GP3 Career Thread
Posted by Diax F1
Since I use GP4 now (and my GP3 career is non-existant), I've edited the thread title. 
Abdelkader has won the 2007 title, while I'm still fighting for 1972 honours...
Round 10: German Grand Prix - Hockenheim
Qual:
The version without chicanes was all about speed and despite having the lowest possible downforce, my BRM was still no match for Ferrari and Emerson Fittipaldi. Jacky Ickx won pole with Mario Andretti second and Fittipaldi third. Jackie Stewart sneaked into fourth ahead of Clay Regazzoni and I was sixth with a time of 1:43.014 Min, just 0,7 off Ickx's pole time.
Race:
At the start Ickx and Andretti kept wheel-to-wheel action right through Bremskurve I and Ostkurve while I passed Regazzoni and was trying to muscle my way ahead of Fittipaldi and Stewart who also decided to run side-by-side. Having spent the entire first lap blocked by those four cars I found myself under attack from Chris Amon on lap two. I tried to shrug him off but he still went for a divebomb move in Bremskurve I and I was forced to lift off not to get taken out. Luckily no one hit me from behind, but as Amon completely missed his braking point, he crashed against the barrier and bounced off onto the track with his front wheel on the tarmac. Denny Hulme collected the stationery Ferrari while further down the pac Carlos Reutemann and Niki Lauda also collided and went off in the proccess. I managed to navigate the mess along with Francois Cevert but some other cars were seriously slowed down. Unfortunately the leading four built a big gap over me and since I lost the tow, I wasn't able to catch them and had to focus on keeping Cevert behind me.
On lap 10 Stewart retired with a loose wheel so I moved up to fourth while on lap 17 Andretti dropped out of second place with another loose wheel failure. In the meantime I pulled away from Cevert and was in safe third and this became even more safe when the Frenchman suffered a transmission problem just before half-distance.
Indeed ever since that moment I was completely alone on the track and it was all down to my BRM's reliability to potentially spoil the race. Ickx and Fittipaldi remained in formation right until the finish, the Belgian eventually won by 10 secs. but Fittipaldi further extended his championship lead since both Andretti and Hulme failed to finish. I finished in third 1 minute and 25 secs. behind in the most boring race for me the whole year while all the action happened behind me. Clay Regazzoni who lost a front wing in the second lap melee clawed his way back up to 4th while fifth place went to Andrea de Adamich after Ronnie Peterson had a wheel problem, Peter Gethin suffered a water leak and Reine Wisell spun off at Ostkurve on lap 36. There was a great chance for BRM to get three cars in the points but once again drama struck for my team and I'm still the only BRM to have scored points. Sixth place went for the second Surtees of Tim Schenken who pitted with a brakes trouble on lap 11 but charged his way pass Pescarolo, Graham Hill and Carlos Pace to claim the final point. Both the Williamses hoped for a great upset with all the attrition happening elsewhere but in the end they got run out of it and finished seventh and eight the last two cars running with Hill also retiring right at the end with another loose wheel issue.
Andrea de Adamich (Surtees) scored his first points of the season at Hockenheim
In terms of the standings, thanks to his victory at Hockenheim, Jacky Ickx has caught up with me in a battle for 4th place, Fittipaldi now leads by 15 points and looks strong to take the 1972 title with only four races remaining.
Championship: 1.Fittipaldi 51, 2.Andretti 36, 3.Hulme 31, 4.Beltoise 24, 5.Ickx 24, 6.Revson 17, 7.Stewart 14, 8.Regazzoni 11, 9.Cevert 6, 10.Amon 3, 11.Reutemann, de Adamich 2, 13.Peterson 2, 14.Walker, Schenken 1
Next up: Austrian Grand Prix @ Osterreichring
Round 10: German Grand Prix - Hockenheim
Qual:
The version without chicanes was all about speed and despite having the lowest possible downforce, my BRM was still no match for Ferrari and Emerson Fittipaldi. Jacky Ickx won pole with Mario Andretti second and Fittipaldi third. Jackie Stewart sneaked into fourth ahead of Clay Regazzoni and I was sixth with a time of 1:43.014 Min, just 0,7 off Ickx's pole time.
Race:
At the start Ickx and Andretti kept wheel-to-wheel action right through Bremskurve I and Ostkurve while I passed Regazzoni and was trying to muscle my way ahead of Fittipaldi and Stewart who also decided to run side-by-side. Having spent the entire first lap blocked by those four cars I found myself under attack from Chris Amon on lap two. I tried to shrug him off but he still went for a divebomb move in Bremskurve I and I was forced to lift off not to get taken out. Luckily no one hit me from behind, but as Amon completely missed his braking point, he crashed against the barrier and bounced off onto the track with his front wheel on the tarmac. Denny Hulme collected the stationery Ferrari while further down the pac Carlos Reutemann and Niki Lauda also collided and went off in the proccess. I managed to navigate the mess along with Francois Cevert but some other cars were seriously slowed down. Unfortunately the leading four built a big gap over me and since I lost the tow, I wasn't able to catch them and had to focus on keeping Cevert behind me.
On lap 10 Stewart retired with a loose wheel so I moved up to fourth while on lap 17 Andretti dropped out of second place with another loose wheel failure. In the meantime I pulled away from Cevert and was in safe third and this became even more safe when the Frenchman suffered a transmission problem just before half-distance.
Indeed ever since that moment I was completely alone on the track and it was all down to my BRM's reliability to potentially spoil the race. Ickx and Fittipaldi remained in formation right until the finish, the Belgian eventually won by 10 secs. but Fittipaldi further extended his championship lead since both Andretti and Hulme failed to finish. I finished in third 1 minute and 25 secs. behind in the most boring race for me the whole year while all the action happened behind me. Clay Regazzoni who lost a front wing in the second lap melee clawed his way back up to 4th while fifth place went to Andrea de Adamich after Ronnie Peterson had a wheel problem, Peter Gethin suffered a water leak and Reine Wisell spun off at Ostkurve on lap 36. There was a great chance for BRM to get three cars in the points but once again drama struck for my team and I'm still the only BRM to have scored points. Sixth place went for the second Surtees of Tim Schenken who pitted with a brakes trouble on lap 11 but charged his way pass Pescarolo, Graham Hill and Carlos Pace to claim the final point. Both the Williamses hoped for a great upset with all the attrition happening elsewhere but in the end they got run out of it and finished seventh and eight the last two cars running with Hill also retiring right at the end with another loose wheel issue.
Andrea de Adamich (Surtees) scored his first points of the season at Hockenheim
In terms of the standings, thanks to his victory at Hockenheim, Jacky Ickx has caught up with me in a battle for 4th place, Fittipaldi now leads by 15 points and looks strong to take the 1972 title with only four races remaining.
Championship: 1.Fittipaldi 51, 2.Andretti 36, 3.Hulme 31, 4.Beltoise 24, 5.Ickx 24, 6.Revson 17, 7.Stewart 14, 8.Regazzoni 11, 9.Cevert 6, 10.Amon 3, 11.Reutemann, de Adamich 2, 13.Peterson 2, 14.Walker, Schenken 1
Next up: Austrian Grand Prix @ Osterreichring
Another podium, good job man I see Ickx is right on your back now.
Meanwhile, I completed the final race...
Round 17 - Interlagos, Brazilian GP
Probably due to the tension which has vapoured after my winning the season, I couldn't find the right rhythm in Brazil. I like the track but the rivals were way ahead. I had problems setting fast laps and finally reached 15th position. ferrari absolutely dominated the session with Kimi on pole having Massa behind. The trio was completed by Fisichella who came third. At the start I gained a few positions but it soon ended in a contact with Kovalainen. We both spun off the track. I rejoined the race in last position with a huge loss to the rest. After 3 laps I was behind Scott Speed and both Spykers. When I was trying to pass Speed in the final corner he found himself on my driving line and we both went off the track. To be honest, I avoided the contact with the concrete wall but I figured out that racing makes no sense anymore. I retired as I didn't need any more points anyway. In this miserable way the season has ended with my success.
The winner - Raikkonen, 2nd - Alonso, 3rd - Hamilton
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 05/08/2010 07:51PM by abdelkader.
I see Ickx is right on your back now.Meanwhile, I completed the final race...
Round 17 - Interlagos, Brazilian GP
Probably due to the tension which has vapoured after my winning the season, I couldn't find the right rhythm in Brazil. I like the track but the rivals were way ahead. I had problems setting fast laps and finally reached 15th position. ferrari absolutely dominated the session with Kimi on pole having Massa behind. The trio was completed by Fisichella who came third. At the start I gained a few positions but it soon ended in a contact with Kovalainen. We both spun off the track. I rejoined the race in last position with a huge loss to the rest. After 3 laps I was behind Scott Speed and both Spykers. When I was trying to pass Speed in the final corner he found himself on my driving line and we both went off the track. To be honest, I avoided the contact with the concrete wall but I figured out that racing makes no sense anymore. I retired as I didn't need any more points anyway. In this miserable way the season has ended with my success.
The winner - Raikkonen, 2nd - Alonso, 3rd - Hamilton
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 05/08/2010 07:51PM by abdelkader.
My next season will be GP2 series from 2008. I'm a part of ART Grand Prix while my teammate is Romain Grosjean. I have already raced in GP2 but as far as I remember, I reached only 4th position in my campaign. Now I hope to be higher than this.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/13/2010 11:35AM by abdelkader.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/13/2010 11:35AM by abdelkader.
GP2 - 2008
Round 1 - Circuit de Catalunya, Spain
Feature race:
From the very first laps in practice sessions I knew I'd do well in Spain. Indeed, the qualifying session ended with my pole position, factions of a second in front of my teammate - Grosjean. Third position was taken by Senna.
The start of the race was a calm one for me. I kept extending the lead to build up a 3 second advantage in lap 6. Unfortunately, in lap 7 I got engine failure. As it happened in the last sector of the track, I managed to reach the pit-lane. The engine got repaired and I rejoined the race only for the sake of lapping and memorizing the track for the sprint race. However, probably due to the failure and the fact I lost an almost certain victory in the feature race, I missed braking point at the final sequence of chicanes and spun off the track. I retired from 1st race of the season...Well, the season didn't start in a good manner for me. I hope I'm gonna make up for it in the sprint. Anyway, I've got first three points in the bag. Two for the pole position and one for the fastest lap.
