Dubai Enduro

Well , was a very nice race but, my connection drop me out again, while I was going to pit. Nice battle whit Kent but I was stupid enough to try in opening, to push Juel :D (was fun) and my tyres was gone after 15 laps. Anyway it's sad, because as far I can see, I will not be able to finish a race longer than 30 min because of my bloody connection.

Good race everyone, Tough track for a 2 1/2hr race. Started 6th and finished 6th, no incidents to speak of, could and should have been a bit stronger in resisting George and Connor getting past but they were way faster anyway so i would only be putting off the inevitable.

With about 12 laps to go i noticed my engine health was 88% so with a 1m10s gap i back right off (5 secs a lap)taking care not to stress engine. A poor 6th gear ratio to blame.

Grats to Samuel and Claus and everyone that finished

Very disappointing for me. Thought I had a car capable of winning the race or at least a podium but stupid me forgot to turn the automatic pitting off after a brand new reinstall of GTR2. When I would pit, it would take over and then refuse to put me in the right spot so the pit crew would begin service. Wasted more than a minute on the first stop trying to position myself while the the AI kept trying to put me back to the spot where I didn't want to be in! My own damn fault and I deserved that. Pisses me off that I would let that mistake slip through.

Other than that, it was actually a damn fun enduro. The whole first stint, there was a three way battle for 1st in GT between Sam, Cristi, and I. Very even and clean fight for sure :). After my first stop catastrophe, I dropped back down to around 7th and had to fight my way through the field which was pretty entertaining. With a handful of laps to go, I caught up to 4th place Maurice and we fought very hard for that spot. I had a hell of a time trying to get by him since his Ferrari got off the corners so well and pushed hard to make sure I couldn't get a run on him. I stayed patient and eventually got by him but he definitely made me work for it, that's for sure :).

Well, shit happens, but at least I learned from it and made sure the option was turned off for automatic pitting after the race. Won't happen again :). Congrats to the GTNDC aliens for their wins and I'll cya guys in a few weeks at Magny...

Quali was so-so, got traffic and ended up 2nd.
First stint, great battle with Sam and Conor, and felt I had the resources to win. When we caught up with the nGT's, I believe it was Andy, Sam was behind him, I took the inside line and at the last moment Sam moved to the inside. I locked up so I wouldn't punt him and spun. Conor passed me and I lost about 8 seconds to them. Until the first pit I was on their tail again, pushing hard. Pitted 1 lap ahead of them and almost passed Sam when he got out of the pit. Was about 1 second behind him and pushing. He made a mistake and I took the lead and kept gaining seconds. I believe I had about 5-6 seconds lead when he pitted. Then disaster - noob mistake - I spun at pit entry right in front of the traffic light :( Lost a bout 20 seconds and Sam had a 10 second advantage when I got out again. Tried hard to catch him again but no luck and I lost the car again after T1 cause I was not paying attention to the race anymore. Last laps were so hard for me, seemed to never end.
Nice fight though and apparently I always find a way to kick my own balls and loose the race.
See you at the next one.

Qualifying went OK and got 6th in nGT (15th overall). Temps had come down a lot from pre race (pre race high 40's, but Qualy and race low 30's). But that is probably what cost me a decent race. Decided to stick with Medium rears and soft fronts - but the fronts (in particular left front) were wearing ridiculously badly. Started on 100 ltrs of fuel for a 1 stop refill with 80 ltrs, but the front wear was so bad that by lap 15 I tried to nurse them to make a two stopper possible.

Early laps were good and having a battle with Claudio - and starting to pressure him - when on lap 7 all went slow - I'm amazed I managed to get through it as I drove around a quarter lap without hitting anything or knowning what part of the track I was on! When the speed returned I was last and lost around 14 or 15 seconds that lap to Claudio - strange thing was around the same time in the GT3 Cup race I had a similar issue! But carried on and the problem never returned!!!

So I nursed the front tyres up to pitting at the end of lap 26. Put in sufficient fuel for another 23 lap, and put mediums front and rear - and basically drove Qualifying laps! My pace was good and the fronts held up a lot better. It looked as though I was out of synch with others who must have been 1 stopping, and I think at one stage I was 3rd in class, but letting the GT's through was a problem (re loss of time) - I had a strong car in the corners but often had to back off and flash them through on the straights.

Pitted again on lap 50, and thought I had enough fuel for the finish - but wasn't so sure - so checked the gap after 1 lap and I was around 30 seconds ahead of John Passmore (and over a minute behind the next car in front), so for 9 laps I pretty well cruised to save fuel. Amazing how you lose consetration in those circumstances! Then I pushed again. The gap to John had come down to 20 seconds by then, but I soon opened it up again.

Apart from front tyre wear, the car was lovely to drive. First time I'd driven the RSR in anger (usually I pick the 360 GTC), and it was a joy! Now I know why you guys all choose it. I knew it would be hard in such a strong field, but I enjoyed the racing immensely. Pity my connection slowed as me and Claudio looked like we were going to have some fun! But 5th in nGT class was a good result taking into account the slow down and the change of strategy re the front tyre wear.

