Donington 330k (GT/nGT)

A certain GT participant (who was warned mid-race by Kent to park it, but disregarded the order) with an apparent lack of control over his 550 was a menace out there. Shunted me off the road going into turn 1 with about 50 minutes left in the race. Destroyed my engine.

If you can't hang with your own class in an event, rethink your vehicle/class. If you are having serious problems keeping the car going in a straight line throughout the event, rethink your participation in the event.

I had a great 1st stint fighting Jeff and Peter. We changed positions several times because we were pushing one another to the limit. My 2nd stint was awful. Made a lot of mistakes and lost precious time to both of them. Something had to be done and because all my tyres were at 12 at GTR PD I decided not to change tyres at the 2nd stop. That was fun for a brief moment when I left the pits just in front of Jeff. But he was much faster on fresh rubber so he pulled away again. Then I had a big off on braking for the hairpin. I was about a minute in front of Dennis and decided to make a stop. Left the pits in 5th with 13 seconds behind Dennis. But I was much faster now and had also repaired the frontend of the car so I managed to regain 4th again. With only one lap to go Peter ran out of fuel. I unlapped myself to him on the s/f but it seems he still got 3rd because Tolga crossed the finishline in front of him. I believe when Tolga had been 9 seconds slower over the two hours 3rd would have been mine. But infact, after that 2nd stint, it never really was mine at all. Grats to Tolga and Kent on the win and my compliments to the nGT-drivers for giving clear signals and making a safe pass possible. I'm dead beat now .... of to the couch with a good movie. :-)

For some reason the track I dislike the most comes back to reward me in some way or another.
Practice is practice but I kicked the crap out of my PB but when qualy came along I could only get to 0.3 of that mark.
Race starts off to a hectic pace, I go 2 wide into 1 with peter and george sneaks underneath, So now its time to apply heavy pressure,
I push George hard enough I believe he is watching his mirrors more than the road, we go into the hair pin and he gets too deep, I get around him
And I take off for peter, I get w/I 0.5 and time to pit, pretty much the carbon copy in the second stint, I enter the pits with 20 seconds at hand on George and he gets out
Right in front of me, aarrgghh, another crew chief fired :) I knew how good my set up was on cold tires, I figured I had 2 laps at best to get my position back, and
Again I get George in the hairpin, take off again after peter, click off lap after lap knocking the 15 second diff down to 0.1 we battled hard, we both spun each other and waited
Great racing, with 1 go peter runs out of gas. But there was great racing going on, I had a couple of 3 wide passes that was clean fun. Kudos’ to all the nGT guys, great racing and courtesy displayed all race!

Cya next time

I had a decent qualifying and took pole with Marko very close behind.

Race got under way and immediately Marko was applying pressure. Unfortunately for me and Marko there was a 550 that kept spinning in front of us then passing us then spinning and then passing again. This really kept me and Marko on our toes since most of the passes were dive bombs and in inappropriate places. After about 15 laps of Marko on my butt I got a little loose and let him pass. Now it was my turn to apply a little pressure. We both made some small errors here and there but we had opened a nice gap behind us.

So Marko and I are having a whale of a race, nice and clean and at times very close...BIG FUN. Gt's pass us and we get back together. Eventually the big red 550 comes and knocks me off track and I drop 7 seconds to Marko. But I guess Marko probably got hit to because suddenly the gap is down to around 3 seconds again. At one point due to traffic and the big red 550 Krueger who was like 14 seconds to the rear is right up with me and Marko again.

So I am seeing we have raced for 1 hour and I check my fuel level and I see that I still have A LOT left so I pit knowing I will only be taking about 40 liters in addition to what I have. Came out and started layin em down. Soon the rest of the nGT field has pitted and I see Marko on pit road but he is moving. Now I have a 5+ second lead and I am able to build it to 6.5 before his tires are up to speed. I can see that Krueger is right with Marko and basically I just race to keep the gap stagnent. I later see that Marko and Krueger switched positions and that's the way we finish.

Props to Marko on some mighty fine racing and to Tolga for the GT win. Also to all the other cars on the track for making this one of the best races I have ever been in. Well with the exception of the big red 550.

Qualifying was a mess...sorry for those that were involved. If my memory serves me I missed my brake point in t1 on my first quali attempt and went into the grass. I turned myself around to watch oncoming traffic...at what I thought was a safe distance, but nope...I got my nose clipped which spun me onto the track. I didn't move since there was some oncoming traffic, but someone couldn't move in time. I'm awfully sorry...it seems that I've had a run of terrible mistakes.

The race was great. Joe and I had a great time playing follow the leader for the first dozen laps (Joe was the leader of course) before I lost it. It looked like the last dozen laps would be a good fight between us, but yet another mistake shows itself...I must have over-revved too many times and my engine started smoking. That was great fun Joe...I'm sorry I couldn't keep it together and stay on your tail the rest of the way...next time for sure. :)

had a pretty good race overall. Was taking it easy most of the race and trying to improve my ability to manage the car in specific areas of the course. I spent a lot of time practicing off-line, taking some much needed advise to my practice sessions. I finally got what I thought and still think is a pretty good setup for this track. I know it wont be worth beans at other courses. Was able to consistantly run in the mid 133's to mid 134's, though my qualifying and off-line laps were in the mid 122's. But I wasn't in it for fast lap times. Had to get through this one as clean as possible. Was satisfied with my result, only having 2 slight off's in the grass and one spin at the end of the race. It's really easy to get loose here in some places and you're gonna loose lots of time trying to make a clean recovery.