As for the race, its results were similar to the qualifying session but with a small shuffle involving the drivers from top four places. Maldonado took the lead, starting from fifth while Pantano passed Grosjean in the final lap to claim second position. At least ART Grand Prix has its first podium...It could have been so beautiful judging by the results of the qualifyings.
The winner - Maldonado, 2nd - Pantano, 3rd - Grosjean
Sprint race:
I started from 21st position but the rivals at the back were extremely slow. I passed lots of them to land in 11th position. I needed only 3 laps to pass another three drivers to land in 8th position. Senna was in the lead having Zuber and Pantano behind. In lap 16 Senna had to face a water leak and retired from the race. Now it was Zuber who was in the lead. He was fighting Pantano as both drivers were swapping positions up until 23 lap in which Zuber established a firm leadership while Pantano lost the pace. Maldonado, the winner of the previous race, wasn't particularly successful in gaining positions as he got stuck in 6th only thanks to the retirements of Senna and Filippi. The latter made a great start from 11th and at certain point he was driving in 7th until he blew his engine and was forced to retire. I kept passing the rivals to find myself in 3rd position. Pantano, as I said before, lost the pace and I soon passed him taking 2nd position. Now I had to face ZUber who was 3 seconds ahead with 6 laps remaining. Two laps from finish I was 2 seconds behind but I knew that Zuber was too consistent to lose it in the final lap...but he did. He had problems at the very same place as I had problems the day before. I passed him on the start-finish straight and kept the leadership for the remaining, final lap. This is the place I deserved in the feature race. I hope to keep it up in the next round. Grosjean came 7th. I think it's the very first time in my racing 'career' that my teammate isn't only a background to me but has the makings of being a great contender which would heat up the internal rivalry. I wish him all the best. It's cool to race on equal terms with a teammate.
The winner - Kosewski, 2nd - Zuber, 3rd - Pantano
Round 2 - Istanbul Park, Turkey
Feature race:
Just as in the previous F-1 campaign, I was exceptionally weak in the practice and the qualifying session. I was 21st after problems finding the right line. Senna was the fastest in the qualifyings leaving Parente and di Grassi behind. Luckily, such low position helped me to memorize the track better while I had an opportunity to watch my rivals in front. After two laps I was in 10th as a lot of backmarkers were involved in a massive pile up. Nobody retired but it slowed down a lot of the rivals. Anyway withing next 15 laps I somehow managed to get behind Senna who got passed by Parente. Meanwhile, I was helped by Zuber's retirement and Petrov's transmission failure. I got stuck in third position. While chasing Senna, I found the right groove and passed him 7 laps from finish. Parente was already 20 seconds in front so I concentrated on keeping my 2nd position. Suddenly, I saw yellow flags and soon noticed Parente on the trackside without his front wheels. He crashed out while I took the lead and brought it home. AFter this, Pantano made use of Senna's lost of pace and passed him to claim 2nd position. Behind me, there was a great battle between Grosjean and d'Ambrosio. It finally ended with third position for my teammate which pleased me a lot. Di Grassi must have been terribly disappointed as he was heading for 5th position but he had a contact with already lapped Valsecchi which resulted in them both spinning off. Eventually, di Grassi retired from the race while Valsecchi dropped one position to Filippi.
I still hate this track and I'm horribly shocked by what happened. Me? Winning? In Istanbul? Can't be!!!
The winner - Kosewski, 2nd - Pantano, 3rd - Grosjean
Sprint race: This time I had no problems setting fast laps at Istanbul Park. I soon passed Pantano and Grosjean. In lap 3 I passed Senna but here I started having problems with Rodriguez who was right in front. He kept pulling away on straights but when I tried to tighten the gap in chicanes, he'd block the way. In lap 5 we both landed off the track. Luckily I rejoined the race, Rodriguez - didn't. Chandhok was extremely fast within a few next laps but then he lost his speed while I managed to gain some tenths of a second here and there. All in all, I had only Buemi to beat now. He wasn't as fast as Chandhok and I past him in the first passing attempt. This was the moment of the start of my domination in Istanbul. I was making faster and faster laps, building a comfortable gap. Senna reached 2nd position and was 18 seconds in front of Grosjean who had a 5-second advantage over d'Ambrosio. However, he made a mistake on one of the turns and d'Ambrosio suddenly found himself right behind Romain. The battle between those two drivers was on up until the final lap. Grosjean came 3rd being faster only by 0.5 sec.
I would never expect two wins at Istanbul Park but it happened. I suppose that the Istanbul-Tilke spell has been broken once and for all
The winner - Kosewski, 2nd - Senna, 3rd - Grosjean
Round 3 - Monte-Carlo, Monaco
Feature race:
The practice session didn't start fine well for me as I crashed the car in front of the tunnel. Luckily I performed much better in the qualifying by setting 2nd best time. Andreas Zuber took pole position, Petrov 3rd. At the start of the race Zuber didn't keep position as I passed him easily. From this very point the race became boring and I soon stopped looking in the mirrors. In lap 12 Petrov got and electrical failure and slowed down rapidly. Unfortunately, Buemi who was driving behind didn't manage to brake in time and both guys retired from the race. Second position was now claimed by Pantano while third position was for Maldonado who passed Di Grassi. The latter was quite competitive as he even set the fastest lap at certain point but he got a puncture and retired soon afterwards. The weekend isn't looking good for Senna who qualified 19th and crashed out in lap 32. Meanwhile, Javier Villa has become a silent hunter. He qualified 15th but at the end of the race he was in 6th position. The classification didn't change until the end of the race. I claimed another victory and extended the lead in the championship.
The winner - Kosewski, 2nd - Pantano, 3rd - Maldonado
Sprint race:
The sprint started in a disastrous way to me. I too much focused on passing the rivals in front and neglected the braking point. I parked the car at turn 1. I dropped three positions and rejoined the race. Unfortunately, I was involved in a shunt at Vermont. My teammate also was involved and this way ART Grand Prix lost their both drivers at the same time.
The race was won by Ho Pin-Tung who lead from start to finish. Vitaly Petrov set the fastest lap and was awarded with one lone point.
The winner - Pin-Tung, 2nd - Villa, 3rd - D'Ambrosio
Edited 8 time(s). Last edit at 05/16/2010 09:51PM by abdelkader.
Round 1 - Circuit de Catalunya, Spain
Feature race:
From the very first laps in practice sessions I knew I'd do well in Spain. Indeed, the qualifying session ended with my pole position, factions of a second in front of my teammate - Grosjean. Third position was taken by Senna.
The start of the race was a calm one for me. I kept extending the lead to build up a 3 second advantage in lap 6. Unfortunately, in lap 7 I got engine failure. As it happened in the last sector of the track, I managed to reach the pit-lane. The engine got repaired and I rejoined the race only for the sake of lapping and memorizing the track for the sprint race. However, probably due to the failure and the fact I lost an almost certain victory in the feature race, I missed braking point at the final sequence of chicanes and spun off the track. I retired from 1st race of the season...Well, the season didn't start in a good manner for me. I hope I'm gonna make up for it in the sprint. Anyway, I've got first three points in the bag. Two for the pole position and one for the fastest lap.
As for the race, its results were similar to the qualifying session but with a small shuffle involving the drivers from top four places. Maldonado took the lead, starting from fifth while Pantano passed Grosjean in the final lap to claim second position. At least ART Grand Prix has its first podium...It could have been so beautiful judging by the results of the qualifyings.
The winner - Maldonado, 2nd - Pantano, 3rd - Grosjean
Sprint race:
I started from 21st position but the rivals at the back were extremely slow. I passed lots of them to land in 11th position. I needed only 3 laps to pass another three drivers to land in 8th position. Senna was in the lead having Zuber and Pantano behind. In lap 16 Senna had to face a water leak and retired from the race. Now it was Zuber who was in the lead. He was fighting Pantano as both drivers were swapping positions up until 23 lap in which Zuber established a firm leadership while Pantano lost the pace. Maldonado, the winner of the previous race, wasn't particularly successful in gaining positions as he got stuck in 6th only thanks to the retirements of Senna and Filippi. The latter made a great start from 11th and at certain point he was driving in 7th until he blew his engine and was forced to retire. I kept passing the rivals to find myself in 3rd position. Pantano, as I said before, lost the pace and I soon passed him taking 2nd position. Now I had to face ZUber who was 3 seconds ahead with 6 laps remaining. Two laps from finish I was 2 seconds behind but I knew that Zuber was too consistent to lose it in the final lap...but he did. He had problems at the very same place as I had problems the day before. I passed him on the start-finish straight and kept the leadership for the remaining, final lap. This is the place I deserved in the feature race. I hope to keep it up in the next round. Grosjean came 7th. I think it's the very first time in my racing 'career' that my teammate isn't only a background to me but has the makings of being a great contender which would heat up the internal rivalry. I wish him all the best. It's cool to race on equal terms with a teammate.
The winner - Kosewski, 2nd - Zuber, 3rd - Pantano
Round 2 - Istanbul Park, Turkey
Feature race:
Just as in the previous F-1 campaign, I was exceptionally weak in the practice and the qualifying session. I was 21st after problems finding the right line. Senna was the fastest in the qualifyings leaving Parente and di Grassi behind. Luckily, such low position helped me to memorize the track better while I had an opportunity to watch my rivals in front. After two laps I was in 10th as a lot of backmarkers were involved in a massive pile up. Nobody retired but it slowed down a lot of the rivals. Anyway withing next 15 laps I somehow managed to get behind Senna who got passed by Parente. Meanwhile, I was helped by Zuber's retirement and Petrov's transmission failure. I got stuck in third position. While chasing Senna, I found the right groove and passed him 7 laps from finish. Parente was already 20 seconds in front so I concentrated on keeping my 2nd position. Suddenly, I saw yellow flags and soon noticed Parente on the trackside without his front wheels. He crashed out while I took the lead and brought it home. AFter this, Pantano made use of Senna's lost of pace and passed him to claim 2nd position. Behind me, there was a great battle between Grosjean and d'Ambrosio. It finally ended with third position for my teammate which pleased me a lot. Di Grassi must have been terribly disappointed as he was heading for 5th position but he had a contact with already lapped Valsecchi which resulted in them both spinning off. Eventually, di Grassi retired from the race while Valsecchi dropped one position to Filippi.
