NASRS Season 16 Race 2 (Valencia)

A couple nights ago the NASRS season 16 Wednesday night split was at Valencia for another 65 minute race. A couple of the fast guys were out for the week (there are more absentees in the summer with vacations, etc.), but the field was still pretty stacked with fast drivers. I was hoping that if I had a couple lucky breaks I’d be able to get on the podium, but truthfully I would have been pleased with a top 5 finish given the strength of the field. I got lucky in qualifying and snagged P2, but the guys in P3 and P4 were faster than me so I was pretty sure I’d be moving backwards a bit. However, I was thankful to be on the front row since the first few corners at Valencia are tricky and there’s a high likelihood of incidents on the first lap.

I had a good start and made it through T1 without any issues. Right after the lights when green the game showed that P1 got a drive through penalty for being out of position, but the stewards removed it right away and said they’d review it. I was feeling like I was in a decent position for T2 but for some reason P1 swerved wide and nailed me, forcing me to go off-track. I lost a position and ended up in P3. P2 overtook the leader and those two quickly got out in front by a couple seconds. My strategy was to just settle in, stay as close as I could, and hope for one of them to make a mistake.

After a lap the stewards reported that the guy was indeed out of position at the start so they reinstated the penalty, which meant one of the fastest drivers on the grid was going to drop back a lot. Another really fast driver got hit from behind in T1 right at the start so fortune was in my favor during the first couple laps. I settled into P2 and did my best to hold off P3.

On lap 16 the leader misjudged a turn and spun out. He dropped back two places and I took the lead. P2 and P3 were then battling a bit and the previous leader overtook P2 and was right on my bumper on lap 23 as I pulled into the pits for the mandatory stop. I had a really good stop, but was preparing myself to get passed after I left the pits. Again, I was doing OK, but didn’t really have the pace the leader had. However, the leader, who boxed a lap after me, must have had a poor stop because both me and P2 passed him as he was exiting the pits.

So with about 30 minutes left in the race I was again in the lead with a 3.5 seconds advantage on P2. I didn’t think I had the overall pace to win so my only hope was that P2 and P3 would start battling and that would slow them both up. Which is pretty much what happened. I was able to keep pumping out decent laps (not terribly fast, but fairly clean and consistent) while P2 and P3 swapped positions a couple times, keeping them a few seconds behind me.

I got lucky and was able to hold off a charging P2 and got the win by about 4.5 seconds. This was my first “real” league win – I had won a rookie league race and a couple off-season races, but never a bona-fide league race. So needless to say I was pretty excited.

Week 2 final results (Valencia)

• Qualifying: P2/18
• Race: P1/18

Here are a few highlights from the race