Plenty Of Exciting Races To End July!

Hello and welcome to the blog, I hope you are well.

I've had a good week and had some fun races.

Thursday 20th July, 2023

Other than the Evolution Sim Racing League, Thursday was a pretty uneventful day.

Race 1 went alright - going from 22nd to 17th (highest finish position in the league)

In Race 2 I was wiped out in a pile-up that took out a good half of the field of the field (16/31 got badly involved) - but due to there being no damage enabled, everyone was able to keep driving. I went from 17th to 25th and recovered to 20th.

Friday 21st July, 2023

All I remember from this day was the fact I got paid for my first month of work.

I won't say how much - all I will say is that earnt money feels SO good to EARN and have money that I EARNT personally myself as opposed to being given money.

Saturday 22nd - Sunday 23rd July, 2023

For the first time in my iRacing career, I've had to sacrifice an iRacing Special Event for work. Sure, yes I could have taken time off - but taking time off for a "sim racing event" - hell, gaming - isn't a good look on me as an employee.

And it begs the question

1) Where are my priorites...truly? 2) If I take a weekend off to do do the iRacing Spa 24 Hours - what counts as a "worthwhile" race - and which not? 24 Hours? Special Events? Would Le Mans Count?

Monday 24th July, 2023

With another week of work finished, It was time to dive into FRL's iMotoring Monday series - this week it was at Daytona Roval (2008) - and I decided to shine - pulling off a master strategy to come home 2nd behind Bjorn Klaassens who's won 5/8 races in the season so far (finishing 2nd in a further one) - myself (2) and Marco Kehdi (1) shared the remainder of the three wins.

To finish 2nd at Daytona Roval (but with a twist) was like Lando finishing 2nd at both Britain and Hungary - just like Verstappen, Klaassens has been absolutely unstoppable this season - so I considered it a win (in my eyes) - as nobody but Kehdi and myself have been able to top him.

And I only topped him at Monza because he didn't show up, and at Imola because the AI did my dirty work for me.

I'm certainly going to write a seperate blog for this race because it was truly a classic.

I don't know HOW I missed it, but on the 24th July, 2020, I claimed my first hosted win and my first official win - my first official win coming at Donington Park in the Skip Barbers - only claiming 1st on the very last lap.

your first win always being the most memorable - but with only two (official) wins to my name - I hold both as close as the other.

Wednesday 25th June, 2023

Another Wednesday, another FalkenTyre Sportscar Challenge Race - this week, it was Jerez.

After practicing at midnight - I knew I was in for a tough race - only four GT4's showed up to the session.

My prediction was absolutely right as come race-day, the race didn't split, and I was up against the best of the best during that hour of the day - I wasn't expecting much - but every position gained was a bonus

I qualified 11th - my highest qualifying position for a top-split race all season.

The race went...meh.

It wasn't a "crazy" race like Oulton or Zandvoort - I'd describe it as consistent.

I was fighting for a Top 10 in class (10th). Sadly, I was the victim of two punts - I believe I'm in the clear for both - but as they always say, It takes two to tangle... (Or three...)

As a result of this, I lost 4 positions and fell to 29th. With less than 3 laps laps left in the race - and this being a top-split race (apparently...) I couldn't salvage anything, and came home in 14th in class - with 1 incident point remaining before a penalty - in the end I lost a further -32 iRating - not the direction I wanted to go post RingMeister. That evening, it was the DML race at Lime Rock park - and where I finished 2nd and 3rd in Round 1, I (ironically) finished 3rd and 4th during Round 2. I swear, if I finished 4th and 5th at the next round (Charlotte Rallycross)!!!

Thursday 27th July Yesterday (just about) I had an incredibly fun Evolution Sim Racing league race at Spa - which I'll write as a separate blog - but Will, Richard (Fleuty) and Robin (Aston) all showed up and we all had a great time.

Fleuty had a bit of a nightmare speeding in the pit-lane and ending his race in 31st, Robin (Aston) was just behind him as the highest retirement.

The biggest shock for me was the fact that I finished three positions behind Will in 17th - although, granted Will had a nightmare in the pits, taking full fuel and tyres.

Even more shockingly, I managed to finish 5th in class - and with double points on offer - this was a healthy boost to my AM Championship bid.

This mega drive put me in 6th in the driver's championship - just a single point behind 5th - Upon starting this league, I thought I'd be nowhere NEAR the top 5! Next race is VIR - a bit of an achilles heel for me - don't MUCH like the circuit, but hopefully others will struggle too - but it's back to the two-sprint race format, and with a 2-minute lap time, it's only looking to be 10 laps for the first and 15 for the second - so not overly bad.

Friday 28th July As August nears, I'm just baffled at how quickly the year has gone by.

Saturday 29th - 30th July

As Formula E Hit the streets of London,

I hit the shelves of my local Tesco, maybe next year.