Tijny wrote:Mike defended himself phenomenally well with very consistent driving. (offroad time 0.000?!

) Hats off, really well done!
Thanks a lot!
0.000 sounds a bit too sick though, although it might not be a bug.
I did cut the sand from time to time in the top part of the track - almost always on purpose.
Also, I went slightly offroad a few times in the very fast middle part - which slowed me down a little. Probably so short, it did not count as significantly being offroad in power's stats, just like at the top part. Which is okay, I think. Maybe a note stating "*Offroad times under 0.05 seconds not included" or something similar could be added, because people like me forget the tolerance value from one season to the next.
My race week: (bit longer this time because I do not want to forget some parts, in case I make a 3d video of this or someone else makes a video and likes to use comments to somehow use as material)
Qualification:Silva, typical, with a fast first hot lap (1.29.3), which I could beat soon after (1.29.002), while Silva could not improve that much anymore. Tijny went for a quick high 1.28.8 to take the lead, soon followed by a strong 1.28.50x. I soon followed with a 1.28.565 in lap 20 of 20 of my first and only local record hunt for the qualification track. But most of the weekdays I was in love with the "dark" parallel hunt of records in the Grand HotLap Challenge with the modified default cars instead. Being gone for the weekend and with 3 hours left, Tijny already had a 1.28.4x in his pocket and an impressive consistency that smashed any expectations of fighting for a race win away. The test race was already an insane indication of how overwhelming Tijnys domination will likely be. Although Badeend not being there lowered the motivation by quite a bit.
My first 6 lap race was horrible slow - being super tired (22-01 CET current fall asleep time), made me get weird visual warps (4 in one curve once) and I was wondering if Tijny would win by over 30 seconds this time. My worries were actually that I could lose my second place to Jurgen this time and maybe, with some bad luck, not even get second start place. But soon my pace got better and Tijny could fly away slightly less race by race, giving me something like hope, he won't have an easy race win. Luckily I went for the funny 1.28.882 (-0.001 to Badeend) and could go for a local test race in order to find out startfuel. I drove 20 laps - so horribly slow and careless and full of mistakes, I should burn the replay

Not being sure, if 91% startfuel will be enough, I luckily decided to take this 1% advantage vs Tijny, thus giving us more chances to have a more exciting race. Weirdly, I even had one lap later in the quali server with a chance to get the pole, but it was probably more than fine messing it up. Just the huge difference to place 2 laptime was looking ugly.
Having heard, Tijny did only 10 local laps though, I was hoping that he does not experience the weird lines you have when driving on bad tyres. And this could be an advantage in the upcoming race. So: a little piece of hope to win the race was born here. Too little though - it still sounded ridiculous.
The Race:As expected, I put my concentration on the fight vs Jurgen and after a short battle with him in the first lap(s), I could concentrate on making somewhat okayish laps in order to create a little gap - which was not easy and did not always work as hoped. Also, with me and Jurgen battling, Tijny flew away, as expected and I expected to never see him close to my nose again. But a few laps in the race, Tijny seemed to try too hard and gone offroad or so from time to time. And then flew away again slightly. But not as fast as expected. And there I had a bit of a challenge: to keep a solid pace and reduce the pace difference from 0.5-1 sec (lol, that's what I thought would be the case) to a respectable 0.1-0.2 (0.3 would have still been okay though). At some point, my challenge was to not let Tijny get out of my view in the main straight. With Tijny pitting at end of lap 14 instead of 13, I was not sure if I would come out in front, but weirdly I did and also with quite an unexpected high gap - which was soon eaten up though. So: Tijny with better tyres, a better pace, but still slightly more fuel, likely. With a lot of luck, I could defend the unexpected lead, I hoped and would probably see Tijny pitting a lap earlier (end of lap 26), so I would be the one chasing in last stint and would need a few fast early laps in order to keep close enough to force him into a more safe pace instead of a riskier, but in average faster pace and therefore keep winning chances alive. But Tijny chose the probably more challenging way and pit at the end of lap 27, just like me.
While in stint 2 I had to do a lot of safety defending lines, always caring to enter 3 long straights in a way, Tijny would have troubles passing me, I had a little lead entering stint 3 somehow. The fight of being ahead just a bit more than the draft zone, was quite a challenge. In a lot of straights. In many cases I felt the need to drive a weird line, changing road sides, just in order to avoid giving Tijny bonus air.
In stint 3 I therefore wanted to reduce the number of attacks I would need to defend and keep a fast pace, so Tijny would not close up as fast and with some luck he would feel forced of pushing harder and end up in going offroad somewhere, but he hardly ever gone offroad as well. And I checked in the back mirror a lot of times, especially at the left long "straight". Oh right, once in stint 2 I actually planned to give him "bad air" troubles in the fast sector, which went well. Handling the draft behind is tough, I think and a tiny mistake can cost quite a lot of time before long straights. Maybe I could have used this method a bit more often, but it felt risky and weird slowing down in a situation I have not been in a lot of times. My guess is, sides switched, I would have failed quite bigtime compared to Tijny. He, despite my weird early and overlong breaking times, did almost never crash into me or lost crazily much time due to the bad air. So: his "bad air"/"draft" handling is already on a strong level, I can currently only dream of, I'm afraid.
The more laps into the race, the more likely I saw the possibility of winning the race coming up, but even with the early big gap in stint 3, it did not feel too convincing just yet. But it was enough to turn from "no win expectations and no pressure" (as soon as my lead to Jurgen was big enough), into a more frequently pumping chest. Which usually makes me do more mistakes, but surprisingly, I did not lose focus a lot of times, this race. +- lap 38, having quite a gap that would force Tijny into a very strong mistakeless pace made me start to feel: now I might have to win and if I do not, I messed it up and it was my stupidity. Therefore I felt I had only something to lose and this is the part where the pressure hits in and either makes me drive too safe and therefore too slow or where I make mistakes. As consequence, I did a wide curve due to missing a breaking point, allowing Tijny to close the gap to almost draft zone. In addition, I had 10% fuel left short after curve 1 with almost full 5 laps to go, fearing a fuel problem coming up. And it did. In the middle of the last lap, the fuel switched to "0%" (so: 0.99%) and I started to count the seconds, basically just hoping it would be enough and if I could see it might not, then start saving fuel in the last curves. But I realized that it might be too late then, so after some curves, I started saving fuel a bit earlier. Luckily, I did! Because on the very last straight, my car started to roll out. Luckily short before the finish line. 1-2 seconds earlier and Tijny would have caught me. And another 2-3 seconds earlier and I would have been down to +-8th place :E
Interesting and exciting race. I did not make too many serious mistakes, defended quite solid and had a fast pace in addition. Also I did not just always hope for the lapped cars to magically drive in a way that I can keep my ideal line and backed off for some safety breaks and/or steerings in some cases. At some point of the race, I was kinda proud of that and did not mind that much if it would not turn out to be enough to win the race. Showing a good performance would be enough and whatever happens, happens. Winning a race, while not having the fastest pace and getting a couple of gifts (T's lack of race practice maybe, the early spectating cruising by T and the late pitting and Badeend not taking part), is not the greatest kind of race win feeling, but luck comes and goes, so I'll hopefully value this race win correctly: not taking too seriously, but still not underestimating my own performance, which was refreshingly surprising solid. Tijny winning by 0-3 seconds would have been probably already a great result, I could have lived with very well and would still be amazed by the tension of the race.
Next race:Maybe if I practice more for the next race, I will have more hope to win and have more fear to show a bad performance and therefore feel way more excited in case I would win. Which I don't, on next track, yet

...but maybe I improve my line and consistency, so hopes are gonna rise up
