Atlantic nGT: Imola

Grats to the podium.

Once again I got taken out at T1, this time by a driver that was actually using his brakes, but with 4 cars ahead of him he tried to fit in a spot with no room. So I wait for everyone to pass since I am stopped in the middle of the track.

Next thing I know I am stalled in the trap, 2 stalls and 40 seconds later I rejoin in 19th, dead last and WAY behind.

So I did the best I could do considering the circumstnces, sorry to some of those cars I passed, again I tried slowing earlier but some of you damn near stop in those chicanes, taking me by surprise.

Was looking forward to racing with Ari Grecian and the rest but I guess that will have to be another day.

Can't wait for GTI and a rolling start, this T1 dive bombing is stupid.

That was a war out there,lol.Where did i start,17th i think,12th before the end of the lap,crazy,only passed cars turned around or off track.No problem with that contact Gary,the traffic nearly caught me out too.Dennis,that's the crazy thing about being nice and waiting,i'm fairly certain you didn't even touch me,i just ran out of traction on the outside there.I had to throw myself off the track in that same corner behind George on the 2nd last lap or take him out,then passed a ferrari beside the track and my poor teammate out of fuel to finish 8th.

This is a much tougher track to drive in close quarters than I expected...lots of very high speed sections followed by bumpy, low speed corners allow lots of opportunity for contact. I'll have to remember to be extra careful about racing at Imola in the future. It's too bad that every series has that one track that seems to cause more trouble than the others (and it's not made any easier when driving against a competitor that doesn't display much courtesy to his fellow drivers.) That caused serious problems several times in this race - the most serious for me when traffic stacked up in the last chicane and I punted Barry Kennedy and spun him around.

Barry - thanks for letting me off the hook so easily. I should have expected that the traffic in front of you would slow more than expected, given some of the driving behavior that we had previously seen within that group. It was my responsibility to avoid contact in that situation, but I'm glad you understand that it wasn't intentional and was very difficult to avoid, once I realized what was happening.

I agree with Barry .... that was war outthere in the first stint. But for 95% a very good one to fight. Very close racing with ofcourse here and there some offs and a lot of paint being exchanged. On top of that some aliens with trouble at the start fought their way back through the field. If you weren't in this race ... download the replay and watch it from about timestamp 900 at postitions 8 to 16. Too bad I was punted out in the last lap. There really was no need for that because it was done by a driver who actually was saving fuel te make it to the finish. Which in the end didn't work. But it's ok because I lost 8th to Barry who had recovered from some trouble himself. One last word to Don. I read your blog Don and yes ... during that first stint I was thinking "Don ... what the hell did they put in your drink before the race?" :-) But hey .... it's been said many times before: Quiting is NOT an option. Just try to count to 10 the next time you are punted of and the adrenaline takes over making you want to get that postion back asap. Hmmm ok... 10 is maybe a bit too much .... try 5. :-)

First I lost the rear while braking for T1 and straightlined the chicane. Then while rejoining, I get nudged off again due to two cars fighting side by side - a racing incident although during the race I thought I had been rammed. Climbing back up from p14 cost me a lot of time but eventually I was in sixth, and after pitstops I was p2. That was a pleasant surprise, I figured even a podium would be a big ask after the first corners.

Man what a race. Piped Ari to pole by less than a tenth on my last run. Nice.

Had a ok start , just slightly slower than Ari adnd he tried to go round hte outside but I telegraphed his move and wisely backed out and he got it a bit out of shape allowing me to get through and run my own race.

Now if you want to see a shumi-esque 1st stint then thats what I did :) It was just amazing controlled aggression consistent pace, I just kept going faster and faster each lap and it felt great, not one mistake and I pulled out a 30 sec gap by lap 18 :0 Oh my!

Took my pitstop calmly, no mistakes and then just managed the tires and pace for rest of the race, no problem.

The lapped cars were great but I'm getting the feeling Alex is a bit of a nutter on track :) He crashed into me head on trying to rejoin :\ Dude.....no!!!.......you have to wait and no apology even :\

Other than that it was a perfect race from me, even if Ari or Kent didn't have their mishaps, I was untouchable :)

Quite an amazing race. There was quite a battle going for midfield positions in the first stint of the race. It was exciting, a bit hairy at times, with some great driving by some of the guys (Gary Miller, Dennis Morissette, George Pol,Barry Kennedy come to mind). All I can say is that everyone should see the replay, it is extremely, ehm... educational. There was so much action in that group that I kept having to rewind and go view things from all cars.
I tried to be clean and fair, hopefully everyone thought so. Clearly I am not the fastest but I am still learning. Before my pit stop I had gone up to 7th and came out 14th. I think I am still way too conservative with the fuel and my crew just put too much. Then, with 20 minutes to go my engine blew up-- probably because I am an idiot, since this is my second engine kabbamo in GTR2 in two weeks.
Congrats to podium.

Quote Radius Other than that it was a perfect race from me, even if Ari or Kent didn't have their mishaps, I was untouchable :)

There is no way to argue this.....but I sure wish we could have raced.

hahaha

Nice :))

Wow, just watched the replay & the battle you guys had mid pack.Looked more like Cole Trickle & Days of Thunder stuff.
Also,just checked out who Tom O'Gorman is. We had a nice battle for 3rd place @ the end of the race.You showed alot of patience for such a young guy, nice job!