I still hate this track and I'm horribly shocked by what happened. Me? Winning? In Istanbul? Can't be!!!
The winner - Kosewski, 2nd - Pantano, 3rd - Grosjean
Sprint race: This time I had no problems setting fast laps at Istanbul Park. I soon passed Pantano and Grosjean. In lap 3 I passed Senna but here I started having problems with Rodriguez who was right in front. He kept pulling away on straights but when I tried to tighten the gap in chicanes, he'd block the way. In lap 5 we both landed off the track. Luckily I rejoined the race, Rodriguez - didn't. Chandhok was extremely fast within a few next laps but then he lost his speed while I managed to gain some tenths of a second here and there. All in all, I had only Buemi to beat now. He wasn't as fast as Chandhok and I past him in the first passing attempt. This was the moment of the start of my domination in Istanbul. I was making faster and faster laps, building a comfortable gap. Senna reached 2nd position and was 18 seconds in front of Grosjean who had a 5-second advantage over d'Ambrosio. However, he made a mistake on one of the turns and d'Ambrosio suddenly found himself right behind Romain. The battle between those two drivers was on up until the final lap. Grosjean came 3rd being faster only by 0.5 sec.
I would never expect two wins at Istanbul Park but it happened. I suppose that the Istanbul-Tilke spell has been broken once and for all
The winner - Kosewski, 2nd - Senna, 3rd - Grosjean
Round 3 - Monte-Carlo, Monaco
Feature race:
The practice session didn't start fine well for me as I crashed the car in front of the tunnel. Luckily I performed much better in the qualifying by setting 2nd best time. Andreas Zuber took pole position, Petrov 3rd. At the start of the race Zuber didn't keep position as I passed him easily. From this very point the race became boring and I soon stopped looking in the mirrors. In lap 12 Petrov got and electrical failure and slowed down rapidly. Unfortunately, Buemi who was driving behind didn't manage to brake in time and both guys retired from the race. Second position was now claimed by Pantano while third position was for Maldonado who passed Di Grassi. The latter was quite competitive as he even set the fastest lap at certain point but he got a puncture and retired soon afterwards. The weekend isn't looking good for Senna who qualified 19th and crashed out in lap 32. Meanwhile, Javier Villa has become a silent hunter. He qualified 15th but at the end of the race he was in 6th position. The classification didn't change until the end of the race. I claimed another victory and extended the lead in the championship.
The winner - Kosewski, 2nd - Pantano, 3rd - Maldonado
Sprint race:
The sprint started in a disastrous way to me. I too much focused on passing the rivals in front and neglected the braking point. I parked the car at turn 1. I dropped three positions and rejoined the race. Unfortunately, I was involved in a shunt at Vermont. My teammate also was involved and this way ART Grand Prix lost their both drivers at the same time.
The race was won by Ho Pin-Tung who lead from start to finish. Vitaly Petrov set the fastest lap and was awarded with one lone point.
The winner - Pin-Tung, 2nd - Villa, 3rd - D'Ambrosio
Edited 8 time(s). Last edit at 05/16/2010 09:51PM by abdelkader.
Looks like you've jumped into the overall lead quite early this time. Your opposition should be worried 
I presume you set your grid position via quickrace options and AI are just done randomly by the game?
I've finished Osterreichring & Monza, will post reviews when I get into some proper writing mood
I presume you set your grid position via quickrace options and AI are just done randomly by the game?I've finished Osterreichring & Monza, will post reviews when I get into some proper writing mood
Mr. Lee Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Looks like you've jumped into the overall lead
> quite early this time. Your opposition should be
> worried
I hope they will
> I presume you set your grid position
> via quickrace options and AI are just done
> randomly by the game?
No way Indeed, I set my grid position via race options
BUT
as for the rest of the drivers, I use my special gp2sprint performance file. I open it after every feature race and change the qualifying drivers' performance. If Senna was 21st while Conway 22nd in the feature race, their qual. performance for the sprint will be: Conway 10000, Senna 10500, next driver 11000 and 11500 etc. and I go upwards just like that with the rest of the drivers remembering to reverse the top 8. In this way, I receive the EXACT starting order for the sprint where there's no place for random AI choice. The race performance is default which provides realistic results while the qualifying performance determines the starting order. Voila
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/17/2010 06:13PM by abdelkader.
-------------------------------------------------------
> Looks like you've jumped into the overall lead
> quite early this time. Your opposition should be
> worried
I hope they will
> I presume you set your grid position
> via quickrace options and AI are just done
> randomly by the game?
No way
Indeed, I set my grid position via race optionsBUT
as for the rest of the drivers, I use my special gp2sprint performance file. I open it after every feature race and change the qualifying drivers' performance. If Senna was 21st while Conway 22nd in the feature race, their qual. performance for the sprint will be: Conway 10000, Senna 10500, next driver 11000 and 11500 etc. and I go upwards just like that with the rest of the drivers remembering to reverse the top 8. In this way, I receive the EXACT starting order for the sprint where there's no place for random AI choice. The race performance is default which provides realistic results while the qualifying performance determines the starting order. Voila
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/17/2010 06:13PM by abdelkader.
Thx for explanation. I've never done any reverse grid races tbh
It's high time for you to do it
Honestly, I won't have much time for racing now as I'm seating my final exams in two weeks time as well as I'm having my M.A. thesis defense in some 4 weeks time. I'm gonna work like a dog in the following days. Anyway, I hope to win the GP2 title as a Master of Arts :P
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/18/2010 12:22AM by abdelkader.
Honestly, I won't have much time for racing now as I'm seating my final exams in two weeks time as well as I'm having my M.A. thesis defense in some 4 weeks time. I'm gonna work like a dog in the following days. Anyway, I hope to win the GP2 title as a Master of Arts :P
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/18/2010 12:22AM by abdelkader.
Allright, sports fans, here's my Osterreichring - Monza double...
Round 10: Austrian Grand Prix - Osterreichring
Qual:
Weather was warm & sunny in the Steyr mountains during practice and the action was a nail-biter itself for BRM fans Jacky Ickx set the benchmark of 1:28.319 but Jean-Pierre Beltoise was on course for his third pole of the year. However much to everyone's dismay, he missed it by 0,013 secs. and then promptly crashed in Bosch Kurve. Well, I decided 2nd place on the grid was good anyway so while the mechanics repaired my P160 I followed the session from the pits, but nobody pushed me off the front row anymore. Fittipaldi and Andretti were on row two with Revson and Hulme on row three.
Race:
Much to everyone's surprise weather changed dramatically with a light rain falling at the start of the race which was set to increase after about 45 minutes into the race. I made a bold decision and started on intermediate tyres while I presumed all my rivals will start on dries and therefore switch onto the wets after few laps, so I will gain a huge lead over them. I didn't go for full wets cause the rain wasn't going to be that hard in the early stages.
After the start I jumped into the lead and began pulling away just I expected but then after 3 laps I experienced serious handling issues in Turn 1 and by the end of the lap my lead over Fittipaldi shrank from 6 to just 2 secs. On the next one I couldn't keep my line anymore through Sebring and Fittipaldi moved ahead while armada of Ferraris suddenly filled my rear mirrors. Mind you, it was still raining but my intermediate tires were almost completely worn off. On the next two laps I lost eights secs. per lap to just about evrryone else and was shafted down to 14th place in one of my most embarrasing GP3 experiences and on lap 7 I finally took the well-advised decision and pitted for dry tires which dropped me right to the back of the field. Further up the road Peter Revson spun at Sebring and bounced off the wall only to be collected by Francois Cevert. Revson was out on the spot while Cevert limped back to the pits with a broken front wing. He eventually rejoined ahead of me, so much time I've lost during those early laps.
For the next 20 laps I was alone on the track battling with the clock and could only move up thanks to attrition and then on lap 17 Henri Pescarolo who in the meantime was passed by Cevert and run ahead of me on the track also retired I set my focus on Carlos Pace. I closed within 15 seconds of him but the big rain was still nowhere to be seen. Finally on lap 27 the drizzle increased and after two laps it was raining hard enough for everyone to make their pitstops. I switched to hard wets too and began moving up the field. Before lap 40 I caught and passed Pace, Schenken and Reutemann and was now lapping on terms with runaway leader Fittipaldi. Alas on lap 43 I eventually got lapped after I made a small error in Bosch and went for a trip across the grass. In the closing stages I then caught Peterson and Cevert helped by the fact they banged wheels at Sebring but somehow managed to continue. On lap 51 I was up to ninth place and 15 secs. behind Amon. In the last three laps I closed that gap to just six seconds but run out of time to make any further ground so I finished 9th.
Back up front Emerson Fittipaldi controlled the race without much trouble and won for the 5th time this season with Denny Hulme finishing second. Jacky Ickx was running nose-to-tail with teammate Andretti but suffered a brake trouble on lap 44 and was forced to pit which dropped him to 6th behind Clay Regazzoni Jackie Stewart. Dave Walker finished 7th the last car on the lead lap. In fact I finished around 10 secs. behind Fittipaldi (lapped of course) and around 30 secs. behind Walker on the road proper. Given the fact I lost around 20 secs. plodding around on intermediate tyres plus 25 secs. for an extra stop the I lost about 45 secs. in total. Without that I would have probably ended up somewhere along the Regazzoni - Stewart battle for 4th place.
Championship: 1.Fittipaldi 60, 2.Andretti 40, 3.Hulme 37, 4.Ickx 25, 5.Beltoise 24, 6.Revson 17, 7.Stewart 16, 8.Regazzoni 14, 9.Cevert 6, 10.Amon 3, 11.Reutemann, de Adamich 2, 13.Peterson 2, 14.Walker, Schenken 1
Round 12: Italian Grand Prix - Monza
Qual:
The revised Monza circuit (with two chicanes, one at the end of main straight and the second one in the old Ascari Bend) witnessed a complete turn-around of weather compared to Osterreichring. Practice was held in wet conditions and to my surprise I didn't have much to say in terms of the performance. I only out-qualified the power strugglers Williams. My time of 1:39.240 was 2,3 secs. slower then Mario Andretti's pole position but the field was incredibly bunched up. Jacky Ickx was the only man within a second of Andretti but the next 17 cars were covered by 1,2 secs. Henri Pescarolo had some serious issues in the wet and ended up 4 secs. slower then teammate Pace and whooping 9 secs. off Andretti's pole.
