NASRS Season 14 Summary


sim_racing

Season 14 of the NASRS league has just finished with the last race at Watkins Glen. I did the NASRS “rookies” season last spring (2022) and then at the end of the year did season 13 in the silver class. Things changed a bit this year with season 14 as the bronze-silver-gold classes went away and were replaced with Tuesday and Wednesday night splits. So there was a mix of gold, silver, and bronze drivers in both of the spits, which made for some interesting racing.

I was pretty lucky throughout the season and had consistent races without any major crashes/incidents. Here are my results for each race:

  1. Imola: P4
  2. Brands Hatch: P6
  3. Zolder: P5
  4. Zandvoort: P5
  5. Paul Ricard: P3
  6. Watkins Glen P2

Although there are six races in the season each person is allowed to drop their worst race so (checks math) the final championship results are based on your five best races. I finished second in the championship, 21 points behind first place. (I did have the most total points without the drop round, which is kind of cool, but ultimately doesn’t matter. But still a neat fact.) I’m really happy with how I raced throughout the season and truthfully can’t believe I was able to get second place.

I think if there’s a single takeaway from this season it’s that consistent, clean racing (with a bit of luck) will yield results. At times I’m a bit off the pace of the faster drivers, but do my best to focus on staying out of trouble and putting down consistent laps, which seems to work out most of the time. I’ve seen a pretty big improvement in my pace and race craft over the past four months so I’m hopeful that trend will continue. It’s definitely fun racing when you’re somewhat competitive, but it’s even fun when you’re not in contention for a win and can still have good, clean on-track battles with other drivers.

It’s easy for me to get a bit down when doing LFM races as the competition there is so tough and the short, 25 minute sprint format lends itself to very aggressive, no-holds-barred racing. It seems like everyone is so much faster so you constantly feel like you’re not making any progress. Finishing second in these last two NASRS seasons has boosted my confidence a bit, which is nice.

I’ve been loyal to the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 these last couple seasons, but am thinking of changing things up for next season. We’ll see how off-season testing goes!

Pink_Aston My trusty ride throughout NASRS season 14 – Aston Martin Vantage GT3