Endurance Championship - Season 3, Round 1, Barcelona - 4th June

[Zacari]

That was a great race if you ignore the second lap Quali was as good as I could hope for, only 0.2 off my PB and was optomistic for the race knowing I could run in the low 1:40s but it didn't half take some getting!  With so many NGTs this year quali was pot-luck if you got a car-free lap but I had a good 3rd run for a 1:37.9  Spacefox was too fast to try and beat for pole!

The race was very hard work after I made a total schoolboy error out of 'wurth' (Turns 7+8) on the first flying lap, and ended up dead last behind aaaalll the NGT guys for a split-second I thought about the 'esc' key but it was such a long race even getting back to the top-5 was worth trying for.  It was quite comical actually, I was in dreamworld looking at the back of Spacefox's car then I suddenly realised I was heading for a wall!

Then the hard work started, keeping patient whilst using all the 550's horses to get past on the straights.  My quickest lap through the traffic was a whopping 3 seconds off what I knew the leaders would be doing so I didn't hold out much hope of a top finish.  Lap 9 or so I was in 6th and 15 seconds back from 5th, taking between 1 and 2.5 secs a lap off depending on traffic.  By lap 18 I was in 4th and getting close to SBG in 3rd but passing was not easy on tyers I'd thrashed just to catch up!  First attempt I had to back out of but the second was very tight, got a good run out of the last corner and pulled along-side over the s/f line.  But there was an NGT in front... on the racing line, so I thought 'I'll keep my line and SBG'll have to lift'.  Then the NGT car moved over... for a second I wasn't sure what to do, but he moved over far enough for both SBG and myself (good stuff! ) and I broke as late as I dared on the inside, SBG broke later but spun across the apex (I felt no contact, I assume there was none ) and I was in 3rd.

I was then amazed to see 2nd was only 8 seconds up the road!  So I finished the next two laps and came in for my sheduled stop.  Top job by the Ferrari boys got me out in 39.5s and I was then pushing to get everything back up to temperature.  A lap later and Spacefox pitted, I was amazed when I saw I'd taken second on the s/f straight.  A whopping 1:20 behind Rich meant pushing in lap after lap in the 1:40s to try and get the gap down, and once he pitted 5 or 6 laps later I amazingly had the lead.  By now Spacefox was taking lumps out of that, from 6 secs to right on my bumper at one point.  Still 20 mins to go... had to push incredibly hard to keep even a 1 sec gap, then an error in Campsa gave me a 10 second lead again with only 4 laps left.  Despite worn tyers and having to be slightly 'blunt' with a backmarker I kept ahead for probably my best win in GTR yet grats to the winner of NGT and the now 'old man' for 3rd (or 2nd, or whatever )

[maverick]

Apologies to Maverick who i think was retiring anyway?..the back end of my car whipped around off the kerbs, near the pit entrance and i sideswiped his slow moving GT car, sorry mate, i was just a passenger at that point.

I get one frame bug and I was just trying to live the track clear so no arm done

[Luis Branco]

Luis actually finished on the road ahead of both of us, but didn't realise he had to make a stop so will be penalised for it. Sorry mate. You drive a great race too. Think you were about 6 seconds behind my battle with TT at the pitstops.

Yeah, I noticed you guys were faster and I was thinking to myself: "great, they must be going with less fuel and pushing hard on the tyres. I'll keep a steady pace controlling distance to save the tyres and when they pit in they will never recover the lost time in box"

I don't even imagine then I to should have stopped once to keep the position. I was in the lead with around 36 seconds when you both got out of pit. I then thought again "Great, now is just managing the lead to end up in front"
I ended with around 26 seconds from Truetom, with the last laps in a clear management pace. If I had drove a bit faster when I was in front, and had stopped to pit in within the final 2 laps, not changing tyres nor putting fuel in maybe, just maybe, I could pit out still ahead and take the win. If, but I lost it all together when I didn’t noticed the new mandatory pit stop rule. Shame on me

[enz13_gt]

my bad luck carries over  first i didnt change q set and then game went laggy and steering just went,this happened twice now ,gonna try swapping mb,see if that helps

[picnic]

Replay and Provisional Results now available

[Simon Gymer]

pitstop but managed to join just after Shark again (what were you doing in the pits for so long?).

