[Round 5 @ Estoril] Group 4

[Christopher Aponte]

Race reports for group 4

[Roy Stevens]

Not sure this is the right place to post this...but im going to have to pull out ..my racing pc has just made a load bang and shut down..so sorry

[Maurice Hurkmans]

Originally Posted by Roy Stevens

Not sure this is the right place to post this...but im going to have to pull out ..my racing pc has just made a load bang and shut down..so sorry

Roy, please also e-mail your absence to us. The e-mail adress is posted in the format and schedule document.

[Maurice Hurkmans]

Just made it again into Group 4. Glad to be racing for real again, but im still struggling to get some speed into the BMW. I just hope for a nice race without big incidents. But i fear the first corner. Really a hard one to get right.

[Michael Herrmann]

i just slipped in group 4 due absence reports 3rd point race for me 2nd time group 4
looking forward to a nice race cya all on track

[Dave Gardner]

not too sure how i managed to get group 4 to be honest,as stated elsewhere, i am really struggling with this track, for some reason i can't get to grips with it,i have been practicing and did manage a 1:47, but it is totally inconsistent, one lap 1:47 the next 1:48.

hopefully come race time i can get it sorted,if not will keep out of everyones way and just get some track time with you guys.

hey,you never know,everyone may crash and i may win, lol.

dreams :adhd:

bring it on.

Dave

[Simon James]

Originally Posted by DaveGardner

not too sure how i managed to get group 4 to be honest,as stated elsewhere, i am really struggling with this track, for some reason i can't get to grips with it,i have been practicing and did manage a 1:47, but it is totally inconsistent, one lap 1:47 the next 1:48.

hopefully come race time i can get it sorted,if not will keep out of everyones way and just get some track time with you guys.

hey,you never know,everyone may crash and i may win, lol.

dreams :adhd:

bring it on.

Dave

well done dave u truckie

[Dave Gardner]

hey simon,how are you m8

these buggers are too fast here for me

will try and keep up lol

Dave

[Simon James]

Originally Posted by DaveGardner

hey simon,how are you m8

these buggers are too fast here for me

will try and keep up lol

Dave

im ok buddy. they are a bit faster. got in group 2
have a good race

[Mark A Warmington]

Pre-qualifying. Got into G4 with a PB of 47.6 [not bad].
Practice. Went ok and was in the top 6.
Qualifying. 48.3 and 6th on grid [messed up the 47.9 lap].
Race 1. Got nurfed around in T2 [the kink]. No problerm - but suspension shot. Tried to continue but the car would not steer under braking.

After spending days going through prep-qual to barely make the race - I am feeling a little disenchanted with WTCC at the moment [no-one's fault]. All my races recently seem to end on lap 1.

The more time I spend with rFactor, ARCA & GTL the less I like the way the Race07 WTCC cars feel. At this rate I am not sure if I will put myself through the pain of pre-qualifying for the next round. I may need to rediscover my love for WTCC.

[AlanChan]

Sorry for the player i crashed in Race 2 :bear_noexpression:

[Michael Herrmann]

mark i exactly know how you feel latly most of my races end in lap 1 or short after
but to day i got such a blast at the wttc event cant even tell know
plz rethink about drop out of the league, there are bad days and good days and even if the good days are rare its still worth

race report will folow later i sweated like a pic and need a shower and dry clothes ;)
just want to thank maurice for the awsome first 4 laps of race two never through i could follow him
but his beemer seems verry tail happy so it was verry enjoyable to watch him fighting his car

[Julien Dufresnes]

I really want to give me excuse for my fault in the first corner (race2)

I brake to late and i can't avert all drivers

Sorry Sorry Sorry

[Maurice Hurkmans]

Originally Posted by Michael Herrmann

just want to thank maurice for the awsome first 4 laps of race two never through i could follow him
but his beemer seems verry tail happy so it was verry enjoyable to watch him fighting his car

No problem, Michael Had a great race and really needed to push quite hard in the beginning of race 2 to keep in front. Sadly you lost time after someone collided with you, so i saw you sadly disappear into the graveltrap...

Lets get back to the beginning:

Quali went quite well: was on my PB with a 1:48.2, did mess up a lap when i was -0.3 down in the 2nd sector. P4 in the end for me.

Race 1: Start was great! Came away very well, and managed to pass the 3 in front and kept Helder (who also had a good start) behind me. First 10 laps went great. I quick builded a lead of 4 seconds, which i kept until 3 laps before the end...... Then the handling of the car suddenly went very bad, so lost control of the car more then once and even spun the car around after the hairpin. Ended on P6.

Race 2: Actually same story Again good start! went to P1 again before T1. Kept the lead for 6 -7 laps. Then Fred passed me with his BMW. He really tamed his BMW better then i did. I saw him drive away quite steadly. So i was quite steady on P5 (Helder was 5 secs behind), until i messed up again Locked my rear under braking and kisses on the inside of T6. Only lost some seconds, but my front suspensions was quite damaged. My steering well was about 5 to 10 degrees off center, so handling went from bad to worse :o

Anyway, this time i managed it on the podium though.

So in the end, im quite happy with the progression i made controlling the BMW this season. But there are still some things to work on!

Thank you all guys for the race and see you again very soon

[Mehmet Arikan]

Originally Posted by Mark A Warmington

After spending days going through prep-qual to barely make the race - I am feeling a little disenchanted with WTCC at the moment [no-one's fault]. All my races recently seem to end on lap 1.

