A Trio Of Heartbreaking Losses

Hello and welcome back to the blog.

I can't lie, these past two weeks have been rather difficult on iRacing - having had a podium well within grasps, only for it to be snatched away at the last moment.

At both the Spa and Le Mans 24 Hours, my team has HAD the pace to been on the podium - or within a chance of a podium, but luck plays her ways, and sadly it was not meant to be.

In team events, you win and lose as a team - but when it's just you in the car - the only person you have to blame is yourself (or the guy who drove into you)

Last week offered up some amazing opportunities to get a bunch of iRating, points - and even a good finish - but for some reason or another, all three events I participated in fell through.

It was a week packed with racing - chaos, but my sort of chaos

Ringmeister #1 - No Quali

Having only just done the Nurburgring Endurance Championship - and scored a 5th place, I was in high hopes heading into the GT4 Ringmeister Week.

As qualifying is always seperate for Ringmeister, I always do two attempts/races - one without qualifying, and one later after setting a qualifying lap.

Things started poorly at the 'Ring - I was placed 20th/24th on the grid - this was DEFINITELY the time for a pit-start.

Lap 1 was absolute MAYHEM and I ended up in 14th - but that was as high as I'd get as I'd on the power too early at Steilstrecke (corner before Karrussell) and spin it.

I'd then boot the power to get back on the track, clattering into a Porsche just trying to survive - far from my finest moment.

It was a bitter shame as the driver who started 21st managed to finish 9th - but instead it was an unnecessary loss of iRating.

Next on the agenda WAS meant to be the second Ringmeister race, but I crashed...again - and instead tried my hand at the FalkenTyre race at Bathurst.

FalkenTyre SportsCar Challenge (Bathurst/Mount Panorama)

I always knew this wouldn't end well - but I wanted to know how badly it would end.

In qualifying, I would absolutely baffle myself and qualify 5th on the grid - with 28 cars behind me, I could focus on the 10 ahead (5 of each) which could cause problems.

By the 3rd lap, I was in 4th - from here, with a large gap ahead, it was just about getting my head down and nailing every corner.

Despite huge pressure from behind (5th) - I kept my cool, avoided looking in my mirrors and kept doing as I was doing.

Eventually he did get past - but it was a huge weight off my shoulders.

On Lap 8, P4 lost the back end coming out of the dipper - facing the wrong way, he towed back to pits - and my P5 turned into a P4.

On Lap 9, the next chapter of the race began. The LMP3's came through to lap the GT4 field - around Bathurst, that's a tall ask!

With 5 laps to go, I knew that every lap I did, I was a lap closer to the finish - but P5 behind was closer....And then it happened.

The McLaren on the left (backmarker) had crashed at the bottom of the Esses/the Dipper - I slowed to pass him due to it being...well, Bathurst..but the Porsche behind...didn't take so much caution - and wiped both himself and myself out of a possible podium or Top 5 finish.

On the back of this, I successfully qualified for Ringmeister - and gave it another shot.

Ringmeister #2 - Qualifying

Qualifying did A LOT for my start position - for the second race, I started 3rd - without the melee of 50 cars to deal with, I could get my head down, focus and bring her home - hopefully bringing a much needed podium.

With trouble at Fuchsröhre, Truswell could escape.

It was a little bit like The Final Countdown - I could see on the relative that they were all CONSIDERABLY faster than me - the only question was if I'd be able to make it to the end of the race before they did...

I made it all the way to Lap 3...and then bottled it - all I had was one lap of the 'ring, and I'd be home, safe and dry - but sadly I'm no good under pressure and at the Nordschliefe, there's NO room for mistakes.

Off-line and too much speed and my race was done - now with an iRating of 1359 - I have a lot of work to do.