Nothing, it was just the extra fuel that needed to go in, I was pretty quick in and out of the pitlane. The Mosler burns a lot more fuel than the other NGT cars so even though I started with a full tank at the start of the race I was still having to put a hefty amount in to make it to the end. (Started 100L, at pit stop there was about 37L left and I put in 59L which gave me 1 spare lap of fuel at the end of the race (pretty tight)).

Tyres seem to hold up well except near the end of the stints where it was harder to brake as late due to the loss of tyre grip, overall the Mosler isn't too bad on the tyres if you drive it sensibly.

I blocked and in braking we both lost control. I don't know if we made contact or just lost it under braking.    I managed to continue while he spinned.

We were inches apart but no it was just a very very close behind sympathy off with you. 

Sweaty all over, gasping for air, then a Sharky torpedo hit me into space! 

I seemed to manage to launch your car onto it's nose for a breakdance spin on it's front number plate. Looked great in my mirror. 

In the pits I saw Louis was before us?!?!? As I could understand Louis didn't know he had to pit. I expect moderator will solve this situation, right? I worked my a$$ of for this NGT win! 

Unfortunately the penalty for failure to take a pit stop is exclusion from the results. Harsh on Luis who drove an excellent race and what probably would have been a close third, but rules are rules. 

[popabawa]

A super qualifying session got me a PB by 0.2s so I was only just behind the big boys

Bit disappointed really that my race ended early after a bit of contact sent me straight off at the end of the s/f straight. The car had a lot of damage and I decided it probably wasn't really very safe to limp almost an entire lap to the pits so I retired.

Pity that as I was running in 4th

[Simon Gymer]

With so many NGTs this year quali was pot-luck if you got a car-free lap but I had a good 3rd run for a 1:37.9  Spacefox was too fast to try and beat for pole!

LOL. I was thinking the same in an NGT, was difficult getting a lap in with all the GTs flying by. Had to try and make the most of the free laps that were available. All part of qualifying and there was only 21 cars out there, which was dissapointing but it shows it could have been a lot more hectic. 

[Jeffrey]

Unofficial lapchart

[Luis Branco]

Unfortunately the penalty for failure to take a pit stop is exclusion from the results. Harsh on Luis who drove an excellent race and what probably would have been a close third, but rules are rules. 

Np m8's. My bad I didn't read the rule changes. I clearly was keeping tyres as I planned to go without pitting.
If went for a pit I wouldn't have started with 100L but 70L or 80L at the most. With less fuel and with a pit stop to change tyres I would have raced with a faster pace not worried with tyres. The pit stop would have been a quick one just to change tyres and put some fuel to reach the end. In those condition I think we would have a tight fight between us 3 from start to end.
Let's see how it goes in Magny, now that I read the rules

[popabawa]

I thought there was something up Luis as I was able to keep up with you for the first couple of laps!

Only the first couple though, you disappeared pretty quickly after that

[Don]

Barcelona is now officially my least favorite track out of the original 10 I Still haven't managed to find a decent setup that suits me in the GT3 that can keep up with those 360's.
Apologies go to anyone that caught me on track around the 40 min mark, I had an off that caused a puncture and had to limp round a full lap with the car smoking and sparks flying, I tried to keep out of the way. If it had been a sprint I would of quit but as there was still 40 mins of racing left I really wanted to plod on and hope that my actions were acceptable to all?
Grats to the winners and Finishers and the GT (ngt )  boys were as clean as a whistle when passing (thanks)

[Mark J]

Err, dont want to rock the boat, but i noticed that i have been classified as finishing behind Gomes Da Silva, which i thought was odd as his best race lap was over a second slower than me.
I think he didnt pit stop according to the lap charts.
Can the mod chaps look into this please.

[Simon Gymer]

Err, dont want to rock the boat, but i noticed that i have been classified as finishing behind Gomes Da Silva, which i thought was odd as his best race lap was over a second slower than me.
I think he didnt pit stop according to the lap charts.

Also reported thanks Mark. Current results are provisional so when the moderators report is published the results will get updated too.

[Mark J]

Not sure if i am correct in my calculations but it would seem that Luis only finished 27 seconds ahead of me ? So presuming the time of a pit-stop i should have finished in front of him too ?....can someone confirm this?  I need all the points i can get