Congrats Tristan, Giovanni, and Doni! It looks Tristan and Doni were the tortoises and Giovanni was the hare. I appreciate Doni's consideration. It was kind of him to let me pass twice. It was nice to see Phil near pole position. I knew he must like this track to be as well prepared as he was.
I did 2+ laps offline before the event. I got two CTDs during that time. One was like Phil's. I had a horrible crash and the other was like Fulvio. I entered the car and while sitting in the pits. It slowly drifted to the left and once it touched the wall, GPL booted me back to the desktop. Prior to this event I had only driven 2.5 or 3.5 laps, three half laps and one or two full laps. The 3 half laps were from CTDs. Every time I'd leave the trees, going up the mountain, I'd run wide in a right hander where there is a parking spot on the left. I'd hit the bank on the left. It would launch the car and I'd get a CTD. Luckily my computer was flawless throughout this event.
On my first qually lap, I hit someone who was going the wrong way
. They must have crashed and got confused.
That was me Phil.
I'm glad that's the first time I've done that. Offline I reset a few times because I wasn't sure which direction to go after a major crash. I had no clue I was going the wrong way until I saw you, milliseconds before I clipped you. At that point I had already forgotten I might be going the wrong way. I apologize for that lunacy. I'd have qualified at 19:55 if I hadn't been disqualified for that mistake.
I'm glad I didn't make a huge mess this time. My lack of experience here makes me a real danger. I didn't like being near other cars. I didn't want a car within a few hundred meters behind me. I figured it would be inevitable I'd wreck and my car would take the trailing car out. I didn't want to be too close to a car in front in case they blocked the track.
I like this track. One day I'll learn to drive it well. It is frustrating not knowing where you're going but I'm sure it will be thrilling once I learn it. It's a fantastic addition to GPL. I don't know if it will ever be a good track for close racing but it could be if all the drivers have a good setup and have a lot of experience. Otherwise it's more like a rally stage.
It's a shame Fulvio couldn't practice. I'm glad he was able to start the race. I guess he showed there are still some problems with the pit stall locations.
Thanks for the fun guys and thanks for giving me a good excuse to learn this better.