USA GT: Monza

A great race! Kent was all over me for most of the race, and if it werent for his off, it would have been even more awfully close in the end! He was right by my tail from lap 1, until he had some trouble with lapped traffic i think, then he fell back about 7 seconds. i decided to pit early so i can have fresh rubber around the midpoint of the race, so i can crank some fast laps. I think tim and kent didnt get tires in their stops, so i was closing in on them fast in the last quarter of the race. I got Tim on the first try, since i got an excellent run out of parabolica and drafted my way into the inside line, which i think Tim wasn't expecting. So i thought that was a cool pass, although a little risky, but we could both handle it :)
Next was kent. i closed in on him about 8 laps to go i think. got a nice run out of parabolica again, while he slid a little. So i passed him, only to outbrake myself in T1, and let him pass again. A lap or so after, he kindly let me by, since i was clearly faster in the corners. I think i was flying through parabolica, having turned that corner several thousands of times, hehe!

The setup i used was my Brno setup, essentially. I just dropped the wings to 1-1 and set gear ratios and coast settings. IT worked right out of the box, and the bottoming out didnt really affect the performance. Great mechanical grip!

A crazy, consistent race! I know, i won with the 550, but this car fits my driving style like a glove. Was pushing 100% all the time!!!

WOOHOOO!!!!

Great run Bobby! any time you can finish in front of Kent and Tim is a big time finish!. I enjoy driving the vette but this track was just to much for this car. I ended up having a great race with Ricardo and Ryan. I felt like I was a 550 sandwhich for most of the race. Somehow it worked out in my favor in the end. Next season I will be leaving the Vette behind in favor of something a little faster. I am thinking about campaigning the Lister. No shit!

Tough luck Barry. I had just exited the pits and followed you into the chicane when your engine let go!!!!!! The DNF sucks but, it sure looked cool.....

Good Race, congrats podiums.

Had some trouble at the start but no damage. Had fun the first stint passing up to 10th from last and then followed Tommy G for a while. I pit and would have been 4-5 seconds behind Tommy but I sped into pit lane so I had a stop/go...foolish mistake.

Luckily I only fell back to 8th or 9th and had a great battle with Barret E for the rest of the race. Way to pick it up and the end BE, I left you in the dust during the first stint but you were just a bit faster the second half so I couldn't shake you.

I could have held him off but I had my only spin of the race in the parabola on lap 41 which was too close to the end to catch back up. I gotta watch for the lap limit in these GTR2 timed events, the race end was very unexpected.

Good Race see you next time!

nice win Bobby! 'grats on the podium Kent, Tim.

great fun Ryan!

as it happens, i too, got a stop and go for speeding in the pit lane. dumb mistake, not checking/remembering where the line was. i blame it on the rFactor Brianza races this week. there's so many lines there that i was always way slow by the time i got to the real one.

but i was doing about 60mph as i slid across the line with all 4 smokin'. then i forgot GTR2 turns the speed limiter on automatically and hit the key turning it off, returning to about 50mph before i realized what i'd done.

at the same time, i was realizing that since i'd turned off the monitor that was running GTR2-PD because its brightness was making it even harder to see my brake markers in the dim, washed-out GTR2 world, i had no idea if it was feasible to finish without a tire change.

DOH! so much for a carefully planned pit strategy.

i knew i wasn't going to catch you without that off. and actually, i think that was the difference for me in the second stint -- i was resigned to finishing behind you, Chris Melton blew up right behind me on my outlap after the stop and go, and George was apparently having a beer with his pit chief, so i felt no pressure from behind and just tried to concentrate on getting as much out of the car as i could.

needless to say, I was happy to see the checker when it came out and effectively tip-toed thru the last half lap or so, acutely aware of every imperfection in my technique.

Decided to go with the under powered 575 and all through practice I kept telling myself to go grab the 550....of course I never did.

So I qualled 2nd with a decent 575 lap but no where near Bobby's lap.

I got a good start and managed to lead for about a half a lap before Bobby drove by me. So my plan was to try and keep close to Bobby until he either made a mistake or maybe I could get him on the pit exchange. We drove for about 12 laps with the gap fluctuating between 1.5 and .4, was pretty exciting even though there was no way to get by him with the horsepower difference.

Lap 13 we where lapping a car into Ascari, Bobby got by in the braking zone and the lapped car went wide, I assumed to allow me through also. So I took the extreme inside to avoid any contact and next thing I knew the nose of the other car was turning toward me, contact and around I went. I waited for a clear spot and rejoined about 10 seconds later in 3rd.

After a brief few laps with Michael Chriss behind I started regaining on Tim in 2nd, that is until I approached that same lapped car again and wouldn't you know it, in Ascari again. This time I was more prepared and only lost 3 seconds that lap :(

So now my tires are giving up a little but I am still gaining on Tim and I manage to catch him into Parabolica and he threw a hand out the window indicating he was pitting so I got the easy pass. Now I am leading and planning my stop in a few more laps.

Since I have lost about 15 seconds to Bobby due to traffic and he has the faster car I figure my only chance for the win now is to double stint my tires. So I make my stop, adjust the pit board and wait for my crew to complete the stop rejoining still with the lead by about 9 seconds.

Bobby is lapping pretty much a second a lap faster and in about 10 laps he catches and passes me. As he said he outbraked himself and I briefly got the lead back but his passing me was inevitable.

Would have really liked to see how this race would have gone without the spin but I wont complain about a 2nd place.

Grats to Bobby and all that finished.