USA e30: Magny-Cours

Good race, sorry about the bump on the first lap Vincent.

Is it me, or is this really a crappy boring track?

Congrats to the podiums!

Not competitive here, but have a good battle with Ryan and John for 6,7,8th place, before I crashed and retired on lap 8.

I did notice Eric and Les seems to get disconnected almost at the same time...strange.

See ya!

Way to go Tristan! Congrats to Mike & Garret as well. My most sincere apologies to Scott for the spin. I just totaly blew it. Had fun racing with you guys tonight, but I just can't get a handle on this track. The section I can't get a grip on is from the start/finsh line to the, um, let's see, I guess back to the start/finish line. Hope I can do better next time and not ruin anybody's race. Till then.......
C-ya

Well, once again I had a terrible start. Went from 7th to 14th before the 2nd turn. Had the gearing set high, but not that high! Anyway, had a lot of fun working my way up the field. I got a bit overaggressive a few times and had light contact with a few guys, sorry about that. These cars are fun to race with because you can race side to side a lot. See you at Pau, never driven there before.

2nd CTD in as many races. Fkin PCs suck!!!

Not one of my favorite tracks. Actually truly suck at it. Glad to just finish. Had gotten spun and lost a ton of positions. Not an easy thing to make up many in these cars but managed a few and am grateful. Congrats to Tristan on another victory. Mike way to hang in there. Great finish!

Charlie no big deal. I hate this track and wasn't expecting much from myself. So no worries.

Most people I talk to hate this track, but I'm quite fond of it. I tend to drive well here in other sims too. Sure, there are a few tricky corners and braking zones, but they are what make this track challenging.

I was really hunting for a good setup during practice. I started stiff and edgy, then last minute (well last 15 minutes) I changed to soft and easy to drive with less rear wing. That set was getting over the bumps in chicane better, but not as good under heavy braking for hairpin. I was also using 1st gear in the hairpin so I thought that might be an issue at the start.

Quali
I banged out a nice 1:46 on my 2nd flyer and scratched my head... why am I not on pole. I thought Tom or Garret pipped me. I continued to try, but did not improve. Upon seeing Tristan's 1:45 I almost fell out of my chair. How am I going to compete with that?

Race
I decided not to change my gearing and go with what I practiced and qualified with. This appeared to be a sound choice because I jumped in front of Tristan into turn 1. I suspect he was using a similar gear strategy.

I was clearly slower then Tristan and did all I could to keep him at bay for 5 laps. He was literally inches from my rear bumper and peeking inside and outside at almost every turn. Talk about putting on the pressure. It was some of the cleanest and most exhilerating driving I've ever experienced. My goal was to drive the mirror, hold a tight line, and make him work for it on the outside. He tried a couple times, but couldn't make it work till I bobbled in the tight left hander after the right hairpin. It wasn't even a big mistake. It was just enough for him to get inside and pull close to even at the approach to the uphill right hander. Eventhough I was on the inside, I had to let off otherwise I would have take us both out. He had the preferred line. Afterwards, I held on for another lap till I made a mistake (much bigger this time) and almost threw it off the track. I was just pushing way too hard to keep up. I certainly would have crashed if I kept going that hard.

Great drive Tristan.
Kudos to Tom Mak for a strong 5th to keep CT Racing tied for 1st in team championship.

As Mike said, this was an absolutely exhilarating race!!

I used the setup I had from Imola with a bit less diff lock on coast, and a longer first gear. That long 1st gear cost me off the line, as I did not maintain optimum revs before the tires caught, and Mike got past into 1st by Estoril (see screenie!)

Mike and Conor are very similar; both very frickin quick, both total gentleman drivers. I say this with the utmost respect for all of my competitors, but it is rare I have a race where I enjoy the thrill of the chase as much as I have here. Mike, it was an absolute pleasure. I look forward to each race we may have together again in the future. Kudos to a fine drive and terrific defensive tactics.

Unfortunately I will miss Pau, so I will see you fine chaps again in June!