A Tough Start To The Year (Pt. 2)
- Kabort Motorsport
- Apr 24, 2023
- 5 min read
Updated: May 2, 2023
The week following my "return" (after a month away), I was supposed to see a relative in Germany, but due to personal reasons, this was postponed two weeks.
Whilst it certainly wasn't the news I wanted to hear, it did mean that I had two weekends I could finally make my IMSA Endurance/IMSA MPC (Michelin Pilot Series) debut at - after all, I did say to myself that I wanted to race in both series this season.
The Story So Far
As mentioned above -thus far (half-way into the season) I haven't yet raced in either IMSA E (IMSA Endurance Series) or IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge.
This being due to:
Week 1 (18th - 19th March)
18th March: Was on mainland on the 17th, didn't make sense to return home for one day
19th March: I had a concert.
Week 2 (25th - 26th March)
Was on mainland/busy. (Roadtrippin')
VRS Endurance was at Imola (favourite combo!)
Week 3 (1st - 2nd April)
"An undesirable weekend"
EES (European Endurance Series - 6hr Series) was in it's off-week.
VRS Endurance was at Red Bull Ring (which I participated in)
IMSA E was at Magney Cours - which I had no interest in buying.
The Present
Week 4 (8th - 9th April)
Since being told that the trip to Germany had been postponed, I went from
0 races (planned) to an entire weekend packed with a wide variety of different endurance series in iRacing.
Notice I said endurance.
IMSA's Michelin Pilot Series was at Mid-Ohio. Back in 2022 (ironically in the GT4 Challenge), I first came across this circuit - this was my introduction:
I still have not a clue what the layout is after a right hander Turn 1.
After sorting dates and time-slots - this is how the weekend looked to be heading.
Saturday, 8th April
10:00am - Donington Park (VRS E)
6:30pm - Nurburgring Endurance Championship (Round 1)
*(At 6pm my Formula 4 league was due to start, but without a single entry this year, I decided to prioritise NEC)
Sunday, 9th April
14:00 - Silverstone EES (European Endurance Series)
Sadly, on Friday, I'd be told that Sunday wasn't doable for my team-mate, so the Sunday EES race was unfortunately scrapped. No iRating loss there then I suppose!
The Tragic Weekend
Unfortunately - just as EES had unravelled before my eyes - the rest of the weekend would very much follow in the same sort of fashion - ending Saturday night with x2 DNF's and x2 DNS's (if you count ARL and EES).
Donington Park
I'm not going to beat around the bush - Donington Park is one of my all-time favourite circuits - the elevation, flowing nature...and of course the fact it's a British circuit.
Whenever an (iRacing) GT3 Endurance Series arrives at Donington - I'm already there!
Racing at Donington for the VRS Endurance Championship was a no-brainer - and, to be honest, it all started pretty well.
As standard, I'd qualify nearer the back of the 49-strong field, in 36th.
From there...I didn't really go anywhere - people would go off, people would pass me.
On Lap 4 - I'd lose a further 4 positions after being in the wrong place at the wrong time
From here, things didn't overly improve. I'd only return to 34th (where I was before this happened) on Lap 11.
Progress was slow and I'd only enter the Top 30 (29th) on lap 25 - my penultimate lap.
The following lap would be my last full lap - and ironically my fastest.
After this, on Lap 27, I'd make a small error and Turn 1 - but this would cost me the race and 70 iRating - and a whole lot of self-worth.
Whilst off-track, you gently guide it back on track...but I absolutely booted it.
One race done and one to go - it was time for Sunday.
Sunday 9th April, 2023
After a stellar debut in the Aston Martin Vantage GT4 in the final round of last year's NEC (Nurburgring Endurance Championship) (5th), me and Dominik agreed to do the 2023 NEC season in the Aston.
Rule #1 of motorsport is "Don't Hit Your Team-Mate" - and if you don't have a team-mate (which we didn't in this case) - it's "Don't bin it on Lap 1..."
Which I did - not even half a lap into our NEC Race.
After qualifying 10th/12th - we didn't have all too much to lose - but a lap 1 calamity like that is certainly something you want to avoid.
Despite a bit of "weight reduction" - she was still more than drivable - so we pulled her into the pits, got a spare bonnet/hood and sent her on her way once more.
At the end of my first stint, I managed to claw back 6th/13th - with P5 within reaching distance.
Come the dying laps of my second stint - the GT4 class was incredibly close - 1st - 5th had broken away slightly, but 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th were all directly battling one another.
The (GT4) leader was the first to blink, pitting on Lap 13, followed by P4, P6 & P7.
On pit-entry - I attempted to overtake a GR86 - however suddenly realised "Oh dear, I've missed the pit-entry" - so slowly reversed up the striaght just to nip back in - it was irritating though as my rival (I was trying to beat) pit a lap before - so I was trying to make as much ground on him as possible - this mistake really eating into the time I had made.
With two hours gone - and two hours to go, it was Dominik's turn to get in the car.
On his outlap, down fuchsröhre, he had a BMW GT3 breathing down his neck, missed his braking point and ploughed straight into the armco - at 70mph - the Aston didn't stand a chance of driving away unscathed.
With the fast-repair already used on a bonnet-repair - there was nothing we could do - and with almost half an hour of repairs - we were both in agreement that our day was completely and utterly done.
The annoying part was - our rival (that we were chasing) eventually finished the race in 2nd place - maybe a sign of things which could have been had we not crashed out - or me not plastered against the armco on the opening lap.
It marked the end of a very enjoyable - but difficult weekend - but it also marked the end of a very tough start to the year - from here, things would begin to look on the up and up - some fortune eventually coming our way in mid-April the following weekend.
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