NASRS Season 15 Race 4 (Donington Park)
sim_racing
The fourth race of NASRS season 15 was at Donington Park and the weather was billed as a “highly changeable.” However, there was only a 5% chance of rain so most of us were focused on getting used to the changes introduced in the ACC 1.9 update and not on preparing for a wet race. I guess Britain had something else in mind, though, because as soon as we started the formation lap medium rain was forecasted to start in 10 minutes.
Backing up a little, I was able to put in a pretty decent lap in qualifying and qualified in P4. I had a fairly clean race start with only some minor contact in T1 and was able to maintain my position and get settled in. P1 and P3 both got DTs at the start for, I’m assuming, being out of position or perhaps going too fast. Bad news for them, but good news for me since that effectively moved me into P2.
As predicted, the rain started after about 10 minutes. I was keeping an eye on how long it was showing rain and from what I could tell it seemed like it was going to rain for at least 15 minutes, maybe more. The ACC weather widget can be a little cryptic to decipher so I think some folks were thinking it was only going to be a quick shower and that staying out on slicks would be the right call. I decided to do whatever P1 did and since he stayed out, I did too. He stayed out on the second lap as well and I followed suit. However, I was really starting to struggle and it didn’t seem like the rain was stopping any time soon. I didn’t think the track would dry out very quickly since it was an evening race so I decided to risk it and pit for wet tires on lap 9.
It didn’t seem like many other folks were pitting so as I rolled through pitlane I was thinking I made a big mistake in doing so. But it was too late so I was focused on setting my pressures and getting the tire change ready. I was thinking the whole time that I would have to make another pit stop to change to dry tires once the track dried out. That said, I forgot to change my pit strategy to not add fuel so I ended up leaving the pits with a completely full tank. That “mistake” ended up saving my race so it was a good thing I made it.
Anyway, I exited the pits in P13, about 3/4 lap behind the leader. I was about 3 seconds ahead of Lund, who pitted at the same time I did. I think I was lapping about 4-6 seconds faster than the leader and after only 2 laps was already into P6. I had so much more grip than folks who were still on slicks so I was starting to think I had made the right choice. I figured if I could get into the top 5 by the time the track dried out and everyone else needed to make their mandatory pit stop, then I’d be on the same strategy as them and would still have a chance at a decent race.
But it kept raining and the track remained pretty wet so I kept making up a lot of time. By lap 17 I was in P3, going about 4 seconds a lap faster than P1. I moved into P2 on the next lap and was about 20 seconds back. However, I made a stupid mistake on lap 20 and spun out. Lund passed me and I ended up behind him by about 6 seconds. That mistake would come back to haunt me at the end of the race.
We caught P1 on lap 24 right as he was entering the pits for his mandatory stop. I was in P2 then, 1 second behind Lund. At this point the rain had stopped and the track was starting to dry out a bit. I started thinking we might have a chance to finish the race on wet tires if we could keep them alive for the last 20 minutes of the race. So I was just following Lund, trying to save my tires and stay close enough to maybe have a chance to pass him for the win at the end.
Unfortunately I made a small mistake on lap 38 and lost any chance of a race win. So I ended up finishing in P2, which was a pretty amazing result for me. I’m a little disappointed because I think if I hadn’t spun out I could have gotten my first league win. But, that’s the way it goes sometimes. I think we were around 30 seconds ahead of P3 so changing to wet tires and using them for the rest of the race was definitely the right strategy.
Next week we’re at Laguna Seca for the season’s hot weather race. Laguna isn’t my best track so we’ll see if I can stay out of the sand and keep my tires from melting.
Week 4 final results (Donington Park)
- Qualifying: P4/28
- Race: P2/28
Here are a few highlights from the race