USA MC: Laguna Seca

Had some traffic in qualifying but a lap or 2 on clear track was enough to secure the pole. Start didn't go well , too low revs and car needed some time to get the revs up again.

Chris took a monster start and he had the lead on T1. Didn't want to take any big risks and paced myself behind him , but then Chris had a spin in last turn and i inherited the lead.

From there on i tried to build a gap before tires wear out , but Matjaz kept the pressure on way past the half point.
Then the gap went up some more and i could take it easy on last laps , bringing the car home in 1st place... :).

Tough track to race ,happy to finish it in one piece and winning it was a nice bonus...

Congrats to Matjaz and Chris for the podium places , cya in next one.. ;)

-----
Samuel

Good race, congrats to the top.

Fun race. I got punted on lap 1...no hard feelings though CM, that was just my line to tap the brakes just before that corner and I can see in the replay that I was probably the only one who did that every lap so you probably didn't expect it at all.
I had only minor damage to rear wing but it didn't effect anything, began charging up the field. Passed a few and gained spots due to spinners.

Nice chase of BS then final laps with BB. I wanted to let you pass BB if you got right on my ass, because you are ahead of me in points, but you would catch up then fall back so I just kept it down.

Good race guys, very pleased with the finish!

Very sad event for me, couldn't get a handle on this track with these cars.

Got a decent start but a car ahead was slow and protecting his line and I had to back off a bit. Through T1 someone almost punted me costing me 2 positions. Then later into T4 I locked up and slid into the dirt and gave up a couple more positions. I think I was now back in 11th then I had another off a little later dropping me back to 16th.

Started driving better and made my way back to 12th where I ran into some eratic cars that made it very difficult to pass, but eventually I got by. Now I am in 10th and gaining on 9th when I lost it approaching the corkscrew, slid into the inside wall and said that's enough for me.

At this point in my racing I am this | | close to removing rFactor from my computer. I have not found anything that I can find a 'feel for' and am getting more and more frustrated with it. These Meganes are fun to race usually but the lack of feel is getting old.

Sorry to hear that Kent, I'm having very similar experience with F3 cars so I'm just staying away from them for quite some time now. Meganes feel great to me, a challenging car to drive, superb sound... perhaps lacking some feel which is crucial for the corkscrew but I still don't find it as bad as with F3 cars.

My race:

Qualified second behind Samuel and my start was not bad at all so I was quite surprised to see Chris blasting pass both of us on the outside. For the next two laps I followed Samuel and Chris and was waiting to pick up the pieces because I knew this track gives almost no chances to overtake. Then came a mistake from Chris in the last very slow corner and I took second. I tried to follow Samuel but I was very uncomfortable with the car when braking for the corkscrew and diving down the hill losing most of the time there. Still I did no major mistakes, so I was able to be in the striking distance for the whole race just in case of a mistake from the leader. But mistake never came and Samuel took a well deserved win.

Nice race and great racing from all!

Well, my first race with R2P went as planned --- Stay out of everyone's way and finish...

Laguna is a so-so track and I didn't find it very enjoyable as there is little margin for error. The curbing and sand made for a tense drive that never really allowed me to really go for it. Hope I let those car by cleanly and didn't get in anyone's way...looking forward to the next race...

Congrats to the podium.

Jumping straight from the F3 race to the Megane was probably NOT a good idea. I had done some time in the Megane and was lapping in the mid to low 27's night before. But it took some adjustments to go from F3 to these cars and I never put in anything close to the lap times of my prior night.

But it was a good race and I enjoyed it and kept the pressure on Chris but never really was able to mount an attack for 3rd.

Man, ugly race in the back! I had a hard time concentrating due to a cold, so I thought I'd go easy and cruise this one. I saw some rough driving in the first lap and was lucky to survive it. I was in 3rd for a number of laps until I flew off the track in turn 7. I think the Nyquil bottle was calling my name, lol. Got back on track in 11th and picked off a few spots. I then was making a pass on the straight and someone decided they didnt like being passed, so they tried to force me off the road, THANKS!!!! After that, I cought back up to Ryan in 6th and was having fun lapping with my teammate. He was ready to give me room before the Corkscrew to pass and I promptly did a tank slapper trying to set the car up for the pass, DOH!!!!

Oh well, there's always next race :)