GTx Imola

My stupid computer! The race was going well, managed to get up to 7th for a lap or two. One of the stewards quit out of the game and at the same time my video stammered real bad, throwing me off the track. Then a couple laps later I got the 'Slow FPS' problem - down to 3 and less FPS, caused the car to go out of control in the turn one S, I hit the wall and parts went flying everywhere and got a broken suspension. Couldn't even get it to limp back to the pit. Guess it's time to toss the old AMD64-3000 and get something better. :( Congrats to the winners on this challenging track, I wish I could've finished.

Qualified in 2nd ... was cruising in 2nd ... lap 44/51 ... connection lost. Damn ... that hurts in a field of 12. :-(

Good Race. Congrats Sam.

I'm glad to get my first second place finish, but would rather have had it happen after a hard close race not because of a disconnect. Rough luck George, you earned 2nd place!

Nice long race though, followed GP for 10 laps then fell off. I kept a 20sec lead or so on 4th the whole time. I like that track, great flow, the last 25 laps melted together and in no time it was over.

I blew it on the last lap; Sam caught up quick but I still had just enough space to stay on the lead lap, but then I blew it and got lapped!!!

Oh well would have been very pleased with 3rd but lucky me I get credit for 2nd.

Good to see Dennnis come back after being pushed off in T1.

Great race see you next time!

I had some good racing tonight despite the small field.

Lap 1 seemed to take forever. I was on meds, and fuel heavy, so had to take it easy. Got a bump from Gregg at the hairpin, but no worries- in my experience, a race this long is plenty of time to wind up where you belonged no matter what happens in the first lap. Sure enough, I was in 6th within a few laps, right where I seem to belong :P Got by Noel for 5th, I think, and saw Steve Wood up ahead getting a bit sideways in the corners- Gregg was on my tail again by then and we could smell blood in the water. Played it patient, though, and it took a few laps before Steve got a bad bounce through the chicane and I squeaked by. Gregg had disappeared by that time, off to the beach somewhere I guess. I ran a solid 20 mins in 4th, I think, but my tires were going away because I foolishly tried to work on the gap to 3rd. The last 5 or 6 laps of my first stint were really slippery, and I finally slid out of the chicane myself and gave up my spot to Dennis.

Survived for my usual long-ish pit stop, came back out in front of Noel, and worked early to maintain a steady gap on him. Was in 6th after pit cycles ended, concentrating on maintaining my gap on Noel while conserving as best I could, and was slowly gaining on Gregg. Eventually found him admiring the view on the high side of the hairpin ;) Not long after that Noel made a determined charge- he made it right up to my bumper before fading slowly again over several laps. Really had me worried, Noel, I'm relieved I survived the pressure.

Regrets to the Chip & George who had connection problems. Big tip 'o the hat to Russ, who was an especially courteous lapper. Thanks R2P for another good one!

got passed alot
someday ill upgrde my pc to something better than a 2 barrel carb...
enjoyed the race , was going for endurence .long time at the wheel tonight - good racen and thanks for the patience
congradulations to the podiums finishers

That was a pretty straight forward race , got the pole and after a good start i could slowly increase the lead. Kept on pushing somewhat before all had pitted , just to make sure that no one will try 'fuel only' strategy.

After getting the lead back it was a bit dificult to keep the concentration and had a small off in Aque Minerali soon after i had lapped Dennis M , luckily there is these days a pavement in the run-off area on that corner and i could re-join the track pretty safely.

I'm pretty surprised to have so troublefree race in Imola , this place usually ain't very nice for me. Laptimes weren't brilliant , but tried my best to keep it on or between the white lines and didn't push the limits too much (hopefully :) ).

Congrats to Ryan A and Dennis M for the podium places , very bad luck for George P to drop out so late in the race from the 2nd place :(.

Thanks all for the race , a bit thin grid this time thou , but i bet it was the track that scared few drivers off ;).

Cya in next one... ;)

------
Samuel

Here's my race book...er report.

