Oh My Okayama! (Week 13)

Friday 9th December, 2022

Midnight strikes, and I load into my nightly midnight practice session, today it was Okayama.

I finished 6th, but I knew I had more in me - carnage had erupted within the server, and even if I could complete a lap, so much was happening every lap, it was hard to get into a rhythm.

I awoke early the next morning, I had a personal phone call scheduled, but following this, I hit the track and did a few more laps of practice.

By 11:30am, I had done four sessions.

00:00 - Midnight Session

Session Fastest: 48.587 Fastest Lap: 49.530

Ave. Lap: 51.984

Fin. Pos: 6th

01:00 Session (Opened at 12:30)

Session Fastest: 48.240

Fastest Lap: 49.181 (0.349 faster than midnight)

Ave. Lap: 50.626 (More consistent too)

Fin. Pos: 5th

10:00am Session

Session Fastest: 48.069

Fastest Lap: 49.079 (Knocked off a tenth

Ave. Lap: 51.309 (Slightly less consistent)

Fin. Pos: 8th

11:00am Session (Pre-Race Session)

Session Fastest: 47.806

Fastest Lap: 48.956 (-1.15 of session best!)

Ave. Lap: 51.107

Fin. Pos: 12th

11:30am - Race 1 (Ave. iR - 1089) - DNF

And then came the race....which was absolutely insane.

To my utter surprise, I qualified 3rd, on the second row with a lap-time of 50.151 - having done 49's (49 second laps) in practice - at the time, it was a huge shock to me that despite the slower than expected lap-time, I still qualified on the second row.

I got a good, clean start - tucking in behind 2nd place, 3rd - and it seemed every other car behind having an absolutely monstrous pile-up - putting me in 2nd with a MASSIVE gap behind...this improved as on lap 2, P1 came into some strive (a spin I think) and I led with a good couple second gap behind me.

I led for five laps - five laps of absolute bliss, a few cars to lap, but all the more cars to put between myself and P2.

On Lap 7, the unthinkable happened. Across the start finish line, I noticed a yellow blob lingering in my mirror - I squinted to see if it was an F4 or an F3, around turn one, it grew closer, I was glancing in my mirror, looking and the track - mirror, track, mirror, Blam.

A backmarker (F4) had spun out at turn one, and picked the exact moment I was passing him to re-join, spin back around...I received a massive wallop and was set hurtling towards the barriers. After my car stopped spinning, I hoped that iRacing had glitched and that the car was still drivable. It was not. I was beyond devastated - I could have had a battle for the lead - or even won it, but no. Today was not my day...or the hour wasn't mine.

By the end of the race, 14 out of the original 27 starters finished the race - drivers starting 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th all retired.

Coincidentally, just as I left the session, it was exactly 12:00 - the next session had only just opened up - so, I did another 30 minute practice session before the race started.

12:30 - Race 2 (Ave. iR - 1243) - 3rd

I once again qualified 3rd - me posting in a solid 49.813 (-1.2 seconds off pole).

It was a solid 3rd --> 3rd race - but I felt guilty, it wasn't my first attempt, and usually, by this point, I would have moved on and waited for the next round (Oulton Park) - but I felt I had more in me - I had done a 49.0 in practice, and in my first race, that would have been enough for pole, and this race, it would be enough for 2nd (front row still).

After lunch, knowing that I had nothing to lose, I gave the race another shot - to see if I could get on the front row... and at 3pm I returned.

3:30pm - Race 3 (Ave. iR - 1047) - 1st

In Race 3, I had an absolutely shocking qualifying session - spinning out at the final corner of my first flying lap - I reset to the pits and had one lap/attempt left - I did a 50.544 - in practice I was doing 49's - and in Race 2, qualified with a 49.813 - which, had I done it in this session - would have got me pole.

I hadn't to worry though, as come the race start, the leader was nowhere to be seen - and didn't take the "normal" start - (started from pits) - which gave me a clear track ahead...

It was a clear and good victory, and one I was proud of - but at the same time, I knew how insignificant was, as it was just week 13, and I got 3rd beforehand, and I was on my 3rd attempt.

4:30pm - Race 4 (Ave. iR - 1147) - 2nd

Despite the win, I held onto my celebration for after one last race - that 50.544 was bugging me - it was so far off my pace - but during qualifying, it all suddenly clicked - the reason I was "blitzing around" in practice was because I had done a good 3 or 4 laps previously and the tyres were right up to temperature and giving me ample-loads of grip - in qualifying, I had two laps and less than 10 corners and the track was only 2km long - the tyres simply hadn't the time to go from cool to "crispy" and "al dente" for lap-timing - and I was losing time thinking I could push the car to the very limit on my opening lap.

Finally, after four attempts of trying I finally put in a genuinely competitive lap-time - averaging the sort of time I was doing in the midnight practice sessions.

I qualified 2nd with a 49.556, which:

- Was 0.026 slower than the midnight session

- Was faster than my qualifying times in both Race 1 & 2.

- Pole did a 49.062, which beat all my fastest times other than the Pre-Race Session at 11am.

Once again, pole had an absolute NIGHTMARE of a start, spinning on lap 2, leaving me with a small, but healthy gap to P2... I tried to shake off P2, but he wasn't buying it - wherever I went, he went - and with the severe traffic situation, he eventually got the run on me, and passed me on lap 8 - and I followed him to the line, picking up 2nd place, and wrapping up a VERY good day in the office.

After Race 2, (used as a "What If I hadn't been killed by a backmarker" race - my goal was to set a "representative" qualifying lap - with the tyres being very much on a "knife-edge" (not grippy during Lap 1 of quali) this was pretty difficult - but I didn't once qualify lower than 3rd - and when I DID finish, I didn't finish once off the podium - so, I think that's very telling of where my pace was in relation to my split/s/the field.

Tomorrow is Oulton Park - my home race for the Week - I've never been - but in the league races I've done, Oulton Park is an AMAZING track - so should be pretty terrifying, yet pretty fun!

Until tomorrow!