Race:
From 20th on the grid I had no other option then to blast right from the start and I fancied much chances for a much better showing in the race since the weather was picture perfect with no signs of rain spoiling the event. Indeed as the field braked for Turn 1 chicane I was up to 15th and by the time we got to Lesmos I was up to 13th already. Then after Ascari chicane I moved passed Carlos Reutemann and ended lap 1 in 12th spot. Back up front Mario Andretti jumped into the lead with Fittipaldi second from 4th on the grid and followed by Ickx, Revson and Stewart. Meanwhile Howden Ganley experienced his customary DNF, this time engine failure after just one lap and that was his 11th retirement in 12 races IIRC. There was more drama to come though as on lap 6 championship leader Emerson Fittipaldi suffered a similar engine failure and stopped at the end of the main straight. On the very next lap Andrea de Adamich run wide at Parabolica and ripped a wheel of his Surtees but more bad news for tifosi followed on lap 12 when runaway leader Mario Andretti - who built an 8 secs. lead over Ickx by this stage - suffered a puncture and coasted to a halt at the end of the main straight. Race observers suggested Andretti run over some debris from de Adamich's crash which may have caused tyre failure on the Ferrari This meant the race was effectively handed to Jacky Ickx on a golden plate with Stewart now his closest rival five secs. behind. Peter Revson was third ten secs. behind with Regazzoni holding up Denny Hulme for fourth place.
Andretti's retirement moved me up to 9th spot since after the first lap I was able to pass my teammates Wisell and Gethin, but this is where the trouble began. Francois Cevert was already 13 secs. ahead of me in 8th and lapping within 0,2 secs. of me. I managed to close down that gap to nine seconds before I made my pitstop and started to take advantage of fresh tires. Everyone else stopped for new rubber too and Stewart closed within striking distance of Ickx before passing him into Parabolica on lap 33. However on the very next lap Ickx regained the lead into Ascari Bend and didn't allow the Tyrrell man to pass him anymore despite some traffic coming into play in the closing stages.
On lap 43 I finally got within three second of Cevert who was running only two secs. behind Dave Walker's seventh placed Lotus, so I certainly had some points scoring opportunity with a helf of attrition among the leaders. Indeed on lap 45 Clay Regazzoni released fourth place after a loose wheel send him into the gravel at Lesmo and suddenly Walker, Cevert and Beltoise were battling for sixth place. On lap 47 I got a tow behind Cevert through Ascari and passed him before Parabolica with Walker being my next target. On lap 51 there was a major drama up front as Stewart lost second place with a transmission failure, so all of the sudden I had my eyes on fifth spot. Indeed on lap 53 I repeated the move on Walker at Parabolica and moved up to fifth which is where I ended the race. There was no late pressure on me as Cevert tried to divebomb Walker for 6th place in Ascari on the penultimate lap but got pushed wide instead and lost a lot of time and finished 7th in the end.
Jacky Ickx won the race which is bad news for me in terms of battling for 4th place in the championship and Peter Revson finished 2nd to also close the gap one me. Chris Amon for once avoided major drama and has shown some speed actually to claim his second points scoring result of the season. Denny Hulme lost a lot of time trapped behind Regazzoni and when the Swissman retired it was too late to make any progress, so he finished 4th and failed to take full advantage of Fittipaldi's DNF. As a result despite his engine failure Emerson Fittipaldi is crowned 1972 F1 champion with two races remaining with Andretti and Hulme battling for second place on 40 points each. Jacky Ickx has settled himself in 4th place in the standings while I remain 5th eight points behind the Belgian.
However next up is Mosport, like I've said before undoubtfully my strongest track of the season where I expect to win, simple as that. Watch out for BRM going for it's second victory of the season
Championship: 1.Fittipaldi 60, 2.Andretti 40, 3.Hulme 40, 4.Ickx 34, 5.Beltoise 26, 6.Revson 23, 7.Stewart 16, 8.Regazzoni 14, 9.Amon 7, 10.Cevert 6, 11.Reutemann, de Adamich 2, 13.Peterson, Walker 2, 15.Schenken 1
Next up: Canadian Grand Prix @ Mosport
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/18/2010 05:55PM by Mr. Lee.
Round 10: Austrian Grand Prix - Osterreichring
Qual:
Weather was warm & sunny in the Steyr mountains during practice and the action was a nail-biter itself for BRM fans
Jacky Ickx set the benchmark of 1:28.319 but Jean-Pierre Beltoise was on course for his third pole of the year. However much to everyone's dismay, he missed it by 0,013 secs. and then promptly crashed in Bosch Kurve. Well, I decided 2nd place on the grid was good anyway so while the mechanics repaired my P160 I followed the session from the pits, but nobody pushed me off the front row anymore. Fittipaldi and Andretti were on row two with Revson and Hulme on row three.Race:
Much to everyone's surprise weather changed dramatically with a light rain falling at the start of the race which was set to increase after about 45 minutes into the race. I made a bold decision and started on intermediate tyres while I presumed all my rivals will start on dries and therefore switch onto the wets after few laps, so I will gain a huge lead over them. I didn't go for full wets cause the rain wasn't going to be that hard in the early stages.
After the start I jumped into the lead and began pulling away just I expected but then after 3 laps I experienced serious handling issues in Turn 1 and by the end of the lap my lead over Fittipaldi shrank from 6 to just 2 secs. On the next one I couldn't keep my line anymore through Sebring and Fittipaldi moved ahead while armada of Ferraris suddenly filled my rear mirrors. Mind you, it was still raining but my intermediate tires were almost completely worn off. On the next two laps I lost eights secs. per lap to just about evrryone else and was shafted down to 14th place in one of my most embarrasing GP3 experiences and on lap 7 I finally took the well-advised decision and pitted for dry tires which dropped me right to the back of the field. Further up the road Peter Revson spun at Sebring and bounced off the wall only to be collected by Francois Cevert. Revson was out on the spot while Cevert limped back to the pits with a broken front wing. He eventually rejoined ahead of me, so much time I've lost during those early laps.
For the next 20 laps I was alone on the track battling with the clock and could only move up thanks to attrition and then on lap 17 Henri Pescarolo who in the meantime was passed by Cevert and run ahead of me on the track also retired I set my focus on Carlos Pace. I closed within 15 seconds of him but the big rain was still nowhere to be seen. Finally on lap 27 the drizzle increased and after two laps it was raining hard enough for everyone to make their pitstops. I switched to hard wets too and began moving up the field. Before lap 40 I caught and passed Pace, Schenken and Reutemann and was now lapping on terms with runaway leader Fittipaldi. Alas on lap 43 I eventually got lapped after I made a small error in Bosch and went for a trip across the grass. In the closing stages I then caught Peterson and Cevert helped by the fact they banged wheels at Sebring but somehow managed to continue. On lap 51 I was up to ninth place and 15 secs. behind Amon. In the last three laps I closed that gap to just six seconds but run out of time to make any further ground so I finished 9th.
Back up front Emerson Fittipaldi controlled the race without much trouble and won for the 5th time this season with Denny Hulme finishing second. Jacky Ickx was running nose-to-tail with teammate Andretti but suffered a brake trouble on lap 44 and was forced to pit which dropped him to 6th behind Clay Regazzoni Jackie Stewart. Dave Walker finished 7th the last car on the lead lap. In fact I finished around 10 secs. behind Fittipaldi (lapped of course) and around 30 secs. behind Walker on the road proper. Given the fact I lost around 20 secs. plodding around on intermediate tyres plus 25 secs. for an extra stop the I lost about 45 secs. in total. Without that I would have probably ended up somewhere along the Regazzoni - Stewart battle for 4th place.
Championship: 1.Fittipaldi 60, 2.Andretti 40, 3.Hulme 37, 4.Ickx 25, 5.Beltoise 24, 6.Revson 17, 7.Stewart 16, 8.Regazzoni 14, 9.Cevert 6, 10.Amon 3, 11.Reutemann, de Adamich 2, 13.Peterson 2, 14.Walker, Schenken 1
Round 12: Italian Grand Prix - Monza
Qual:
The revised Monza circuit (with two chicanes, one at the end of main straight and the second one in the old Ascari Bend) witnessed a complete turn-around of weather compared to Osterreichring. Practice was held in wet conditions and to my surprise I didn't have much to say in terms of the performance. I only out-qualified the power strugglers Williams. My time of 1:39.240 was 2,3 secs. slower then Mario Andretti's pole position but the field was incredibly bunched up. Jacky Ickx was the only man within a second of Andretti but the next 17 cars were covered by 1,2 secs. Henri Pescarolo had some serious issues in the wet and ended up 4 secs. slower then teammate Pace and whooping 9 secs. off Andretti's pole.
Race:
From 20th on the grid I had no other option then to blast right from the start and I fancied much chances for a much better showing in the race since the weather was picture perfect with no signs of rain spoiling the event. Indeed as the field braked for Turn 1 chicane I was up to 15th and by the time we got to Lesmos I was up to 13th already. Then after Ascari chicane I moved passed Carlos Reutemann and ended lap 1 in 12th spot. Back up front Mario Andretti jumped into the lead with Fittipaldi second from 4th on the grid and followed by Ickx, Revson and Stewart. Meanwhile Howden Ganley experienced his customary DNF, this time engine failure after just one lap and that was his 11th retirement in 12 races IIRC. There was more drama to come though as on lap 6 championship leader Emerson Fittipaldi suffered a similar engine failure and stopped at the end of the main straight. On the very next lap Andrea de Adamich run wide at Parabolica and ripped a wheel of his Surtees but more bad news for tifosi followed on lap 12 when runaway leader Mario Andretti - who built an 8 secs. lead over Ickx by this stage - suffered a puncture and coasted to a halt at the end of the main straight. Race observers suggested Andretti run over some debris from de Adamich's crash which may have caused tyre failure on the Ferrari
This meant the race was effectively handed to Jacky Ickx on a golden plate with Stewart now his closest rival five secs. behind. Peter Revson was third ten secs. behind with Regazzoni holding up Denny Hulme for fourth place.Andretti's retirement moved me up to 9th spot since after the first lap I was able to pass my teammates Wisell and Gethin, but this is where the trouble began. Francois Cevert was already 13 secs. ahead of me in 8th and lapping within 0,2 secs. of me. I managed to close down that gap to nine seconds before I made my pitstop and started to take advantage of fresh tires. Everyone else stopped for new rubber too and Stewart closed within striking distance of Ickx before passing him into Parabolica on lap 33. However on the very next lap Ickx regained the lead into Ascari Bend and didn't allow the Tyrrell man to pass him anymore despite some traffic coming into play in the closing stages.
