iRacing Season 3 Mazda - Infineon Raceway (IRL) - Jun 1

[JohnBayes]

Yeah Grats Team Shark

Well I got pole finally, despite me not getting a very good lap but was enough for pole anyway.

Shame Dan and James had the coming together would have been a good battle but it did make my life a little bit easier, and grats to Michael and Si for the podium.

[popabawa]

Pretty uneventful race for me but I'll take that at Infineon any day!

I put in a new PB to go 10th on the grid but was soon up to the giddy heights of 6th but around half way Ken and Ade were catching me pretty quickly and I was soon down to 8th again but with a big gap over Martin in 9th.

I knew my only chance was if someone messed up and Ade obliged, which was a pity, it seemed like an excellent drive up to that point.

I nearly nicked 6th from Ken as he punctured, another 50m and I have had it!

Pleased with 7th though: that's 7th, 8th and 7th so far - Mr Consistent

[Dan Minton]

Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid ass. Completely my fault Dan, so sorry, nothing you could have done to avoid me - completely misjudged how much room was on the left and clipped your wheels like a pratt. Robbed both of us of what could have been a great battle. Not sure what else to say really. Back to the Solstice for me...with stabilisers.

Dont worry about it James... Luckily enough i watched "The Book of Ely" today and it put me in a real calm mood  ...    Puts things in perspective.. .    Reccomend it if you like apocalypse films.


Grats to Team Shark on the podium......Think i might stp practicing for the races and just do a Simon ..Turn up and get a podium.

[ross.mcw]

Good fun that one and nice to be up (somewhere) near the front for once! After being gifted at least three places through early incidents in front, I found myself close behind Simon chasing for third. Initially it seemed like I had him on pace but just couldn't see where I'd ever get to make a pass and knew he was fairly unlikely to make a mistake. I applied as much pressure as possible for two or three laps but it was inevitable that I'd slip up through trying too hard and as a result I dropped a couple of seconds and couldn't keep up whilst watching Brendan looming in my mirrors.

That left me fending off Brendan as best as I could and really all I needed to do to secure fourth was too hold it all together for the second half of the race.  However a number of scrappy corners left Brendan right on me and I eventually buckled under the pressure. Surprisingly though Brendan was too much of a gentleman and he let me fight back a couple of times but I knew I was out of my league really and so with a couple of laps to go, he was past and away so I settled back for fifth.

Very happy with that really. Certainly my best performance to date and a definite improvement in pace even from my race the night before.

Well done to John, Mike and Simon for their podiums, amazing pace at the front as ever!

[Legzy]

First time I've enjoyed an open wheeler at Infineon, but right now I'm loving the Mazda everywhere.

Was doing quite well early on, but then a recovering Purdy started putting on a bit of pressure & like any prodigy driver would, I crumbled & lost 3 positions
Made a bunch more mistakes after that & managed to pick up about 12 incidents for clipping grass & 2 maybe 3 spins in a lonely 2nd half.

Happy enough overall though with my nights drive.

p.s. Disappointed that I've beaten Oily in two out of three races, yet I trail him by more then 150 points! (Stupid scoring system... )

[picnic]

I'm surprising myself and quite enjoying these Mazda outings. Lack of time for any practice meant I deliberately didn't put a competitive qual lap in so my lack of skill on cold tyres wouldn't wreck anyone else's race. And par of the course I had a spin on lap 2 while the tyres were still probably a bit cold. Had a few more moments on route to the flag but was pleased to be able to pull away from people who I passed when they had off track excursions Never had a chance to pass Martin who handled what little pressure I could apply really well for the last few laps. Even managed a high 28 in the race which I was pleased with.

[Ken Murray]

I can't get this place sussed out for any race of significant length. I just knew I'd get a puncture at some point, it was just a case of when. Luckily it was not until the chicane on the final lap and I was just able to trundle it home ahead of Iain. If I try to brake early and turn with less front end scrubbing then I'm just dog slow, and it is visible on track if I'm circulating near other cars. The only way I can run even mediocre race pace is by braking late, which tends to lead to trail braking and scrubbing the fronts, especially the left. Although there must be something inhrently wrong with my driving style, because I used to destroy tyres on the Dallara at every track we went to!!!