The more time I spend with rFactor, ARCA & GTL the less I like the way the Race07 WTCC cars feel. At this rate I am not sure if I will put myself through the pain of pre-qualifying for the next round. I may need to rediscover my love for WTCC.

Can understand you mate, so sory for my bump forgive me and lets looking forward. I know you as fair & fast and funny driver. Think about and dont leave the WTTC league.
Next time i promise you will put enough distance between us ;)

Originally Posted by Maurice Hurkmans

Quali went quite well: was on my PB with a 1:42.2, did mess up a lap when i was -0.3 down in the 2nd sector. P4 in the end for me.

wow rocket time Maurice

[Mark A Warmington]

Originally Posted by Michael Herrmann

mark i exactly know how you feel latly most of my races end in lap 1 or short after
but to day i got such a blast at the wttc event cant even tell know
plz rethink about drop out of the league, there are bad days and good days and even if the good days are rare its still worth

Originally Posted by Mehmet Arikan

Can understand you mate, so sory for my bump forgive me and lets looking forward. I know you as fair & fast and funny driver. Think about and dont leave the WTTC league.

Thanks for the comments. I don't blame anyone or anything [racing is racing ] - I think I just spend too much time in pre-quali chasing tenth after tenth . I will probably just limit myself to a maximum of 15-20 laps for future events. If I qualify, great if not .

[Dave Gardner]

Well,

that was an interesting 1st run with this league.

Race 1

The start, well done to Frederic Dubois for avoiding my crap start, i didn't see the lights go green,sorry :-(

was down to 5th by T3 but was back to 3rd when Jerome and Domink touched and both ran onto gravel at T6, then i just managed to grab 2nd when Helder Assuncao ran wide at T3 lap 2.

On lap 3 i totally messed up T6 and ran onto gravel,but,keeping momentum i rejoined in a gap but only after losing another 3 places,so i was back to 5th again.

i trailed Wido Rossen,Helder Felipe and Frederic Dubois for 4 laps then managed to get alongside Wido on the exit of T6 which mean't i had the inside line for T7 so long as Wido realised and never turned in too sharply, but i hoped he knew i was just in front and would leave room,he did :-)

lap 9 Helder Felipe ran too deep into T7 and i was into 3rd,then on lap 11 Maurice Hurkmans' tyres were gone and i was gifted 2nd place just after the chicane, i hoped Frederic was suffering the same as Maurice so i kept pushing,but alas,no such luck,so i finished 2nd


very happy with that as it was my 1st time with you guys.

i thought i would be clever and tweak my set up a bit to see if i could make it bit faster towards end of race BIG MISTAKE!!!


Race 2

7th on the grid due to reverse grid,hoping to start better than race 1,not bad,bit too much wheel spin than i can usually do,which mean't Frederic stormed past me and Wido, at T1 i felt like a pinball as Julien Dufresness came hot on the inside,totally on the grass which mean't he couldn't stop, and he pushed me into Esa Kuusisto,sorry for that.

there was a bit of argey-bargey on the exit of T3 between Dominik Furmaniak and Helder Felipe, i had a hope of getting past Frederic at the chicane but he had a better run out of it and closed the door.

after my set up tweaking i found i couldn't brake as late for T1 and Esa Kuusisto made a daring late brake inside and got a superb run on me and Dominik who had run a bit wide, i also managed to get past him too.

i thought i would have a go at Esa into T3 and it paid off,just as we got half way round the corner we touched,which put me into 6th

lap 4 i ran wide into T6,again,and Esa got alongside but i had just enough traction to hold position for T7,so i thought,but he late braked and i had tno choice but let him take the line,great stuff.

then,lap 5 T3,again, Esa made the same mistake as lap 2 and i got inside,cleanly this time, but the BMW had better traction on exit and he pulled in front,but ran a bit widein T4 and i was through,NOT,bloody BMW traction is a *****.

Esa then made a slight mistake at the esses which gave me the chance to go through,yeah,5th

buggeration,on lap 7, T6 AGAIN, i ran onto the gravel and Esa and Jerome got past me

lap 9, Christian Deparis made a hasty move inside Jerome ands ran him off line, it wasn't intetional as i think he locked his front wheels and had nowhere to go,
but this put in 6th, i was tempted to let Jerome through as i felt bad about him losing a place like that,but the adrenalin got the better of me and i carried on,i didn't have to worry though as he somehow got alongside at T5 and even though he was on the outside at T6,Esa had overpowered and was on the grass on the inside,my side,so i backed off the power in case he bounced off the armco but in doing so let Jerome past.

Christian Deparis outbraked himself into T1 on lap 10 which left Jerome and myself 4th and 5th repectively,but i got a bit of tow down the straight to,you guessed it, T6 and when he braked i did too,but i didn't slow enough and pushed the back of Jerome's alfa round the wrong way, so sorry, i did say sorry at the time and waited to let him back past,but in doing so it let Helder Assuncao through too,and Christian too. so now, thanks to the bloody T6 i was down into 7th.

Jerome ran wide into T7 and i got alongside but couldn't hold him off into the chicane and Mathieu Folgavez got through too,by now my tyres were gone big time.

on lap 11,it seems as if T6 wasn't only causingtrouble for me,but Mathieu and Jerome both ran onto the gravel after Mathieu tagged Jerome,this put me back to 6th,with Jerome now on a charge,he was catching,if we had to do 13 and not 12 i think he would have got past as my tyres were like jelly.


in short

Race 1,

Great

Race 2

not so good


Dave

[Dave Gardner]

was everyone that dis-gruntled with my driving they don't want to report on the races??? lol

Dave

go on, i won't be offended

[Mehmet Arikan]

loool