On lap 43 I finally got within three second of Cevert who was running only two secs. behind Dave Walker's seventh placed Lotus, so I certainly had some points scoring opportunity with a helf of attrition among the leaders. Indeed on lap 45 Clay Regazzoni released fourth place after a loose wheel send him into the gravel at Lesmo and suddenly Walker, Cevert and Beltoise were battling for sixth place. On lap 47 I got a tow behind Cevert through Ascari and passed him before Parabolica with Walker being my next target. On lap 51 there was a major drama up front as Stewart lost second place with a transmission failure, so all of the sudden I had my eyes on fifth spot. Indeed on lap 53 I repeated the move on Walker at Parabolica and moved up to fifth which is where I ended the race. There was no late pressure on me as Cevert tried to divebomb Walker for 6th place in Ascari on the penultimate lap but got pushed wide instead and lost a lot of time and finished 7th in the end.
Jacky Ickx won the race which is bad news for me in terms of battling for 4th place in the championship and Peter Revson finished 2nd to also close the gap one me. Chris Amon for once avoided major drama and has shown some speed actually to claim his second points scoring result of the season. Denny Hulme lost a lot of time trapped behind Regazzoni and when the Swissman retired it was too late to make any progress, so he finished 4th and failed to take full advantage of Fittipaldi's DNF. As a result despite his engine failure Emerson Fittipaldi is crowned 1972 F1 champion with two races remaining with Andretti and Hulme battling for second place on 40 points each. Jacky Ickx has settled himself in 4th place in the standings while I remain 5th eight points behind the Belgian.
However next up is Mosport, like I've said before undoubtfully my strongest track of the season where I expect to win, simple as that. Watch out for BRM going for it's second victory of the season
Championship: 1.Fittipaldi 60, 2.Andretti 40, 3.Hulme 40, 4.Ickx 34, 5.Beltoise 26, 6.Revson 23, 7.Stewart 16, 8.Regazzoni 14, 9.Amon 7, 10.Cevert 6, 11.Reutemann, de Adamich 2, 13.Peterson, Walker 2, 15.Schenken 1
Next up: Canadian Grand Prix @ Mosport
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/18/2010 05:55PM by Mr. Lee.
Great reading, indeed. Congratulations on your Monza result. When it comes to Osterreichring, I think I once also started on intermediates and faced pretty much the same fate afterwards. I think it's better to start on dry tyres in such cases. If the others go to the pits, you will have to go there, too. At least there will be a status quo. If you try to be smarter than you are, you mostly end up the way you did...I used to do the same but I will never act like that again.
Round 4 - Magny Cours, France
Feature race:
The qualifying session wasn't particularly successful to me but it wasn't that bad at all. I managed to make 10th best time and hoped for some good passing at the beginning of the race. Pole position went for my teammate with Maldonado and Petrov right behind. Just as I said, I passed a couple of rivals at the beginning and established myself well in 5th position right behind Senna. After 15 laps Grosjean, Di Grassi, Maldonado and Petrov were already out of the race. Now it was Pantano, Senna and me still in the race. I had a really breathtaking battle against Senna. I passed him in lap 27 and it seemed that my position was safe. However, withing the next couple of laps Senna must have done all his best and passed me to regain his position. Then, the situation repeated itself but this time we switched the roles - it was me who suddenly started charging Senna which lead to my regaining 2nd place. Three laps from finish I was over 40 seconds behind Pantano but I was 6 seconds ahead of Senna. I hoped to bring it home and keep the championship advantage over Pantano. Unfortunately, it was transmission failure which struck my car and just as my teammate, who blew the engine, I failed to finish the race. I got classified in 10th position. Now I'm one point behind Pantano in the championship.
The winner - Pantano, 2nd - Senna, 3rd - Filippi
Sprint race:
After a disappointing feature race I hoped for reaching at least 2nd place in the sprint. Unfortunately, the weather conditions ruined this plan. The race started with drizzling rain with the prospect of rainfall increase further in the race. I elbowed myself through to 7 position but this is when I rammed Pantano's rear. As a result, he retired while I had to pit for the front wing. I rejoined the race in 19th position over 30 seconds behind the 18th driver. I retired from the race in lap 4 as scoring points was absolutely beyond any question. The cheering fact is that my teammate, Grosjean, won the race. At least ART earned some points.
The winner - Grosjean, 2nd - Chandhok, 3rd - Petrov
Round 5 - Silverstone, Great Britain
Feature race:
As usually in England, the qualifying session took place in pelting rain. I wasn't confident on this kind of surface and as a result I managed to reach 14th position. All my major rivals were in front. Pole position went for Chandhok with Di Grassi and Pantano in 2nd and 3rd. Luckily, the race day was dry which boosted my self-esteem. I soon started passing rivals until I got stuck in 6th position. Pantano had a poor start and dropped a few position. This way, even though his starting from 3rd, he was right behind me. He was trying to divebomb me on one of the curves but he was the only who spun off the track. I was extremely happy - my biggest rival retired. Then I started pushing Parente. In lap 13,14 and 15 I managed to get right on his tail. The problem was that I was able to keep his pace but when it came to passing, I felt terribly underpowered. I tried to pass him three times but each time we only got levelled after which he'd retain his position. Fourth luck charm - I finally managed to pass him in lap 18. Then I had to beat Roldan Rodriguez. At a certain point he was the race leader but I had no problems leaving him behind on the final straight. Now there were only Senna and Buemi to beat. I passed both of them within 5 laps. From now on I started pulling away establishing an 8-second advantage in the final lap. I passed the line as a winner. The funny thing is that I wanted to retire from the race after Pantano's "murder" attempt. I got passed by a couple of drivers and lost a lot of time to the rivals. Luckily, I was the most consistent driver on the grid which resulted in my victory. As it comes to ART Grand PRix - we kept it in the family as Grosjean got one point for the fastest lap in the race. In the champonship, I'm now 9 points clear of Pantano .
The winner - Kosewski, 2nd - Senna, 3rd - Rodriguez
Sprint race:
I knew I had a huge chance to increase the lead in the championship as Pantano was to start from 22nd while I was in 8th. After the feature race in which I was master of curves but was completely harmless on flat out sections I lowered the wings. Anyway, I was really afraid of the rivals in front. To my surprise, at the very start I passed most of them. The only guys to beat were Zuber and the leader - Soucek. Zuber wasn't a big rival to me as after two laps he finally let me pass him. Now there was Soucek to overtake. My problem was that due to my aerodynamics changes I was more twitchy and wasn't as confident in the curves. Finally, I passed Soucek at Hangar Straight and took the lead. If you now think that I pulled away, you can't be more wrong. That was one of those races during which you can't stop watching the mirrors. What was happening behind me can be called as 'Dante's Inferno'. Soucek was swapping positions with Zuber, Senna and Grosjean. What I saw in the mirrors was a cluster of 4 cars constantly charging and leaning to left and rightThe situation was like that up until 2 laps from finish. It was when Soucek's engine fell apart while Grosjean got a couple of metres of advantage over Senna and started pushing me. I was really afraid that he'd ignore 'team orders'...and he did!!! He passed me in the final lap at Abbey. I got extremely furious and started frantically pushing forward to get what is mine...I won the race at Woodcote by 0.002 sec in front of Grosjean. Senna was third only 2.3 sec behind us. I'm extremely happy that our team made a 1-2 finish but the style in which we did it leaves much to be desired. Such things shouldn't happen between the drivers of the same team. One more thing: Pantano finished 9th which means he scored no points over again I'm now 15 points ahead at the half of the season.
Anyway, I think it was the most exciting and absolutely blood-freezing event. Generally I prefer winning hands down or losing like a complete newbie - I don't want to take part in such thrillers anymore.
The winner - Kosewski, 2nd - Grosjean, 3rd - Senna
Round 6 - Hockenheimring, Germany
Feature race:
That's a pity that the track was changed into a slow and curved one. Because of that I had to spend the whole practice session only on memorizing the layout. It didn't pay off in the qualifying as I came 14th. Unfortunately, Pantano won the pole position in front of Maldonado and Di Grassi.
The race start was a successful one to me. Passing was quite easy and I soon found myself in third position behind Di Grassi as Maldonado, traditionally, crashed out. I passed Di Grassi in lap 7 and now I was already 12 seconds behind Pantano who was simply flying around the circuit. Di Grassi lost it to Senna and now I had to concentrate on keeping 2nd position. Luckily, Senna was fast but not too fast. I established a safe 5 second advantage which didn't change until the end of the race. When crossing the finish line, Pantano was 43 seconds ahead which really proves his domination here in Germany. He took all the points as he started from the pole, won the race and set the fastest lap. Now I'm only 10 points ahead of him.