I was very surprised to qualify 6th. Then on the first lap Gregg tapped Michael and Gregg showed some awesome sportsmanship and pulled off behind Michael...I wish it never happened, but I can't help but appreciate the gesture. It put me in 5th behind Noel. And, to top things off...I was actually able to keep up with the top 4 for the first time since I've been racing here at R2P...a top 5 finish was in my mind.

And, that's where it all went wrong I guess...too cocky. On the 3rd lap I started to get excited and thinking of passing Noel who was falling behind Ryan. Then he must have got on the throttle too soon after Variante Alta and spun...allowing me to take 4th. But, I made so many other mistakes which guaranteed that I would not be making a top 5 position. One of them was selecting a 2 stop pit strategy with medium/softs and 17 laps of fuel which I never had done before. And then next one was thinking that my driving skills were good enough for a top 5 finish. But, there was also a LOT of lag down the front straight such that the screen froze about 10 times, but freed up just in time for me to make the turn at Tamburello...lucky for me it wasn't just internet lag, but my entire computer which meant it had not shifted past 4th gear; thus, I was going slow enough that I didn't wreck. But, the consequence was that Sam, George, and Ryan were long gone by the time I could race again. By then Michael and Gregg had caught up to me...which spelled the end of my making it a top 4 pack as I had lost momentum and started keeping a watch in my rear view mirror.

Michael did a good job staying on my tail, and after a couple more laps I almost lost it at Rivazza and after that lost my nerve and missed my brake point before Tosa and Michael did a great job of driving and stayed on my tail to pull around me when I fought to keep it on the track. I was hoping that I could keep my lead, but Michael kept his speed up...great pass man. But, I was back in 5th which was still going to be a top 5 finish so I thought I would just follow him around and take it easy. But, I got a little squirrely in Rivazza again and Michael pulled away while Gregg made up some time and was pulling up behind me. I got loose in Rivazza again, but kept it together...Gregg wasn't as lucky and spun. But, I just couldn't recover my nerve and kept braking late, sliding around corners, and in general making mistakes on top of mistakes.

Then we caught up to Russ...I made a stupid attempt to pass at Acque Minerali...Russ was flashing his lights and went wide so I went low...even though Russ was kinda letting me by it haunted me for the rest of the race that I would pass there...it also caused me to swing wide on the exit and Russ followed me wide...I should have waited...I was too anxious to stay in sight of Michael. Then I took Variante Alta badly and Russ had to slow down to avoid hitting me...thanks man...I should have been more courteous and smoother.

I then almost spun at Villenueve, but still slowed down enough for Dennis and Gregg to catch up to me. And, that was when I had to pit because of my 2 stop strategy. I then made another mistake and changed my fronts to softs instead of just adding enough fuel to make it to the end. Well, I exited the pits in 9th, and stayed there. I think what I learned here is that I need to keep my mind focused on my driving and not what place I'm going to finish...I also need to stick to my guns with things like pit strategies and not change what I'm doing just because I think everyone else is going to have a different strategy.

There was some more lag around the middle of the race when Ryan was behind me, the server replay shows that I disappeared...Ryan luckily slowed down and nothing came of it...this happened to me in the Hockenheim race but resulted in my hitting another car...I'm glad nothing happened this time. Right after that I spun at Tosa and Ryan was able to ease by.

After everyone pitted I found myself back in 5th, but of course I spun at Variante Alta and everyone went by me which put me back in 9th. I kept thinking that if I had just focused on my driving and stuck to the pit strategy that I'd kept for the previous events in this series then I coulda been a contender! But, I realized that my choice of pitstops and my failure to get more fuel on my early pit meant that I had to pit yet one more time while everyone else was going to be on the track for the rest of the race. I don't know if I'm making too much progress...I certainly remember what I learned in previous races, but keep making new mistakes.

There was some good racing moments to be sure, but I still feel like a rookie making my rookie mistakes. Which means that my experience today was as close to real world racing as it gets...thanks everyone. I hope that...in time...I'll be able to focus on my driving and not have thoughts such as dwelling on past mistakes...it will make it more fun even if I stay a mid-pack racer.