NASRS Season 15 Race 6 (Kyalami)

The final race (#6) of NASRS season 15 was at Kyalami with the season’s “night” race. It was a pretty small grid, which seems to be the norm for the last couple races in a season. Prior to the race I was sitting in P3 for the championship. Unfortunately the guys in P2 and P4 weren’t able to race this week so it would be their drop week. P1 was pretty much sewn up so I didn’t really have a chance for that, but if I did get a P2 or better in the race I would be able to get a P2 in the overall championship.

Throughout the week of practice I felt like I had pretty good pace. I’ve done a fair amount of racing at Kyalami in teh past and like the track a lot. Plus, the Aston is strong here so all that adds up to the possibility of a good race result. I’m still chasing my first league win and with a few of the really fast guys sitting the race out, I was hopeful I might be able to get that monkey off my back. The race had other plans, though, so I guess I’ll have to keep chasing!

I had a really good qualifying session and was able to eek out pole position by 5 hundredths of a second. I wasn’t too eager to lead the race at the beginning because I tend to do better chasing someone rather than being chased. On the other hand, the guy in P2 (Klaus) is quite a bit faster than me (he was the one leading the championship) so I figured if he was in the lead and got away it would be really hard to reel him back in. So, I decided I would try to fight a bit to stay in the lead if it came to that. At any rate, I was happy to be toward the front of the grid for the start.

The start was a little hectic going into the first lefthander (technically T2, but everyone considers it T1). The Aston is notorious for having poor acceleration so starts are usually pretty painful. I lost the lead to Klaus as we went into T1, but I had the inside line. Klaus made a little mistake, hit the curb, and bounced in front of me so I was able to make a move on the outside and regain the lead. I was able to stay in the lead and hold off Klaus for the entire first stint.

Klaus, still in P2, pitted before me, but I decided to stay out a couple more laps since I didn’t have any traffic and felt like I was lapping OK. I think that was a mistake because I lost a bit of pace on those next couple laps. My pit entry was a little slow, but overall I think I had an OK stop. As I was leaving the pits, though, Klaus passed me for the lead. I was able to get back within .5 seconds right at the end of the race, due to some traffic that slowed us up, but it was too little, too late.

So, another good race for me, but still no win. Honestly, though, as long as I’m having fun and racing well I don’t really care that much about winning. I mean, I’d love to snag a win in a league race, but I’m really happy that I’m able to be competitive and battle for podiums, especially against drivers who are quite a bit faster and more experienced than I am. I’ve really been focused on clean, consistent racing and I think it’s been paying off. Even though I’m out-matched on pace, I feel like staying out of trouble and limiting mistakes has really helped improve my results.

That’s a wrap on season 15. The official results aren’t out yet, but I think I was able to get second again in the championship, which is a great result for me. I think I’m going to switch things up with a new car next season so we’ll see how that goes. It might be painful at first until I get up-to-speed, but should be fun.

Week 6 final results (Kyalami)

• Qualifying: P1/17
• Race: P2/17

Here are a few highlights from the race