Congrats to all who took part, and the podiums in particular. Hope I moved out of the way of the GT's in time - tried my best, it's always difficult when you are trying to run your own race.

Not a very eventfull race for me this one. Made a stupid mistake at the start by braking too late losing several positions in the proces. It took me the first stint to work my way back to 4th and Conor's pitproblems brought me 3rd in the end. My apologies to the nGT I had an incident with in T1. Did my drive through but that didn't bring me in any kind of problems. All in all a good result with the flue in my body making every turn hurt. :s Grats to Sam and Claus on the wins in their class.

One of the most difficult races ever for me , setup was a huge disappointment after all the effort i made into it. On top of that i took a too conservative tire choice on 1st stint and went for hard rears , temps were so-so and didn't want to take a risk but the tire wear on rears were surprisingly high.

Maybe i was over tuning the set and let a too small operating window for the tires , because they didn't really work on full tanks and when the car was lighter , grip had already gone away. 2nd and 3rd stint with med-med compound was a bit better but still the balance weren't there for many laps before it developed a nasty over steer. This again lead to a more tire wear which again gave more over steer and the vicious cycle kept on getting worse and worse.

To make things more difficult , Cristi and Conor were on a nice pace and they matched my speed quite easily. On top of that i had a really difficult time with traffic today and most of the time i couldn't get in to the same wave length with the nGT drivers mindset for some reason.

As Cristi already mentioned , there was bit hairy situation early in the race when the nGT lapping started. 1st tried a switchback from out to inside on 2nd last turn but that went too close and had to back off , then thought that i can go around from outside on that small straight , but wrong again and had to back off second time.

Moved to inside and got along side the nGT just before last turn ,but Cristi saw an opening inside both of us and tried to gain advantage of the situation. Saw it coming and went for a late defending move , because i didn't want to get 3 wide there.

Sorry for the late move Cristi , but i think the move itself was still ok. The early braking prolly surprised you there , but i felt that i had to brake early or i could drift into outside line and into the lapped nGT.

I'm glad you could recover from that without damage , didn't mean to give you so much troubles there but the situation was rather hairy from my POV there.

Race continued and the small gaps i could could build against Connor , usually disappeared when we hit the traffic and pressure was on all the time. Cristi did a nice comeback and soon we were back in a 3-way fight again.

Conor had his troubles with the auto-pit and he unfortunately lost the race there , but Cristi was really close and somewhere in 2nd stint i lost the lead and thought that the game was over considering the victory.

Cristi was pulling away and i couldn't challenge him after few laps , tried to pit early when i saw a lot of traffic ahead and 1st i thought that WOW...that worked well , but then realized that something must have gone wrong in Cristi's pitstop.

About 10 minutes to go , i realized that if we run the whole 150 mins , my fuel will not last to the end. Lap count said 77 laps but the time was still ticking so i started to save some fuel , went to extreme saving mode on last lap just in case but luckily the race ended after 77 laps , otherwise i would have had to settle for 2nd place.

I have to admit that without the bad luck both Conor and Cristi were having , the podium could have been a bit different but despite the agony i had with my car , i had the luck on my side today and could pull a win from this grueling race.

Well done gents , this was almost too exciting...

Thx all and congratulations to CJ and Kent for a nice double on nGT class , cheers to other podium finishers too and cya in the next one :).

-----
Samuel

Had to exit because the wife was working and the thought of my kids spending an hour unsupervised was bugging me.

Won`t be doing anymore weekend events :(

Also poor turnouts don`t excite me.

No problem Sam,
I jumped on the brakes a little too hard cause you caught me a little by surprise there, locked the wheels there and spun. It could have been avoided but didn't want to risk punting you there after the nice battle :)

Qually could have been a bit better, but still quite happy with 4th.

The race started a bit scary. George seemed to miss his braking point, closing in rapidly. Luckily I could turn in safely, making George miss me by a foot or two.

Made a stupid mistake after my first pitstop. I came up to lap Allen, so we agreed he would stay right and I would pass him left. At the corner exit he got a bit loose, and I thought he couldn't recover anymore so I swerved right to avoid hitting him. Unfortunately he did catch it, and I clipped his rear.

Served a d/t penalty and got our behind Brian again. Chased him down lap after lap, until he had an off, allowing me taking back 4th position.

After my 2nd pitstop Conor went in for a 2nd time and he got out behind Brian. He got past Brian at some point and closed in rapidly. He was gaining a lot on the brakes and I knew I would only be able to hold him off by accelerating as smoothly as possible off the corners and using all the power the 550 had to offer. Luckily I conserved my engine in the first part of the race, so I knew the engine would be able to take the stress. A bad exit from a coner decided the battle, allowing Conor to pass. By the way, that was exactly what I told my teammates over Vent when you were right behind me: 'Oooooohh no, you're not going to pass me that easily. You're gonna work for it.'

Great battle Conor, really enjoyed that :D

Congrats to Sam and Claus for the class wins. Good job Brian and Allen too :)