Hockenheim 330k (GT/nGT)

Not much to mention. I pulled a stupid and got too excited on the formation lap trying to get my tires warmed up and ran into a wall which punctured a tire...stupid, stupid, stupid. I pitted and came out 1 lap down. I worked my way back up to 7th, so I'm not depressed. I sure wish I was up there with the rest of you guys, cause it sounded like a real fun race.

My highlight was about 10 laps from the end when I bagged an alien (passed Claus who was driving in nGT class, but I'll still relish it since it's probably the only time this will happen).

Heres my report:

Qualy went good and got pole with only 0,02 sec front of Scott. I knew he was going to be fast in race. First a couple of laps was good but i made a mistake and spun in a lap and dropped to 3rd behind George. While chasing George i couldnt find any chance to pass. I tried my luck in a corner by braking late. But i touched him and he spinned, i waited him to gain his position back then Jeff came and i dropped to 4th. Everything was getting worse, it was like a nightmare lol. I could get 3rd again a couple of laps later, then while lapping someone i passed George, i could get 2nd positon agian at last but i lost too much time by this time. Scott was 12 secs ahead of me and my tyres were dying coz of tough racing i made with George and Jeff. Scott was increasing gap easily for this reason. I thought in that point that lambo uses too much fuel and Scott will lose time in pits for this. After this time i decided to save fuel and finish the race with 1 stop. If i didnt lose much time, it would work but Scott caught me last 10 laps and passed me. I entered pits after Scott passed me and could finish 2nd.

Grats Scott, nice driving.

in the head of HRH "Hmmm... I'm tired of these GT drivers having such an easy time... how could I make it harder? Ah! I know! It's really dodgey lapping cars at Hockenheim! I'll send them there! But thats not enough... hmmm... I know! I'll send them to the shorter version too, so there is less space to pass nGT cars! MWAHAHA!!!"

Thanks Tim :P

Anyway, that was a totally intense race, I havent been that exhausted after a race for quite a while... might not help that I've already driven for 2h30m of a 4 hour rF race, and two GTL races today, lol.

Anyway, I had done my customary practice run of zero laps before this race, so I didnt feel too confident coming in. I was shocked to be so close to Tolga in qual, and also so dissapointed that I did 2 laps at exactley the same time... 0.02 off Tolga :P lol...

Anyway, the race started with me getting totally confused... for some ridiculous reason I thought we where doing a standing start, so I was all ready to pull into my grid spot (about 10 car lengths behind Tolga) when I suddenly realised it was a rolling start! Tolga had already gunned it, so I was about 3-4 seconds behind immediatley! D'oh!
Anyway, I suprised myself by actually catching Tolga, then inherriting the lead when he span off. From then on it was just a case of pushing as hard as I could for the whole race (I'm amazed that the soft-med tyre choice paid off). I caught Tolga who was obviously trying a one stopper with 15 mins to go, and we had a hell of a scrap, until I muscled my way through onto the s/f straight. Tolga obviously couldnt make it on fuel and had to pit, so I pulled out the 1 min + lead for the finish :)

Great race all, the nGTs where great, and congrats to Claus on the win... actually, should we be congratulating Claus? It's kind of a forgone conclusion these days :P

Cya next time!

Pfff ... first 45 minutes in a Vette and then 2 hours in a Saleen. I'm smashed now ... but happy. :-)
Got 3rd in quali and held that position for most of the race. Was 2nd for a while after Tolga's misfortune and 4th after the first stop. Had Jeff breathing down my neck almost the whole race but there was never a real fight for position. He got 3rd after the 1st stop but I took 100L in that one. Then we both pitted in the same lap for the 2nd stop and I only needed about 40L of fuel to get to the end. That gave me back 3rd place and after that I kept Jeff at about 6-8 seconds. Grats to Scott on a good win and to Claus for winning nGT. Also thanks to all nGT-drivers for making good and clean overtakings possible.

was looking forward to this race,qualy went okay, didn't set my PB here today, but 4th is acceptable, race went off well, had some nice tight laps with George, I settled into 4th for the first stint, I opt for my pit 1 lap later than planned, it went slow, not sure why my pit crew is so poky but...i resume turn some hot laps, George stayed out a couple of laps longer and it appeared I gained ground on him, my second stint I ran 3rd the entire distance, called in for my pit George was 6 seconds back, we entered the pit on the same lap, and I wasn't sure if my strategy would go to the end, so i opt for 1 gallon more,my pit crew took 69 seconds to do the same service they did the first stop in 52 and the only difference was 1 measly gallon. so as i am waiting there goes George, nothing i can do at this point but watch him, we run the distance 6 seconds apart, Great race to all!!!!

Grats to Sam and Claus.

Cya next time.

BTW...I am accepting applications for another crew chief :)

Quali wasn't as good as I had hoped. I did well in practice, but I lost time in quali for some unknown reason. Track conditions were good and I hadn't made any changes in the car. Ended up qualifying 15th, which was much worse than I expected. These 2:00 races are great, but I couldn't get any sleep after the night shift and was operating on 3.5 hrs sleep. So, needless to say, after about 1 hour I simply was unable to compete.

Did the VVC earlier and faired ok considering I have literally no time in the vette. I'm normally much faster in the Porky, but nothing but slowness today.

Got punted 2x early on and barely escaped the turn 1 incident on the first lap. So a couple incidents rather than laps into the race I figured I'd just live at the back of the pack and try to stay out of the way and get to the finish. Made it but not satisfied with the way things went. Hard to enjoy a race when I didn't even feel like I was on the planet LOL.

Want to extend an apology to Joe Dipino for rubibg doors with you mid-track about 3/4 through the race. Things just got a bit too close. Hope you got through the race damage-free.

Jeff was on a mission for sure. Charged hard in behind me more than once. Had trouble giving him the pass once. (sorry)I could tell you were going for it. I was rooting for you. No offense to the winners.
Should have stayed in bed.
Congrats to the podiums.

Only one thing to say about 2 hours worth of racing: tremendous battle with Alex Fed.

Congrats to the winners, finishers, and entrants. Thanks to HRH for making it happen.