The winner - Pantano, 2nd - Kosewski, 3rd - Senna
Sprint race:
I had three objectives for the race: 1) keep Pantano behind, 2) pass Senna in front, 3) take the lead as soon as possible. When it comes to task #1, I managed to do it quite easily as I blocked Pantano's way while other rivals slowed him down successfully. Task # 2 - Senna made it to the left of the track. I made use of slipstreaming and passed him early in lap 1. Task # 3 - I soon pushed myself into 2nd position and now I was driving 2 seconds behind Petrov. I thought he'd be an easy rival but he kept pushing for the following 5 laps and only then did I manage to tighten the gap and take the lead. Now there was no real rival to me. I became preoccupied as Pantano who meanwhile established himself in third set the fastest lap. Luckily, he got outperformed by Di Grassi one lap later only to be beaten by Maldonado who kept setting the fastst lap times lap after lap actually up until the end of the sprint. Meanwhile, Senna developed a transmission failure and retired. It was a pity as he was pushing Pantano which would have provoked Pantano's mistake. At the end of the race Pantano must have had some problems with his car as he pitted and eventually, finished the race in 5th. I won the race and I'm generally happy about the outcome of the weekend. I lost only one point to Pantano and now I'm 14 points ahead.
The winner - Kosewski, 2nd - Petrov, 3rd - Zuber
Round 7 - Hungaroring, Hungary
Feature race:
The qualifying session started in heavy rain. I made a couple of laps on hard wets but I was way slower than the rest. Luckily, monsoons once again proved their quality. I set the pole position outperforming Senna by 1.3 sec. third position for my teammate - Grosjean.
The race was completely different from what we could see in the qualifyings. The day was sunny without a single cloud in the skies. I made a poor start as Zuber and Senna both passed me. While I managed to fight Senna back I was unable to catch Zuber who started pulling away. Senna was charging from behind but in lap 4 he missed he braking point and crashed out right behind me. A while later I saw Pantano retire after problems with his suspension. I was happy because he was 22nd in the qualifyings while in the race he managed to push himself into 6th position. After 15 laps, Zuber was already 20 seconds ahead while I had Petrov around 1.7 sec behind. He kept pushing but the distance between me and him wasn't decreasing so I didn't have to look in the mirrors too often. However, he amde a similar mistake to Senna's and dropped a lot of positions due to running wide. He rejoined the race in 6th position which he kept until the finish of the race. Meanwhile, Petrov's 3rd position was taken by his teammate - Di Grassi. He was charging extremely hard but some 10 laps from finish the gap stopped melting and I thought I'd be 2nd in the race. However, he made the final passing attempt in the final lap, in the final sector...he succeeded. I came third in the race and still can't get over the fact I got robbed of my well-deserved 2nd position. It looked as taking a candy from a kid. He just passed me and I did nothing :/. Anyway, it's another 8 points (6 plus 2 for pole position).
The winner - Zuber, 2nd - Di Grassi, 3rd - Kosewski
Sprint race:
I started from 6th and knew that if I passed the rivals I'd be unbeaten. Indeed, I did so and took the lead. In lap 3 I saw Pantano retire after oil leak and I was even more happy because it would have been another race in which I'd increase the lead. However, in lap 4 I got a puncture and retired, too. From now on Maldonado kept extending the lead in front of Di Grassi and Petrov from Campos team. What a pity that a stupid mechanical issue has ruined my race.
The winner - Maldonado, 2nd - Di Grassi, 3rd - Petrov
Round 8 - Valencia, Spain
Feature race:
The qualifying session was a completye disaster. I came 22nd after a pretty twitchy drive. Pole for Zuber in front of Senna and Chandhok.
As for the race, I made a quick start and gained some positions until in lap 7 I crashed out at the final curve. Zuber kept the lead from start to finish and made an impressive win in front of his teammate - Maldonado. The classificatin of the race more or less resembles the qualification stadings. That was one of those boring races without passing at all.
The winner - Zuber, 2nd - Maldonado, 3rd - Pantano
Sprint race:
I sparkled from 17th and soon found myself in 8th. I had Zuber in front and Maldonado behind. In lap 4 Maldonado pushed me off which lead to my retirement. SOucek, the leader, once again didn't withstand the rpessure and crashed out. Pantano, starting from 6th, took the lead with Buemi behind. He kept the lead until finish and drastically tightened the gap in the championship standings. I'm now only 9 points in front.
The winner - Pantano, 2nd - Buemi, 3rd - Di Grassi
Round 9 - Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium
Feature race:
The qualifyings took place in heavy rain. After first lap which let me claim 17th position I decided to go flat out where possible and changed to monsoons. This time I was much faster and ended up in 6th position. Unfortunately, Pantano took the pole position and it all didn't look good at all to me. He was heading for another victory. The race day was sunny and I thought it'd be a good race for me as on dry tarmac I always outperform the rivals. However, at the start of the race I got pushed off by Roldan Rodriguez and landed off the track without the front wheels. The race was over for me while Pantano kept pulling away in 1st burying my chances to win the GP2 championship. He was in front of Grosjean and Senna. Those two drivers were actually the ones who still could threaten Pantano. Indeed, Grosjean soon levelled with the Italian which resulted in a contact between both drivers. As a result, Pantano retired from the race. I watched this and couldn't believe my eyes. I was in 7th heaven Once again I wouldn' lose any points to Giorgio. In lap 27 Senna retired leaving Buemi in 2nd position. Grosjean kept extending his lead while petrov was charging and initiated a battle for 2nd but he eventually lost it to Buemi. A great job was done by Davide Valsecchi who started from 15th but finished the race in 7th earning his first points of the season.
The winner - Grosjean, 2nd - Buemi, 3rd - Petrov
Sprint race: I was starting from 22nd but this time I was more lucky at the start of the race. In lap 4 I was already in 3rd position and clearly the fastest on the track. Conway and Valsecchi got stuck behind which helped me to make a margin and stay close to the top drivers who were Petrov and Rodriguez. I soon passed them and now nothing could stop me from winning. This time Grosjean didn't repeat his great success from the feature race and finished 6th. Pantano who started from 15th failed to finish the race once again after a fight with Valerio in lap 11. However a few laps before he set the fastest lap which wasn;t improved until the flag. This sprint wasn't a particularly interesting race as nothing actually changed until the very end. What I'm really happy about is that now I've extended my lead in the championship to 12 points over Pantano. Well, everything seems to be down to Monza now. This will be a real showdown.
The winner - Kosewski, 2nd - Petrov, 3rd - Rodriguez
Edited 13 time(s). Last edit at 05/24/2010 10:21PM by abdelkader.
Feature race:
The qualifying session wasn't particularly successful to me but it wasn't that bad at all. I managed to make 10th best time and hoped for some good passing at the beginning of the race. Pole position went for my teammate with Maldonado and Petrov right behind. Just as I said, I passed a couple of rivals at the beginning and established myself well in 5th position right behind Senna. After 15 laps Grosjean, Di Grassi, Maldonado and Petrov were already out of the race. Now it was Pantano, Senna and me still in the race. I had a really breathtaking battle against Senna. I passed him in lap 27 and it seemed that my position was safe. However, withing the next couple of laps Senna must have done all his best and passed me to regain his position. Then, the situation repeated itself but this time we switched the roles - it was me who suddenly started charging Senna which lead to my regaining 2nd place. Three laps from finish I was over 40 seconds behind Pantano but I was 6 seconds ahead of Senna. I hoped to bring it home and keep the championship advantage over Pantano. Unfortunately, it was transmission failure which struck my car and just as my teammate, who blew the engine, I failed to finish the race. I got classified in 10th position. Now I'm one point behind Pantano in the championship.
The winner - Pantano, 2nd - Senna, 3rd - Filippi
Sprint race:
After a disappointing feature race I hoped for reaching at least 2nd place in the sprint. Unfortunately, the weather conditions ruined this plan. The race started with drizzling rain with the prospect of rainfall increase further in the race. I elbowed myself through to 7 position but this is when I rammed Pantano's rear. As a result, he retired while I had to pit for the front wing. I rejoined the race in 19th position over 30 seconds behind the 18th driver. I retired from the race in lap 4 as scoring points was absolutely beyond any question. The cheering fact is that my teammate, Grosjean, won the race. At least ART earned some points.
The winner - Grosjean, 2nd - Chandhok, 3rd - Petrov
Round 5 - Silverstone, Great Britain
Feature race:
As usually in England, the qualifying session took place in pelting rain. I wasn't confident on this kind of surface and as a result I managed to reach 14th position. All my major rivals were in front. Pole position went for Chandhok with Di Grassi and Pantano in 2nd and 3rd. Luckily, the race day was dry which boosted my self-esteem. I soon started passing rivals until I got stuck in 6th position. Pantano had a poor start and dropped a few position. This way, even though his starting from 3rd, he was right behind me. He was trying to divebomb me on one of the curves but he was the only who spun off the track. I was extremely happy - my biggest rival retired. Then I started pushing Parente. In lap 13,14 and 15 I managed to get right on his tail. The problem was that I was able to keep his pace but when it came to passing, I felt terribly underpowered. I tried to pass him three times but each time we only got levelled after which he'd retain his position. Fourth luck charm - I finally managed to pass him in lap 18. Then I had to beat Roldan Rodriguez. At a certain point he was the race leader but I had no problems leaving him behind on the final straight. Now there were only Senna and Buemi to beat. I passed both of them within 5 laps. From now on I started pulling away establishing an 8-second advantage in the final lap. I passed the line as a winner. The funny thing is that I wanted to retire from the race after Pantano's "murder" attempt. I got passed by a couple of drivers and lost a lot of time to the rivals. Luckily, I was the most consistent driver on the grid which resulted in my victory. As it comes to ART Grand PRix - we kept it in the family as Grosjean got one point for the fastest lap in the race. In the champonship, I'm now 9 points clear of Pantano .
