Track Map
This was quite the spur-of-the-moment decision, as Brendan Kaczmarek (Northstar Racing captain) didn't ask me to join in until the day before on Friday. He originally had enough drivers to comfortably enter two cars, but now he only had himself and Andras Kiraly (from SFH, VTR's toughest rival in WOSEC). I hadn't planned on doing anything that day, and Brendan is a good buddy of mine, so I was glad to help out. It did mean learning to drive the Mazda though, the only car I haven't actively driven in GTP yet. The Mazda runs in it's own class for this series, due to it being so incredibly slow.
I started the race in the #24 Sauber and Brendan in the #124 Mazda. Not surprisingly, he out-qualified me (come on, I had a day to prepare :P) and ran near the top during all of his stint. Then, right on cue, directly after starting my second or third (can't remember) fuel run, mum and dad announced dinner. Brendan had already decided that the Mazda was taking priority, he wanted the class victory. I agreed, and simply parked the Sauber in the pits and rushed off for dinner. When I returned, I found that Brendan had let some random guy do a stint in our car. He wasn't all that good, and actually got us an un-clearable black flag. The car got disqualified and I was fuming. In hindsight though it was a good thing, because three drivers sharing two cars for 12 hours doesn't add up anyway.
I then go to do some testing offline, and just when I'm happy with the setup Brendan comes on the radio and reminds me that he's lost second gear. A few minutes of tinkering and I've got a setup ready, then Brendan comes on the radio again to tell me that we've also lost third! I quickly set the ratios for fourth and fifth (going all through the box to include first would be too risky). I then hop in and do a fuel run without much drama at all before handing over to Brendan, who did half a fuel run. During which he also lost fourth and mysteriously CTD'd, I jump in with my sequential shifter set to first and fifth gears only. I did another fuel run before handing over to Andras Kiraly, who just arrived, who did three very quick fuel runs. I then do one final fuel run, before handing over to Brendan who was set to do the last three.
By that time we were leading in class, but another CTD for Brendan suddenly put us back to second behind the 336team from Russia. He eventually caught and re-passed for the class lead, and the 336team also had another disconnection. Basically we were in the clear as long as Brendan could keep the car on track for another hour or so. By this time it was 3 am for me, but I wasn't willing to leave because that would involve missing the finish! He eventually cruised home to an easy class win, and also his first finish in an endurance race for a long time. The win also secured us each a free shifter! There was much rejoice :D
No comments:
Post a Comment