USA nGTx: Hockenheim

Lessons to learn;

1) When you punt someone on lap-1, you must do a drive-thru or get a 1 lap penalty to your results

2) "if your car spins and remains on the racing surface facing any direction other then the exact racing direction, you are required to stay exactly where you are until all race traffic has passed."

Two 1-lap penalties were issued as a result of these lessons.

I suppose it was my turn to face the ugly medusa head of pit-stall sharing.

Well done Heinz, great opening laps Heinz and Barry! Barry you speared right off, that was interesting to watch!

Until Zhuhai...

First off, Congrats to Heinz for a very rough race.

Second: I want to apoligize to John M. for trying to make a stupid move in a stupid place. I should have sat back and waited for a better pass. I waited and tried to give you a good distance before racing again after that tap.

Third: I want to apolizige to Barry K. Two laps before the end I had caught up to Barry pretty quick since his tires were probably warn. Anyways, I passed on the inside and we tapped. AGAIN, I waited for him to catch back up and when I looked back, he had someone on his butt and I felt bad. Anyways, I couldn't finish the race before him so I waited until he passed the finish line and then I did.

Again. Bad moves on my part. Fast track with hard breaking makes a hard track to race on.

As Neal Young sang some time ago....Rust Never Sleeps!

Had a decent car for this event, of course well off the RSR's but still I liked my chances at a top 5.

Qual was so so with a mid 40 but only good enough for 7th. Got a great start and took 6th into T1. Then heading into T4 the guys ahead decided to battle lap 1, well we already know the result of that. Unfortunately I went way wide to avoid the stalled cars and Matjas got back by me. I pressured him and eventually he "LET" me by. I assume that was because he got by due to other peoples issues. Anyway, thanks Matjas.

I pulled out to about a 5 plus second gap was I was lapping someone who spun right in front of me, naturally I tboned him....I always do LOL...lost almost 2 seconds and took some small damage.

Pitted a couple laps later than I wanted to, wasn't paying attention. I had been running 3rd before the others pitted but I was leading when I pitted. This is where the rust showed as I crossed the line, looked at my speed which was way under the limit, turned on the limiter, and gave it some throttle. Oh yeah I was surprised when I saw the speed climb to 20 over the limit! Turns out I hit the limiter button AFTER crossing the limit line. Stop and Go penalty, effectively Race Over!

Came out of the penalty in 9th, was up to 7th but couldn't do anything with the cars ahead due to my double stinted tires, and I am sure my lack of enthusiasm didn't help. Soon Rob in his RSR caught me then Mark dropping me back to 9th.

Grats to Heinz and Matjas.....see ya all at Zhuhia.

During practice I had double upshifts the whole time. Left to recalibrate and got it working again. Then a few minutes before quali .... gamecrash. I was seriously thinking about not starting but I had a 3rd overall to defend and ... I'm no chicken. :-) Quali was a pb in the RS but only good enough for 12th. But I knew from my lockbox that a race on one set of tyres would be doable. Started with 100L so was able to do a quick stop. I somehow managed to stay out of the lap 1 problems allthough I was on the inside at T1, T2 and at the hairpin. My stop brought me in front of the guys I was chasing in the first stint and I crossed the s/f-line in front of them with a few seconds to spare. I'll take a 3rd in this field anytime. Grats to Heinz and Matjaz. Cya all at Zhuhai.

Couple of clarifications I would like to make.

1. My car didn't spin, it got spun.
2. My futile attempt to get out of the way post punt went horribly wrong and I appologize to anyone that affected.

I had changed my reverse button from my shifter to a button -- this was due to a race at donnington where I exploded my motor because I accidentally hit the shift lever that put me into reverse.

So I removed this potential for disaster but had forgotten I had done so, hit the shifter thinking I was in reverse and hit the gas to get out of the way...unfortunately I was still in first.

I do find it odd that the one who instigated this situation still came out ahead of the game...doesn't seem too terribly fair, but the rules are the rules.

Sorry again for my clumsy attempt at getting out of the way post punt.

Bummed about this race, looks like I had the 3rd fastest race car and was looking forward to a good close battle. Oh well on to the next one.

Unlucky Both Barry and Tristan the first race leaders, both nasty ways to go..

Barry carved both myself and tristan up at the start, and I lost 2 more positions before Rob.A was spun out, then Barry lost it under braking to the hairpin in spectacular style but was sad to see, was a proper race going on there.

Tried to stick with tristan tilll pits, but 5 lpas before he just started firing on all cylindars, and took off. I was dropped to about 5 seconds, and came into pits behind him.. Was a little shocked when i saw him park behind a tvr, and was watching where he came out after, but then realised i lapped him a lap later as he had to go back in .. Sorry dude.

A breeze from there, 30 second gap and another win at home.. love it

Grats to Podium!!!!!
tough race... second quali was one spot further than first and i was expecting better(had good practice), with this field, i was still very proud, you guys are tough... start went pretty good until mayem at hairpin, i obviously choosed the wrong side to go, NP Rob, i changed my button config once and got mixed up too once, but instead of gaining position, i lost a couples, got my car to a good balance with less fuel and hot tires and started to come back with a very good paste and catched Kris, which i eventually punted, sorry for that but you kind of surprised me in that corner, you were faster the laps before and i tried everything i could to avoid you, then catched John M. and had a great clean fight in which we exchanged positions a few times and finally got the best of it :), with Aaron J. breathing in my neck every time i would make a missed attempt as i was trying to recompose myself , i was very happy he was clean too, must be a good seat to watch the fight Aaron!! then after pit sequence, got back behind John again and i flashed my lights to tell him, hey...me again...want to fight?? but i think he must have had a bad set of tires or something else wrong because he gave it easier that time!! all in all, it was a fun race and sorry again to Kris if i didn't wait up, but there was too many spots to loose, tight field following, and it's been a while since i was in a descent position in an official race, and i tought this was a race incident, but,i felt kind of bad for the rest of the race :(
Will try to make it on the next one!!
Seeya

Well. I just couldn't find the speed to compete. But wanted to give GTR2 a try again. About 3 or 4 laps in getting on the straight had Gregg's car just appear right in front of me. It appeared he disco'd. But i had no chance to get out of the way and hammered him. Great win Heinz. Sorry to Gregg also but i think you were already out also due to what had happened.

Let me just say I feel like a total idiot for the punt Rob, I absolutely abhor first lap stupidity and I pulled a big one. I too was looking forward to a good battle at the front and totally screwed that for us.
That sort of played into why I did'nt do the drive-thru I did'nt feel like fighting from the back,wont happen again Tim.Again REALLY sorry Rob and everyone else who got caught out.