The winner - Kosewski, 2nd - Senna, 3rd - Rodriguez
Sprint race:
I knew I had a huge chance to increase the lead in the championship as Pantano was to start from 22nd while I was in 8th. After the feature race in which I was master of curves but was completely harmless on flat out sections I lowered the wings. Anyway, I was really afraid of the rivals in front. To my surprise, at the very start I passed most of them. The only guys to beat were Zuber and the leader - Soucek. Zuber wasn't a big rival to me as after two laps he finally let me pass him. Now there was Soucek to overtake. My problem was that due to my aerodynamics changes I was more twitchy and wasn't as confident in the curves. Finally, I passed Soucek at Hangar Straight and took the lead. If you now think that I pulled away, you can't be more wrong. That was one of those races during which you can't stop watching the mirrors. What was happening behind me can be called as 'Dante's Inferno'. Soucek was swapping positions with Zuber, Senna and Grosjean. What I saw in the mirrors was a cluster of 4 cars constantly charging and leaning to left and rightThe situation was like that up until 2 laps from finish. It was when Soucek's engine fell apart while Grosjean got a couple of metres of advantage over Senna and started pushing me. I was really afraid that he'd ignore 'team orders'...and he did!!! He passed me in the final lap at Abbey. I got extremely furious and started frantically pushing forward to get what is mine...I won the race at Woodcote by 0.002 sec in front of Grosjean. Senna was third only 2.3 sec behind us. I'm extremely happy that our team made a 1-2 finish but the style in which we did it leaves much to be desired. Such things shouldn't happen between the drivers of the same team. One more thing: Pantano finished 9th which means he scored no points over again
I'm now 15 points ahead at the half of the season.Anyway, I think it was the most exciting and absolutely blood-freezing event. Generally I prefer winning hands down or losing like a complete newbie - I don't want to take part in such thrillers anymore.
The winner - Kosewski, 2nd - Grosjean, 3rd - Senna
Round 6 - Hockenheimring, Germany
Feature race:
That's a pity that the track was changed into a slow and curved one. Because of that I had to spend the whole practice session only on memorizing the layout. It didn't pay off in the qualifying as I came 14th. Unfortunately, Pantano won the pole position in front of Maldonado and Di Grassi.
The race start was a successful one to me. Passing was quite easy and I soon found myself in third position behind Di Grassi as Maldonado, traditionally, crashed out. I passed Di Grassi in lap 7 and now I was already 12 seconds behind Pantano who was simply flying around the circuit. Di Grassi lost it to Senna and now I had to concentrate on keeping 2nd position. Luckily, Senna was fast but not too fast. I established a safe 5 second advantage which didn't change until the end of the race. When crossing the finish line, Pantano was 43 seconds ahead which really proves his domination here in Germany. He took all the points as he started from the pole, won the race and set the fastest lap. Now I'm only 10 points ahead of him.
The winner - Pantano, 2nd - Kosewski, 3rd - Senna
Sprint race:
I had three objectives for the race: 1) keep Pantano behind, 2) pass Senna in front, 3) take the lead as soon as possible. When it comes to task #1, I managed to do it quite easily as I blocked Pantano's way while other rivals slowed him down successfully. Task # 2 - Senna made it to the left of the track. I made use of slipstreaming and passed him early in lap 1. Task # 3 - I soon pushed myself into 2nd position and now I was driving 2 seconds behind Petrov. I thought he'd be an easy rival but he kept pushing for the following 5 laps and only then did I manage to tighten the gap and take the lead. Now there was no real rival to me. I became preoccupied as Pantano who meanwhile established himself in third set the fastest lap. Luckily, he got outperformed by Di Grassi one lap later only to be beaten by Maldonado who kept setting the fastst lap times lap after lap actually up until the end of the sprint. Meanwhile, Senna developed a transmission failure and retired. It was a pity as he was pushing Pantano which would have provoked Pantano's mistake. At the end of the race Pantano must have had some problems with his car as he pitted and eventually, finished the race in 5th. I won the race and I'm generally happy about the outcome of the weekend. I lost only one point to Pantano and now I'm 14 points ahead.
The winner - Kosewski, 2nd - Petrov, 3rd - Zuber
Round 7 - Hungaroring, Hungary
Feature race:
The qualifying session started in heavy rain. I made a couple of laps on hard wets but I was way slower than the rest. Luckily, monsoons once again proved their quality. I set the pole position outperforming Senna by 1.3 sec. third position for my teammate - Grosjean.
The race was completely different from what we could see in the qualifyings. The day was sunny without a single cloud in the skies. I made a poor start as Zuber and Senna both passed me. While I managed to fight Senna back I was unable to catch Zuber who started pulling away. Senna was charging from behind but in lap 4 he missed he braking point and crashed out right behind me. A while later I saw Pantano retire after problems with his suspension. I was happy because he was 22nd in the qualifyings while in the race he managed to push himself into 6th position. After 15 laps, Zuber was already 20 seconds ahead while I had Petrov around 1.7 sec behind. He kept pushing but the distance between me and him wasn't decreasing so I didn't have to look in the mirrors too often. However, he amde a similar mistake to Senna's and dropped a lot of positions due to running wide. He rejoined the race in 6th position which he kept until the finish of the race. Meanwhile, Petrov's 3rd position was taken by his teammate - Di Grassi. He was charging extremely hard but some 10 laps from finish the gap stopped melting and I thought I'd be 2nd in the race. However, he made the final passing attempt in the final lap, in the final sector...he succeeded. I came third in the race and still can't get over the fact I got robbed of my well-deserved 2nd position. It looked as taking a candy from a kid. He just passed me and I did nothing :/. Anyway, it's another 8 points (6 plus 2 for pole position).
The winner - Zuber, 2nd - Di Grassi, 3rd - Kosewski
Sprint race:
I started from 6th and knew that if I passed the rivals I'd be unbeaten. Indeed, I did so and took the lead. In lap 3 I saw Pantano retire after oil leak and I was even more happy because it would have been another race in which I'd increase the lead. However, in lap 4 I got a puncture and retired, too. From now on Maldonado kept extending the lead in front of Di Grassi and Petrov from Campos team. What a pity that a stupid mechanical issue has ruined my race.
The winner - Maldonado, 2nd - Di Grassi, 3rd - Petrov
Round 8 - Valencia, Spain
Feature race:
The qualifying session was a completye disaster. I came 22nd after a pretty twitchy drive. Pole for Zuber in front of Senna and Chandhok.
As for the race, I made a quick start and gained some positions until in lap 7 I crashed out at the final curve. Zuber kept the lead from start to finish and made an impressive win in front of his teammate - Maldonado. The classificatin of the race more or less resembles the qualification stadings. That was one of those boring races without passing at all.
The winner - Zuber, 2nd - Maldonado, 3rd - Pantano
Sprint race:
I sparkled from 17th and soon found myself in 8th. I had Zuber in front and Maldonado behind. In lap 4 Maldonado pushed me off which lead to my retirement. SOucek, the leader, once again didn't withstand the rpessure and crashed out. Pantano, starting from 6th, took the lead with Buemi behind. He kept the lead until finish and drastically tightened the gap in the championship standings. I'm now only 9 points in front.
The winner - Pantano, 2nd - Buemi, 3rd - Di Grassi
Round 9 - Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium
Feature race:
The qualifyings took place in heavy rain. After first lap which let me claim 17th position I decided to go flat out where possible and changed to monsoons. This time I was much faster and ended up in 6th position. Unfortunately, Pantano took the pole position and it all didn't look good at all to me. He was heading for another victory. The race day was sunny and I thought it'd be a good race for me as on dry tarmac I always outperform the rivals. However, at the start of the race I got pushed off by Roldan Rodriguez and landed off the track without the front wheels. The race was over for me while Pantano kept pulling away in 1st burying my chances to win the GP2 championship. He was in front of Grosjean and Senna. Those two drivers were actually the ones who still could threaten Pantano. Indeed, Grosjean soon levelled with the Italian which resulted in a contact between both drivers. As a result, Pantano retired from the race. I watched this and couldn't believe my eyes. I was in 7th heaven
Once again I wouldn' lose any points to Giorgio. In lap 27 Senna retired leaving Buemi in 2nd position. Grosjean kept extending his lead while petrov was charging and initiated a battle for 2nd but he eventually lost it to Buemi. A great job was done by Davide Valsecchi who started from 15th but finished the race in 7th earning his first points of the season.The winner - Grosjean, 2nd - Buemi, 3rd - Petrov
Sprint race: I was starting from 22nd but this time I was more lucky at the start of the race. In lap 4 I was already in 3rd position and clearly the fastest on the track. Conway and Valsecchi got stuck behind which helped me to make a margin and stay close to the top drivers who were Petrov and Rodriguez. I soon passed them and now nothing could stop me from winning. This time Grosjean didn't repeat his great success from the feature race and finished 6th. Pantano who started from 15th failed to finish the race once again after a fight with Valerio in lap 11. However a few laps before he set the fastest lap which wasn;t improved until the flag. This sprint wasn't a particularly interesting race as nothing actually changed until the very end. What I'm really happy about is that now I've extended my lead in the championship to 12 points over Pantano. Well, everything seems to be down to Monza now. This will be a real showdown.
The winner - Kosewski, 2nd - Petrov, 3rd - Rodriguez
Edited 13 time(s). Last edit at 05/24/2010 10:21PM by abdelkader.
Round 10 - Monza, Italy
Feature race:
It has become a tradition that qualifying sessions take place during a heavy downpour. It was the case also here in Italy - the place in which rain is never expected.
I had some problems and finally claimed 9th position. Senna took pole position with Pantano to complete the front row. I knew I had to pass Pantano as soon as possible. It was the last chance to increase the lead so that he couldn't overtake me in the championship in the sprint race. Luckily, feature race just as a few other races this year, started in full sun with no rain expected. I set the car up to have as low downforce as possible. It paid off very soon as in lap 1 I landed in 3rd position having Pantano and Senna in front. Firstly I passed Pantano but Senna wasn't as easy to beat as I thought. I fought him for the following 7 laps. Ironically, after I passed him he got a puncture and retired. Meanwhile, Pantano was extremely fast right behind me. He also knew that he had to win to still have the opportunity to win the title. He was right behind up until lap 28 at which he made a mistake and got passed by Petrov. The Russian was already 2.1 sec behind so I relaxed a bit but this deteriorated my performance. In lap 30 Petrov passed me at Parabolica after I missed my braking point and went off the racing line. Luckily, Pantano's deterioration was even bigger as he got passed by Petrov's teammate - Di Grassi. I had two laps to go and decided not to charge too much - only to keep 2nd position. I succeeded in it and WON THE TITLE. I have 92 points while Pantano has 76. There's no way he can take the title in the sprint race
The winner - Petrov, 2nd - Kosewski, 3rd - Di Grassi
Sprint race:
Another sunny race was ahead, Pantano too far behind, no major rivals in front - a great opportunity to finish the season with grace. Indeed, I passed the guys in front and started pulling away. For the entire sprint there was no point at which my leadership was threatened. Petrov started pushing forward and soon reached 3rd position losing only to Rodriguez who had a bad start. Thanks to that I could pass him at the early stage of lap 1. Pantano was driving in 13th after he gained 5 positions. However, in lap 11 he got a suspension failure and even though he managed to recover he never regained his former position. He must have lost all the will to fight as he was unable to withstand the attacks of such drivers as Filippi or Asmer. Grosjean had serious problems in lap 18 as he cut the chicane # 1 and lost a lot of time. Eventually, he finished in 16th losing his position to Kobayashi 3 laps from finish. Senna made an impressive race as he started from 18th but finished 4th more than one second behind Petrov. Anyway, I won another race. It's great to see myself win the final race of the season. I grabbed the tite in front of the tifosi who hoped that Pantano could claim the title before this weekend.