Anyway, back to the race. Qually wasn't to far off my PB so couldn't complain. The Dan and James incident had me straight up to 3rd but on the second lap I lost it on the crest at T4 when I clipped the curb. It was intersting fighting through the field, and I had Ade for company all the way. In fact as my tyres were suffering towards the end I think he could have had me but unfortunately he slide off track at the big downhill left hander. After that I really did try to save the tyres but I still had one go pop as described.

I haven't even bought Zandvort yet so looking forward to exploring that next week sometime.

[Adam Parle]

Well, all in all I can't really complain with coming in 10th.

Having been ill since the back end of last week practice hasn't really happened, so I was still very much finding the limits in practice, and partly in qually too.  I got into the 28's, and although I could have been quicker I wasn't dissapointed with it.

At the beginning of the race, we went green as I was turning round the hairpin, I got onto the power earlier than Ade and managed to make up a place which was a bonus .... even if it didn't last as long as I would have liked!

For pretty much the rest of the race I was trying to keep people behind me whilst watching them pull away in front.  Had I not been so terrifically crêpe at that slow chicane I might have had more of a chance at keeping folk behind me, as I was running pretty solidly if not blindingly quickly.  As it was despite braking at the same point (or so it seemed) and at the same intensity, I seemed to end up at the corner with wildly different speeds from lap to lap.  Ultimately I had to take a few trips accross the gravel, and that let everyone I was slowing down get past.  It's a shame, I'd had some fun keeping folk at bay.

Five incident points, all at that same corner ..... I really don't get on with this track.

[Brendan]

I was in two minds whether or not to enter this race, but I'm glad I did.

The bank holiday had robbed me of any practice time, and Infineon is a long way down my list of favourite tracks.  Qualified in 8th with a reasonable 28.2 and kept my nose clean over the first few laps.  

After the unfortunate incidents up ahead, I was up to 5th and tried hard to keep Simon and Ross within touching distance.  Once Simon had wriggled free from the attentions of Ross, I was close enough to try and apply some pressure.

Ross was driving well and was getting good exits from the slow corners meaning I was struggling to find a gap.  Lap after lap this went on until he made a small error out of the hairpin and I got by down the hill through the esses.  My joy lasted all of two corners though as he made a daring move down the inside into the chicane to regain the spot.  

With a couple of laps to go I managed to squeeze by again and bearing in mind what had happened previously I drove very defensive lines to keep Ross at bay and finish a very pleasing 4th.  

Fantastic race for me, great battling with Ross with some hard but fair and most importantly clean racing.  Grats to the podium and see you all at The Glen.

[ross.mcw]

Stupidly, I forgot to save the replay and meant to watch this afterwards as it was a great few laps - anyone have a replay they can make available?

Cheers, Ross.

[popabawa]

Just uploading it now Ross.

Looks like it will take about 30 minutes to upload but when it's there's it'll be downloadable from;

http://www.legendsracing.net/iracing/SRouk_Mazda_InfIRL.rar

[ross.mcw]

Nice one, thanks Pops.

[purdie]

Great fun and again I DNF'd in the final laps 

Clipped the wall on the exit of the last corner ever so slightly half way thru.... and car felt fine except in the fast chicane, which when I took a tad too much kerb, put me in the wall with 7 mins remaining   :'(

I'm still fairly crap at iRacing but a chequered flag would be nice... and the hardest thing is having no one else to blame! 

[ross.mcw]

...and the hardest thing is having no one else to blame! 

...if in doubt, blame mr_oily...

[mr_oily]

...if in doubt, blame mr_oily...

You should know by now that nobody's immune...not even team mates!

Seriously though,  I'll be fine next round, I've recruited the finest driver coach (my) money can buy