UKAC Season 14 Alfa GTA Historics Series Round 4 - Imola - Feb 27

[FullMetalGasket]

32 I think. It's not that as your car slowed HARD. Almost as though you put the handbrake on (no brake lights).
I had to avoid passing you before the line you slowed so much.

Decent points haul for me, but my driving was terrible - stupid unforced crash in each race.
First race I got lucky when max took too much kerb and beached/span, Fabri did start closing slightly but I had space to hold on.

Second race I put myself into the wall hard at Acque minerali just after Max had made a schoolboy error. This trashed the car so much I was about a second down each lap - even with the advantage of drafting Max for the first 2 laps...

I actually thought he was slowing to let me win at the end, so braked. I'd have driven into his boot and pushed him over if I had too


Alexey, it won't be before the weekend as it's my girlfriend's birthday tomorrow. Not sure you'll like it though - some of the tires were intentionally overpressure to increase speed on the straights

[Mark J]

Two very different races for me tonight.

Qually and race 1 were both ruined by discos (not had one for ages). Finished 9th.

Race 2 found myself on the front row but had decent pace surprisingly. Was amazed (and disappointed!) to see Fmg already 4th by lap 2  ..so much for a cushion 
He soon caught me so didn’t risk a contact at the tricky downhill section and let him past, but then I improved my pace further and was able to keep him in sight for quite a while whilst setting new pb’s that kept Kimi at bay behind. He chased me for a long while but faded away eventually.
I could still see fmg ahead upto the last lap when I noticed my fuel was almost empty  and made a mistake at Tosa that cost 3 seconds 
Luckily no one was near me so I cruised home to a fine 3rd place 

[MaxVeloce]

32 I think. It's not that as your car slowed HARD. Almost as though you put the handbrake on (no brake lights).

having watched the replay I have to agree it seems that way, but I defnitely didn't pull the handbrake, was flat in 5th     sadly it doesn't seem possible to have an app that shows handbrake use so no way to check for sure.


Oh well,  onto the races.

I never really clicked with the car / track combo and didn't find a setup I was comfortable with at all (which is a disappointment after goodwood where I had it sorted), so I struggled to get a good qually lap

Race 1 -  The start was ok and I had a slight run on Fabri heading up to Tosa, but he understeered in the fast right just before the braking point and I almost went off track. We both survived but it meant fmg had a bonus extra lead (like he needed it). A couple of laps later fmg span at the same place under braking and we were through, although he was quickly on Fabris tail and not long later back on mine. The he got a nice run on me and we were side by side up the hill from Acque Minerali and into the braking zone for rivazza I had the inside line,  but I clipped the kerb on the inside and span (doh #1). Next lap I had a nice understeery moment at Piratella and gently ran into the wall on the outside, then proceeded down the hill where the wall again invited me to play, ending up embedded in the armco..  race over

Race 2 - I got a good start and slowly pulled a gap,  but still didn't have the raw speed of fmg. A couple of laps later he was past everyone else and only 3.5 seconds behind me. I kept pushing trying to drive clean laps and I was setting PB after PB but it wasn't nearly enough, loosing half a second or sometimes more. with a few minutes left fmg was right on my tail and again I messed up into Piratella and ran very wide, allowing him past, only to see him drop it under braking into Acque Minerali and bounce off the wall, allowing me to get back past. After that it was abit easier as it became clear he had taken some dmamage and lost top speed so I could easily hold the gap. On the last lap I knew I only had to bring it home and backed off a little in the turns so as not to make a mistake - all looked good until 100m from the line and then I had some weird occurence, it does look from the replay like the handbrake was full on but I for sure didn't do that so who knows.  Lucky for me fmg is not only fast but a gentleman too, and he braked allowing me to cross the line 1st 

Between the races I gambled on some blind setup changes and it did work a bit, setting new PBs in race 2 and running a good bit quicker than I could before, but I still didnt like the car - getting the front end to bite is unpredictable at best...

[Fabri Fibra]

I was pretty slow but in Qual I managed to get the second position on grid.

In Race 1 I started well, on fast right corner before the Tosa I had a huge understeering and I accidentally forced Max on left, near to touch the grass. Sorry for that, Max   Fortunately we did no disasters, and Max passed me on Tosa turn. Then FMG did a mistake but he passed me quickly. I was so in 3rd position. I was thinking that I ll mantein this pos untill the end, but Max did a mistake, so I finished 2nd.

Race 2. First 2 laps were ok, I was behind Alexey, not very close, when he, for some reasons, hit the barriers on Tamburello. I had no chances to avoid his car. My Alfa was highly damaged and became slower than about a second per lap. Then I had a good battle with Simon and Kimi. A final 4th pos.