hoping we do something similar again

 

[ProjectPD]

F**k yeah!

Thanks to Nooonotreally (@Josh) for an awesome fight.

 

[Satchel_Charge]

Another good race, no worries at all @Cluck. I was definitely very cautious into the right hander, even too cautious, but I would do the same thing again as the tires were just not giving me confidence until we made it to lap 2 or 3. I think the fight at the front could have been a little more contentious had we survived the corner

@Col_McCoy sorry for the bump near the end of the race, I didn't try to be so aggressive but I was losing the rear of the car and could only point myself toward the inside curbing, yet slid into you anyway. Glad neither of us had damage.

@Puffpirat another finish just tenths of a second behind you! Congrats on the championship.

I had a blast this season and will already look forward to the next one!

 

[AndrexUK]

That was an enjoyable final race guys! Thanks you!

Rather quiet one for me, Q4 > R4
The guys ahead were just far to fast for me, so had no real hope of a podium unless something happened to one of them.
CrazyDog had a bad start, but since he was way too fast for me, I let him past, so that he could fight with the guys ahead.
He had a spin, and dropped behind me again, but caught back up in a couple of laps, so I let him through again.
And that was it. 1hr and 45 mins of solo driving (apart from the lapping ofc, of which was very clean and safe! Good Job boys!)

I'd checked the track temps, and it was rather close to switching to Softs for the final 30 mins, but the fuel would only take me to 1hr 20 mins in, and Running Softs before it was the best option, was not nice.
I did get a little confused, and thought there was a mandatory tire change, so switched to fresh hards during my stop, but it would only have added 16 secs to the stop, and I was about 25+ secs behind P3 in the end, so it wouldn't have made any difference.

All in all, a really enjoyable season! And even a win at LeMans in the Aston is a cheery on top

Thanks all to both RSR + PRD guys!
And of course to all the guys running the show!

Sounds like there could be another Endurance / multi-class season in the works! Which makes me as happy as a Fat kid in a sweet shop!

Thanks all!

 

[Col_McCoy]

Congratulations to the winners of the Championship (Puffi + PD)!

But even more congratulations to all of us showing this amazing level of racing. My first 45 minutes was a constant battle/train with @Nighttiger and we were not hanging about. To see the different positions we had to overtake the GT3 field and the amount of caution we sometimes exercised, yet how little caution we sometimes needed as the GT3 showed perfect awareness was just an amazing feeling. If I have time, I'll maybe make up an highlight video, but the racing with you guys made it really enjoyable since there was a lot of thrust.

A win in the end, sweetens the deal for me, having had the 'perfect' pit-stop strategy AND also able to execute it. @Satchel_Charge no worries for the tap, as you said, no damage at all and you appologised right away, so that's always nice to know that there was no intention.

On the one hand I have to say sorry to Puffi, but on the other hand, I thought it was going to be obvious that I would take that line into T1. Don't know if you 'falled' for the dummy, it was just a planned move before we came onto the straight and it felt it worked perfect for me. Yes it was a hard move, yes you had a lot more to loose, but as you noticed, I ran the softs, so it would have happened eventually ;-).

 

[Puffpirat]

Congrats @Col_McCoy on the win! Great strategy but also great pace. Well deserved! No worries about T1, on one hand I had already given up, as you saw on the straight because I didn't completely cover the inside, on the other hand I wanted to see if I can hang it around the outside. I couldn't, all good, robust but nice move When I saw you closing in and my pace dropping by 3-4s I knew it was only a matter of time.

I wanted to run the same strategy, knowing the track would be super cold in the end, but had to make a switch of plan because I made a mistake while lapping towards the end of my first stint. Lost it over a curb and stuffed the car into the wall.

After about 40s repair I rejoined in 6th and saw @Satchel_Charge leading by 25s. I thought that's the championship over. I could slowly close up to @Cluck and after a small mistake in T1 he let me go, thanks By the end of the second stint I was in P3 about 15s behind Satchel and 10s behind McCoy.

There I made the switch from going to soft to just taking fuel. I had to triple stint the tires but it was the only chance to get in the lead and take track position. It worked till about 10mins to the end where the hards just switched off, super bad traction and a loose rear as a consequence.

When McCoy overtook Satchel I realized championship was in sight, but race win probably gone. So it was, but super happy with the season overall, great battle with @Satchel_Charge, it was often very close between us!

Also congrats @ProjectPD on taking the GT3 Championship! Great finish between you and Nono!