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Series News - GTR 2 > SimRacing.org.uk > UKGTR Endurance

by FreQ, Sunday, February 28, 2010

S12UE - Rd1 Monza

S12 began at Monza, a track that I like but haven't raced at for a long time, way back in S5! Ruskus made a return and used the difficult Marcos to full effect by sticking it on pole convincingly. I had not got comfortable in the Saleen or Lister, so was happy to take 4th on the grid behind Supersonics Jayblue and Berger.

GT1 Pole 1:40.525
GT2 Pole 1:47.241

FreQ passing Berger

Jeff's long first gear meant he lost a little ground off the start but held on well into T1. Berger seemed to be very cautious on the brakes and from quite a long way back I went round the outside to take 3rd and continued to pull a small gap. I'd stuck softs on for the first stint and Berger seemed to be conscious of getting too close to his team mate, so I can put this one down to good fortune!
The race started to spread out, with Ruskus and Jayblue pulling out at the front and Berger closing back in on me as my tyres went off quite quickly. Picnic suffered from "wandering Porsche syndrome" along Monza's long straights, although this was Sunday evening - a few drinks were probably contributing to it...In any case, he had a decent battle with TT for much of the race.
I stopped early to switch to mediums whilst Berger stayed out and managed to jump me during that time, which was disappointing but not unexpected. After a few laps of pushing and still losing time, I settled into a slower pace and kept an eye on my fuel to bring the car home. Ruskus had made a good stop and was now clear in the lead from Jayblue who had kept second place.
David M out of gas

This stayed very static until Berger cut the track 1 to many times and got a stop/go, handing me a very fortunate 3rd place. On the very last lap new Shark David M managed to run out of fuel out of Ascari and coasted to a halt just before the line; with everyone wreaked in the traditional post-race smash up, he was stranded and failed to make the last lap. Gutting!
A good start in GT1 as we lead the team championship and Ruskus is out front in the drivers standings with me 3rd. Picnic is 5th overall in GT2 and David's fuel cock up means 8th is his for now. More of the same from Ruskus and I hope to be more dialled in for the next race.

Race Results and Standings. See you at Suzuka on 14 March.

Series News - GTR 2 > SimRacing.org.uk > UKGTR Endurance

by Prof, Monday, January 04, 2010

UKGTR Season 11 - Race 5 - Spa

The Team Shark GTC drivers started the second half of the season at Spa famous in real life for its ever changing micro-climate. This certainly proved true on this particular race night which challenged the whole field to the limit.

Qualifying started on a wet track which was drying fairly fast. Picnic got to grips quickly with the conditions with the Spyker and was faster than some of the slower GT1 drivers for most of the session. Prof managed to get runs in on wet, intermediate and dry tyres and was on a promising lap when the session ended leaving him second behind Picnic. Dave had done little or no wet weather driving and ended up six spaces further back on the grid.

As the drivers prepared their wet race setups, the track turned from wet to damp and Teamspeak was full of 'What should we do now? type questions. Unfortunately no one guessed right.

Picnic and Prof started on slicks hoping things would get drier as they had in practice. Gizmo started on inters which proved no better once the rain got harder and harder. All Team Shark GTC drivers needed to pit early for wet tyres which cost places to those who had started on wets.

Slowly the Sharks made their way up through the field as others made mistakes in the wet, slippery conditions. Picnic's scheduled stop coincided with a period of drier weather and he put slicks on hoping to be the first to make the most of the improving conditions. Unfortunately things did not stay dry for long and soon the deluge returned forcing Prof to cancel his pit request for dry tyres (one lap further on the wets saved him from Picnic's fate). After Picnic left the game, Prof and Gizmo battled on to the end on the wet tyres being too far behind those who guessed right and started on wets to finish 3rd and 5th.

Not the best result after a 1-2 in qually but useful points for Team Shark who in the absence of Ginsters gained a few points on the Kerb Crawlers in the team championship. Prof has temporarily borrowed the GTC championship lead from SbG who will be expecting to regain it when we race at Magny next time.

