Watkins Glen GP – Race Report
We’ve run here a lot recently, but that’s no bad thing. Anticipation of this event generated a huge traffic on the forums 34 entries with sign up’s full by the Monday and a 25 page thread. A race ann the pre-qualification venue on the up and coming season for ATCC and the high speed of this long track guaranteed great racing and a big field. Add to that a field of (what finished up as) 27 drivers plus a live broadcast had the potential to be one of the best non-ATCC events so far this year. We were not to be disappointed.
Practice
Lesson learned, practice, practice, practice. Even without MOTEC I2, it’s easily possible to see where on track you are losing time (usually on the turns) and work on perfecting those areas. For me, consistency through turns 1, 8 & 9 were paramount as speed on to the main straight and through the last 2 turns on to the start/finish straight are critical at this venue. If you run wide at 1 it takes time to get back up to speed and hitting the wall at 9 when the track throws you in that direction compromises your speed - with a knock on effect on your rhythm through the last 2 turns and your entry speed at T1.
Having worked on a set-up for a couple of days and compared it to one by our esteemed racing club organiser Eric N, (thnx Eric, but for me, mine was faster). The best I’d managed during the week was a 1:55:1 which was down from the beginning of the weeks 1:59. Just as we moved from long practice 2 to the short one before super pole I managed to shave just under 1s from that to run a 1.54.2.
Superpole
Always my bugbear as I’ll rarely get close to my practice times. However, other than a couple of wobbles I managed to hit a 1:54:2 (quicker by hundredths than the practice lap - but still quicker). Good for 18th and in some good company with Abdul, Jarrod, Linus and William Y. Hmmm! these cars have a familiar look about them. Probably, could have run a high/mid-high 1:53 without these couple of wobbles.
Race 1
My heart was almost beating out of my chest! Lost a place on the rolling start, but made it back again when people ran wide in t1. Found that my car was good in the draft; hitting the limiter in 6th at 156mph at the top of the hill. I daren’t lengthen it any for the next race as this would compromise my no draft performance. It was only just before the braking zone in any case, so had minimal impact on lap times. My only mistake of the race was at turn 7 where I glanced right to see where Jarrod was and promptly ran wide on to the grass (note to self only glance on the straights; in the turns everyone will sort themselves out). Place lost. Coming out of the last turn later in the race, I avoided the start/finish straight incident that appeared to be the only major shunt of the whole race. Ran a long first stint and led for a lap before my pit to rejoined in 17th having passed Adam V in the pits where I’d changed fronts as he was serving his S’n’g. Too far behind a close running pack for 13-17 I’d resigned myself to finishing where I’d started but was gifted 2 places as Yuri tapped Glenn out at t7 on the last but one lap. An overall finish of 15th and a pretty good result. I’m sure that I was within less than ¼ of a lap of the leaders. Happy as I finished ahead of Adam V (always good for the ranking points) and no one in front of me was ranked lower (except perhaps Kane, but that won’t last long). William Y sorry for the small tap in T6 which you recovered from and didn’t seem to affect your race.
Race 2
William Y got a jump on me as the driver in front was slow to get away. So straight away back down to 16th, made good progress and was about to pass Paul Wood in his Accord out of the draft on he main straight when I got a tap from Yuri which could have been disastrous but I caught it and rejoined 2 places back behind Linus. Had a good race for a couple of laps then got close on the start/finish straight. I took a good line under braking into T1 and was well alongside by the apex. I’m not sure whether he missed me as I disappeared into the braking zone but Linus turned into T1 and bounced off losing a couple of places as he ran wide onto the apron. Sorry Linus, I guess that you just didn’t expect me to be so far alongside. I took a late pit stop again dropping from 1st to 18th in an effort to keep the car in balance as tire wear was pretty even front to back. I picked up a quick place to finish in 17th finally up 1 place.
Overall
A great and exciting night’s racing that left me buzzing. I seem now to have the measure of this track (for me) and on a perfect lap can probably run sub 1:54 which I think will be above cut of a server 1 place in pre-qualification, a low 1:54 may even make it too. Where did I go wrong, 1 mistake on the track and what seemed to be slow pit stops losing places that I’d gained. I know that it wasn’t when stationary so it must have been on the pit entrance. Maybe I’d just run too long and lost time on worn fronts trying to keep the car in balance with the equally worn rears. On some tracks with a straight in pit, that’s less of a problem but time can be lost on the others (note to self, practice, practice).
Thanks to everyone that raced on Friday Night (Saturday AM), Eric N for the organisation, RD for the servers and Ryan C for the commentary (at the last minute, when I guess he wanted to be tucked up in bed!). Pity the broadcast was slightly problematic but from other comments, it appears to have been excellent.
To top it all 100 ranking points and 30 ranking places gained and a few extra heartbeats used up. See you all at Thunderforest loop.