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Week 3 is done with and it was a mixed bag. Early on in the week I had been working on my setup and in the early part of the week I had something comfortable to work with. I love Laguna and was really looking forward to a few races there this week.
My first race was great and very eventful. I started from second on the grid and got off to a good start, and cleanly away. No issues in the first few laps and we quickly settled into a race pace. After a short time the lead car made a mistake on the front stretch and I was promoted to the lead! The following video showcases the opening action (excuse the poor quality footage).
However, the spinner was clearly a faster car and he soon hooked up his car and began eroding my lead. Although his spin put him third, he quickly despatched second and moved onto taking the lead again. This footage from his perspective.
Soon I was passed and tried to keep pace in second, but I was falling back each lap. Then, as we started the last lap I was gifted a lifeline in the form of a penalty for the leader. He had cut the corkscrew corner and had a ‘go slow’ penalty, allowing me to hop into the lead again. I had to keep it on track for one lap to steal the win….
So, second place and 100+ points (my target for the week).
I joined other races and had a mix of similar results (second placings in high strength-of-fields) but unfortunately I also had two awful finishes that saw me net <20 points. My weekly score was 84 points, which is far below what I am aiming for in the standings. I guess I can nullify these results by having week 3 become a 'drop' week but it's a bit early to be thinking about that.
I also had my first encounters with some of the pro drivers in iRacing this week (glad to see them racing the Solstice!). First up was Justin Wilson who qualified 3rd to my 2nd. Here are the opening corners from Justin's view :
And later on was a race with AJ Allmendinger. Sadly that was one of the results that saw me spin and damage my car so I wasn’t able to dice it up with him, except I will say that he is FAST.
Overall I was disappointed with the two poor races that brought my average down (without which I’d be up in the 110pt region) but each accident has given me something to learn from and made me realise that losing a position is far far better than going off track, or worse, having to reset the car.
Next week we go to new track (for me) of Jefferson @ Summit Point…
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