NASRS Season 15 Race 5 (Laguna Seca)

Week five of NASRS season 15 was at Laguna Seca with the season’s “hot” race. Air temps were close to 50C, which made for some interesting racing conditions that required us to keep a keen eye on our tire temps and wear. I’m usually not very quick at Laguna so I was not very optimistic about my chances at a good result. However, it’s a fun/challenging track to race on as any mistake will put you into the sand, at best, or the wall, at worst. So, low expectations for results, but high hopes for fun.

Like every other NASRS race we had 10 minutes for qualifying and I made a mistake by not leaving enough room to the car in front of me. I had an OK first lap, but on my second lap, which was a lot better, I ended up too close to the car in front and had to back out. By then my tires were losing a bit of performance so I didn’t end up with the qualifying lap I know I’m capable of and ended up in P5. I was disappointed, but the three Porsches I’ve been racing all season are all piloted by faster drivers and I really didn’t have any chance of doing any better than P4. So I was hopeful that I’d be able to make up the spot quickly once we started racing.

And that’s pretty much what happened. I got a really good jump at the start and had picked up P4 by the time we were into the first real turn. I settled into P4 and tried to look after my tires while also maintaining contact with the aforementioned fast guys. To my surprise I was able to mostly do this, due in part to P2 and P3 battling a bit and P3 making the periodic mistake, which allowed me to stay close. P2 spun out on lap 13 and I picked up a free spot, which put me in P3.

P2 was slowly getting away from me, but at the end of lap 17 he had a moment and nearly lost the car. He decided to pit since he figured I would probably be able to pass him while he let his tires cool down a bit. So I was in P2, a few seconds behind P1. On the next lap P1 decided to pit, which kind of put me in a bind because I felt like it was really early to be pitting, especially given how hot it was. But the leader was afraid of getting undercut by P2 so he decided to cover it and pit early. I stayed out for one more lap and since I was in some traffic I made the decision to pit. My tires were still feeling (surprisingly) good, but I didn’t want to lose a bunch of time being stuck behind slower cars. However, right at the end of the lap I was able to get some open space and had to make a split-second decision as to enter the pit lane or not. I was afraid of getting undercut so I darted into the pits, which turned out to be a mistake, I think.

I had a decent pit stop and when I exited the pits found myself in a bunch of traffic. I was a couple seconds behind the guy I was battling for P2 earlier, but was losing time due to the traffic. I worked my way through the traffic and started chasing down P2. The leader lost the lead after hitting a kerb and bouncing into the sand. I was able to battle with him for the remainder of the race and nearly got the position on a couple occasions. However, I wasn’t able to make a safe pass so had to settle for P3, which to be honest was a pretty good result for me. So, happy with the way I drove and with the result I got.

Next week is the last race of the season. We’re at Kyalami for a night race. I’m optimistic about this one – I love the track and I think the Aston is pretty strong there. You never know what’s gonna happen, but hopefully we’ll have some fun and can end the season strong.

Week 5 final results (Laguna Seca)

• Qualifying: P5/24
• Race: P3/24

Here are a few highlights from the race