Series News - GTR 2 > SimRacing.org.uk > UKGTR Endurance

by Prof, Monday, December 21, 2009

UKGTR Season 11 - Race 4 - Oschersleben

The Team Shark GTC team gathered at a cold, wet Oschersleben for the half-way race of Season 11. Qualifying was a bit of a lottery in the very wet conditions where merely staying on the track whilst bringing tyres up to temperature was difficult in itself. As usual Ginsters was miles faster than the other GTCs in his Spyker (and some of the GT1 drivers too for much of qualifying). Pete mastered the wet conditions best of the Sharks to grab second with Prof in fourth and Dave two spaces further back.

With everyone expecting it to be wet all race, setup adjustments were made accordingly. As expected SbG zoomed ahead with Pete trying hard to minimise the gap. Prof was stuck for the early laps behind Matt Rowe and although he felt faster in some parts of the track, he got nowhere near an overtake until Matt fell off on his red hot soft wet tyres. Prof stopped very early for slicks when the rain stopped to try to catch the leaders but although he had better pace, it was also easier to make mistakes. Dave made steady progress on his wet tyres benefitting as others made mistakes to progress through the field to tenth place before he stopped for slicks after an hour. Pete made similarly sensible progress by staying in the track as others fell off and profited when SbG made a rare mistake to take a richly deserved win for his consistency during the race.

The other GTC Sharks kept things safe to the end to wrap up a second Team Shark 1-2-3 of the week and in the process grabbing a narrow lead in the GTC championship. Keeping that lead will remain a huge challenge for the second part of the season.

Series News - iRacing > SimRacing.org.uk > UKiR

by Shark, Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Road America - Fun Race

With the inagural Dallara IndyCar race at SimRacing.org.uk getting underway at Road America for a fun event, Team Shark entered 4 drivers for this first event; Simon Gymer, Dave Gymer, Pete Allnutt and Robert Burton.

The team entered the race with a lack of experience in the IndyCar, only Dave having done some public races in the official series at iRacing.com. Indeed the other 3 drivers had barely even strapped themselves in the car before.

After some much needed time in the car in the practice and qualifying sessions Dave and Simon Gymer began in 4th and 5th positions, with Rob and Pete 11th and 12th for the rolling start. However, Simon immediately got the jump on Dave at the start and with the top 3 cars taking each other out at turn one Simon briefly took the lead. Not wanting to hold Dave up for long, Simon let Dave through into the braking at the end of the first long straight. From then on Dave never looked back and easily took the victory.

Simon's race soon hotted up with some side-by-side action with long time rival from the Legends Racing team, TrueTom. A touch between the cars whilst trying to get through the fast right hander half way around the circuit saw the Legends driver spin out. This briefly allowed the fast starting Rob to take 2nd, but he soon made mistakes to let Simon back through into 2nd.

Meanwhile Pete had worked his way into a podium position that despite some flirtations in bits of the countryside he kept it going until the end.

After the pitstops had worked themselves out, Team Shark found themselves 1st, 2nd and 3rd where they stayed for a great first result for the team in the Dallara IndyCar.

Event results at SimRacing.org.uk and full event details and statistics at iRacing (for members only).

Series News - GTR 2 > SimRacing.org.uk > UKGTR Endurance

by Prof, Monday, December 14, 2009

UKGTR Season 11 - Race 3 - Barcelona

A mixed bag for the GTC Sharks despite a fantastic 2-3-4 qualifying performance behind the untouchable Ginster alien.

Things look set for a close and interesting battle for the podium between the Shark runners but the early rain storm wiped that out. Whilst many people sensibly went in for wet tyres, Prof copied SbG and stayed out. The unexpected weather never got too bad forcing people into stopping again on their now boiling wet tyres meaning the leading GTC drivers had lapped many of the GT1 cars in the first 20 minutes(!)

The track steadily dried out and the usual order gradually restored with the blue flag marshall getting terribly confused at times. Pete's shiny new Spyker did not bring him any luck due to a disco (again) and Dave's Porsche was not happy even on the drier surface and he struggled to the end bravely.

Prof was left in a wide window far behind Ginsters but nearly a lap ahead of the next GTC to turn his 2nd grid slot into an undeserved silver podium. Happy to take all points on offer!

Team Shark remain in a strong second place in the championship although the win is looking increasingly difficult.

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