UKAC Season 2 GT2 Challenge Cup - Hockenheim - Oct 12

[picnic]

Where did you dig up that version of the track btw Mark, it was definitely the worse version of Hockenhiem I've ever seen! It had the right layout, but beyond that, I was one of the worst 3rd party tracks I've seen in a while.

We've raced this track at least twice before, but it looked very gloomy and depressing with that cloud cover. Mind you it made some brake lights easier to spot and you really noticed the glowing brake disks. Shame in the Rift a couple of corners were so hard to see.

Some great battling going on so the race made up for the location. And Shark I used the same setup as last week, no problem with hitting the rev limiter for me

[Linus27]

Well, what an amazing race. I was really struggling with tuning myself in to the track and really struggled with turn in points, braking points and overall speed in practises so I was expecting to have a terrible race and had a mindset of just look at it as a virtual track day.

So I qualified 6th which was better than I expected and then made an amazing start and found myself in 3rd on lap 1 which was new territory for me. I then had an awesome battle with Mark, Pete and Maikel which to be honest I was surprised lasted for so long. I was driving out of my skin which probably showed but my little white Ferrari did me proud but I could keep you guys back for much longer and with about two thirds of the race gone, you got past and I found myself in 6th. With my tyres gone, a few laps later, Simon past me and I ended up finishing 7th.

Still, it was an amazing race, just so much fun and amazing driving standards as usual.

Congrats to Eck on the win, great work fella

[Simon Gymer]

Some great battling going on so the race made up for the location. And Shark I used the same setup as last week, no problem with hitting the rev limiter for me

I rushed in, turned on my PC, fired up AC and just had 3 minutes left. No time for faffing around with useful things like getting your setup. :-)

[Maikel K.]

While visually the track wasn't that great it was a really good race overall.

With Jeffrey gone I decided to start somewhere from the back (7th I think) and race on the Hards. That was quite tricky as they were missing alot of grip when braking, which made for some awesome racing though  
Had some great battles throughout almost all of the race, really was pushing those tyres to the limit.

Gratz to Eck on the win, I was catching by the end, since your tyres were probably pretty wasted by then I assume, while those hards weren't such a bad idea strategically speaking since they were pretty much still OK  

[Mark J]

That was a superb race tonight, so much very close multi car racing it was incredible!  

I think I was in very close battle for at least 14 of the 24 laps until my soft tyres went off. It gives you new appreciation of how in f1 that the front guys get to keep their tyres in good condition from being able to pick their braking points, clean lines etc as opposed to being in a close fight with others where your having to react constantly, brake harder than normal and take different corner entries etc...no wonder your tyres and brakes get hotter and worn out  

Had a fab long bumper chase of Michael for many laps until Maikel caught me and Pete sneaked through in his slipstream. From then on until lap 14 it was amazing 4 car action and totally clean. Great stuff.

Shame some of you didn't like the moody weather, I liked it for a change of scene and I personally think this is a great version of Hockenheim that we've used a few times now   also, as far as I know it is the only version for AC.
Glad we had 10 runners in the end as it was looking a bit quiet in practise. From all the action you couldn't tell it wasn't 20 cars!

[garyjpaterson]

Really enjoyed that race, though made some mistakes that cost me.

Had the best quali i've ever had with P1 - but only since Maikel decided to not run   I noticed your fastest race lap on Hards almost matched my quali lap on Softs!    But I happily took it anyway - my first few laps had a lot of mistakes and were slower than my practice, but I knew with no mistakes I could match Ekins - and my last lap (after the checkered flag) I pulled it off, by a mere 0.011!

For me that was the highlight, my heart was racing, and I could barely get settled enough to start the race.

Anyway, the start was decent, Spanner was alongside into turn 1 and I think I gave him plenty room but we touched side by side anyway (wouldn't mind seeing a replay). Wasn't too bad, its was a super minor contact but Assetto Corsa being the way it is, my downforce/drag was crap!  

Had no pace down the straight, and had lost a lot of DF as well. Next lap I locked up into T2, letting Eck passed   Not sure if I'd have been able to hold him off for long anyway. He never pulled away too much, but I was just waiting the whole race for the inevitable - Maikel to catch me  

Didn't take too long, think about lap 17 or 18 he was gaining fast and I made another error at T2, but again, he would 100% passed anyway.

After that, it was all about trying to keep my podium, as I was really struggling, and Picnic was catching. On the last 2 laps I made silly errors on the last corner, but managed to keep him at bay.

 

Oh, a note on the gloomy weather - I actually don't mind a change, but I really couldn't see the track  It was just too dark, I think it might have been compounded by the fact wasn't all that great visually anyway - it might have worked better at another circuit.

[Eck Simpson]

As with every other race, I ran softs. Stick with what you know.

Got an amazing launch, amazingly clear run to turn one. Where Mark (Spanner) was suddenly broadside, got round the outside and found myself second... "What do I do now?". "Just sit in and hope to hold on", atleast a little longer, than previous outings. As Gary has mentioned, he wasn't gonna let me do that.. . As I wasn't able to get to my fastest time, in qually. Was sure I would come back to everyone. As a gap was never really there, I was even more sure, every lap would end with me behind someone. When I saw Maikel get to second, it was inevitable surely... :'(.

I started the final lap with no gap, straight line speed was all that was keeping me ahead. Though I'd surrendered to the idea of being passed at some point, I somehow mustered the "turn in early n defend", from somewhere. I've no illusion, I lucked into a set of circumstances. And all this, after having crashed out of the race, I should have been doing.

I'm keeping it though, I'll brag about it for years too....

[Linus27]

Nice one Eck, a deserving win if you ask me. You still had to drive the car at the end of the day and keep it on the grey stuff so well done.

[Jeffrey]

Can you remove me from the booking file please, I don't like all the DNF's for nothing 

[picnic]

Can you remove me from the booking file please, I don't like all the DNF's for nothing 

Nope - turn up and race 

 

[Mark J]

Yeah man-up Jeff, get your slow-ass back on the grid  . Me and Sharky are both injured yet still racing 

[Simon Gymer]

He's scared of being beaten by humans I reckon ?