Was able to qualify 5th in the nGT class, and managed to hold my position for quite a while, but eventually dropped off the pace and was all alone for several laps. Eventually my tires got a little worn and I had to back off in order to keep a good race going. The rest of the nGt's eventually got to me and I was passed by another Porsche, then was battling for many laps with Tom.

It was a race between me and him for quite a while. I did pull one bonehead move by pulling off a pass in the final turn - sorry if I startled you Tom. But we got through it without incident and the battle forged on. Thanks for keeping it so much fun Tom, it wouldn't have been nearly as much fun if we hadn't tussled for so long. Eventually my tires gave way under the strain and I had an off that put me pretty far into the grass and Tom quickly made up the 5 second gap and I got in behind him again trailing by 5.5 secs. and was not able to get any of it back. I pushed the tires too hard and had to make a 2nd pit stop which put me more than a minute back behind Tom which I was not able to get more than 8 seconds back by race end.

I want to thank my fellow drivers that gave me the advice on improving my driving. You and A LOT of quality practice time really helped immensely.
Congrats to the race winners.

2nd place after this race feels like a win and it is much more than i could hope for after been pushed off the track 4 times by the same individual. But not going waste more words on that , everything has been said allready above and i'm going to concentrate on positives :).

Race was a test of patience and i'm glad i didn't give up despite a very dificult time early on ,allmost managed to get back into lead group and gap wasn't so big after all.

Came in early on lap 36 and i was hoping to gain some time there and by the looks of it , i managed to took several seconds from Marko Jozef , but there was still 2-3 seconds gap.

Rest of the race we were battling out for the 2nd place for NGT class, i could reel the gap in few times but then again it went back to 2-3 secs while dealing with the GT traffic and race couldn't have been more exciting :).

Marko J was driving pretty much the same laptimes than me and i tried to use every chance what the overtaking GT's bring with them. Awesome driving from the whole GT field ( -1) , it was great to race with you and the co-operation worked like a dream, atleast from my POV... thank you gentlemans for a very 'real like' experience 8).

10 laps before the end Marko J had an off in Old Hairpin while dealing with the traffic and i could sneak by into 2nd place with a gap of about 4 seconds. I thought it was more than enough but my early stop was taking it's toll on the tires and last few laps were painfully slow and slippery.

Barely could keep the position , since Marko J pushed very hard at the end and took chunks of time away per lap , but at the end there was 0.4 seconds between us after 2 hours of hard racing :o.

Very nice race there Marko J , it was so hard to keep up with you and every tenth of a second felt like a big achievement. Bad luck with the off in late race , can't see how i could have overtake you otherwise.

Grats to Kent and the team for taking a 1-2 :D ... nice race from Marko J too , well done.

Grts to Tolga , Jeff and Peter too for the GT podiums :).

This race could have been a classic without a one loose cannon , but a great show from others saved the day and left a nice feeling from the race.

Thx all and cya in next one... ;)

------
Samuel

This is probably the hardest 2h race I have ever driven!

Qual went not too bad , 2 place.After a start I was going normal and then start to push.At the same start we (me and Kent Welker) spot that problematic 550 witch went off the track plenty times(and also returning to track incautiously)
Happy for us he went off the track , and I have the pleasure to race clean with Kent Welker.

I don't know exactly how long we have raced together but I assume about 40min or more.Very clean high pace racing.
Thanks Kent for letting me to pass you , hehe I assume you wanted to release that back pressure I gave you.I saw that you disappear when 550 passed you , and I slowed down to let by that car to avoid hitting me too.

Few moments later I went to box ( and stayed 15sec longer than I should)
After a box I went ahead of Samuel Krueger , something about 7-8sec , but few laps later that gap was about 3sec , so I starter to push harder.

I can say that it is a way lot easy to drive behind somebody and push him , then to feel the pressure behind you.
Samuel you gave me a hardest defending position ever!
I hate when I hear someone roaring behind me and I can't shake him off :) Great racing Samuel!
You was faster on hard braking point down the straight , and all I have compensate in turns I lost on hard braking.

At the same end when faster cars came , I get scared to dont get hit(because I saw some 550 that came pretty fast and tryed to overtake , I lost my braking point on second right turn and went off to sand :( )
After I returned to track I gave my all best , and started too push like there is no tomorrow because I have nothing to lose.

And I finished 0.4sec behind Samuel Krueger , and 7 sec behind Kent Welker

Great race guys , and I hope to race with you again.

Wish you all the best

Marko Jozef

Over all I had a great time.

Qualifying was terrible and is something I need to spend a lot of time on. I can turn decent times offline and before the race, but I simply get gripped/nervous/frustrated during qualifying.

On the other hand, I thought my race went very well. Though slow as a turtle, I stayed on the track (for the most part). One time I messed up my braking and went in the grass, and three times went a little wide. Right now, my main focus isn't the speed, but staying clean, staying on the track, and staying out of others way. Hopefully the speed will come with time.

Apologies to those I either held up or to whom my intentions weren't clear. I tried to get out of the way a few times when I should have just held my line.

Thanks to everyone for a fun time.

@ Marko - Your correct, I was feeling the pressure and after you got by I noticed I was actually faster and wasn't feeling let I was abusing the car.

@ John - You were fine on track the times I saw you, very predictable and allowed the passes I made on you in a way I had nothing to consider but the next corner. Well done.