The winner - Kosewski, 2nd - Rodriguez, 3rd - Petrov
The season is over and I'm glad I, I think for the first time, claimed all the most important awards for both, individual and team achievements. Well, there's no wonder why I did it. I kept a good pace throughout the whole season as I had only few bad races. I also had a great rival in my team - Romain Grosjean who finished 3rd in the championship. I really would like to thank Pantano for a great rivalry. He really was a major threat up until the final weekend.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/25/2010 12:07AM by abdelkader.
Feature race:
It has become a tradition that qualifying sessions take place during a heavy downpour. It was the case also here in Italy - the place in which rain is never expected.
I had some problems and finally claimed 9th position. Senna took pole position with Pantano to complete the front row. I knew I had to pass Pantano as soon as possible. It was the last chance to increase the lead so that he couldn't overtake me in the championship in the sprint race. Luckily, feature race just as a few other races this year, started in full sun with no rain expected. I set the car up to have as low downforce as possible. It paid off very soon as in lap 1 I landed in 3rd position having Pantano and Senna in front. Firstly I passed Pantano but Senna wasn't as easy to beat as I thought. I fought him for the following 7 laps. Ironically, after I passed him he got a puncture and retired. Meanwhile, Pantano was extremely fast right behind me. He also knew that he had to win to still have the opportunity to win the title. He was right behind up until lap 28 at which he made a mistake and got passed by Petrov. The Russian was already 2.1 sec behind so I relaxed a bit but this deteriorated my performance. In lap 30 Petrov passed me at Parabolica after I missed my braking point and went off the racing line. Luckily, Pantano's deterioration was even bigger as he got passed by Petrov's teammate - Di Grassi. I had two laps to go and decided not to charge too much - only to keep 2nd position. I succeeded in it and WON THE TITLE. I have 92 points while Pantano has 76. There's no way he can take the title in the sprint race
The winner - Petrov, 2nd - Kosewski, 3rd - Di Grassi
Sprint race:
Another sunny race was ahead, Pantano too far behind, no major rivals in front - a great opportunity to finish the season with grace. Indeed, I passed the guys in front and started pulling away. For the entire sprint there was no point at which my leadership was threatened. Petrov started pushing forward and soon reached 3rd position losing only to Rodriguez who had a bad start. Thanks to that I could pass him at the early stage of lap 1. Pantano was driving in 13th after he gained 5 positions. However, in lap 11 he got a suspension failure and even though he managed to recover he never regained his former position. He must have lost all the will to fight as he was unable to withstand the attacks of such drivers as Filippi or Asmer. Grosjean had serious problems in lap 18 as he cut the chicane # 1 and lost a lot of time. Eventually, he finished in 16th losing his position to Kobayashi 3 laps from finish. Senna made an impressive race as he started from 18th but finished 4th more than one second behind Petrov. Anyway, I won another race. It's great to see myself win the final race of the season. I grabbed the tite in front of the tifosi who hoped that Pantano could claim the title before this weekend.
The winner - Kosewski, 2nd - Rodriguez, 3rd - Petrov
The season is over and I'm glad I, I think for the first time, claimed all the most important awards for both, individual and team achievements. Well, there's no wonder why I did it. I kept a good pace throughout the whole season as I had only few bad races. I also had a great rival in my team - Romain Grosjean who finished 3rd in the championship. I really would like to thank Pantano for a great rivalry. He really was a major threat up until the final weekend.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/25/2010 12:07AM by abdelkader.
ooh common, driving GP2 series is justy driving straight to champions. No way to fail :p
abdelkader Schreef:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Round 10 - Monza, Italy
>
> Feature race:
> It has become a tradition that qualifying sessions
> take place during a heavy downpour. It was the
> case also here in Italy - the place in which rain
> is never expected.
> I had some problems and finally claimed 9th
> position. Senna took pole position with Pantano to
> complete the front row. I knew I had to pass
> Pantano as soon as possible. It was the last
> chance to increase the lead so that he couldn't
> overtake me in the championship in the sprint
> race. Luckily, feature race just as a few other
> races this year, started in full sun with no rain
> expected. I set the car up to have as low
> downforce as possible. It paid off very soon as in
> lap 1 I landed in 3rd position having Pantano and
> Senna in front. Firstly I passed Pantano but Senna
> wasn't as easy to beat as I thought. I fought him
> for the following 7 laps. Ironically, after I
> passed him he got a puncture and retired.
> Meanwhile, Pantano was extremely fast right behind
> me. He also knew that he had to win to still have
> the opportunity to win the title. He was right
> behind up until lap 28 at which he made a mistake
> and got passed by Petrov. The Russian was already
> 2.1 sec behind so I relaxed a bit but this
> deteriorated my performance. In lap 30 Petrov
> passed me at Parabolica after I missed my braking
> point and went off the racing line. Luckily,
> Pantano's deterioration was even bigger as he got
> passed by Petrov's teammate - Di Grassi. I had two
> laps to go and decided not to charge too much -
> only to keep 2nd position. I succeeded in it and
> WON THE TITLE. I have 92 points while Pantano has
> 76. There's no way he can take the title in the
> sprint race
>
> The winner - Petrov, 2nd - Kosewski, 3rd - Di
> Grassi
>
>
> Sprint race:
> Another sunny race was ahead, Pantano too far
> behind, no major rivals in front - a great
> opportunity to finish the season with grace.
> Indeed, I passed the guys in front and started
> pulling away. For the entire sprint there was no
> point at which my leadership was threatened.
> Petrov started pushing forward and soon reached
> 3rd position losing only to Rodriguez who had a
> bad start. Thanks to that I could pass him at the
> early stage of lap 1. Pantano was driving in 13th
> after he gained 5 positions. However, in lap 11 he
> got a suspension failure and even though he
> managed to recover he never regained his former
> position. He must have lost all the will to fight
> as he was unable to withstand the attacks of such
> drivers as Filippi or Asmer. Grosjean had serious
> problems in lap 18 as he cut the chicane # 1 and
> lost a lot of time. Eventually, he finished in
> 16th losing his position to Kobayashi 3 laps from
> finish. Senna made an impressive race as he
> started from 18th but finished 4th more than one
> second behind Petrov. Anyway, I won another race.
> It's great to see myself win the final race of the
> season. I grabbed the tite in front of the tifosi
> who hoped that Pantano could claim the title
> before this weekend.
>
> The winner - Kosewski, 2nd - Rodriguez, 3rd -
> Petrov
>
> The season is over and I'm glad I, I think for the
> first time, claimed all the most important awards
> for both, individual and team achievements. Well,
> there's no wonder why I did it. I kept a good pace
> throughout the whole season as I had only few bad
> races. I also had a great rival in my team -
> Romain Grosjean who finished 3rd in the
> championship. I really would like to thank Pantano
> for a great rivalry. He really was a major threat
> up until the final weekend.
> [i165.photobucket.com]
> gp22008awards.jpg
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"If in doubt, Flat out."
abdelkader Schreef:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Round 10 - Monza, Italy
>
> Feature race:
> It has become a tradition that qualifying sessions
> take place during a heavy downpour. It was the
> case also here in Italy - the place in which rain
> is never expected.
> I had some problems and finally claimed 9th
> position. Senna took pole position with Pantano to
> complete the front row. I knew I had to pass
> Pantano as soon as possible. It was the last
> chance to increase the lead so that he couldn't
> overtake me in the championship in the sprint
> race. Luckily, feature race just as a few other
> races this year, started in full sun with no rain
> expected. I set the car up to have as low
> downforce as possible. It paid off very soon as in
> lap 1 I landed in 3rd position having Pantano and
> Senna in front. Firstly I passed Pantano but Senna
> wasn't as easy to beat as I thought. I fought him
> for the following 7 laps. Ironically, after I
> passed him he got a puncture and retired.
> Meanwhile, Pantano was extremely fast right behind
> me. He also knew that he had to win to still have
> the opportunity to win the title. He was right
> behind up until lap 28 at which he made a mistake
> and got passed by Petrov. The Russian was already
> 2.1 sec behind so I relaxed a bit but this
> deteriorated my performance. In lap 30 Petrov
> passed me at Parabolica after I missed my braking
> point and went off the racing line. Luckily,
> Pantano's deterioration was even bigger as he got
> passed by Petrov's teammate - Di Grassi. I had two
> laps to go and decided not to charge too much -
> only to keep 2nd position. I succeeded in it and
> WON THE TITLE. I have 92 points while Pantano has
> 76. There's no way he can take the title in the
> sprint race
>
> The winner - Petrov, 2nd - Kosewski, 3rd - Di
> Grassi
>
>
> Sprint race:
> Another sunny race was ahead, Pantano too far
> behind, no major rivals in front - a great
> opportunity to finish the season with grace.
> Indeed, I passed the guys in front and started
> pulling away. For the entire sprint there was no
> point at which my leadership was threatened.
> Petrov started pushing forward and soon reached
> 3rd position losing only to Rodriguez who had a
> bad start. Thanks to that I could pass him at the
> early stage of lap 1. Pantano was driving in 13th
> after he gained 5 positions. However, in lap 11 he
> got a suspension failure and even though he
> managed to recover he never regained his former
> position. He must have lost all the will to fight
> as he was unable to withstand the attacks of such
> drivers as Filippi or Asmer. Grosjean had serious
> problems in lap 18 as he cut the chicane # 1 and
> lost a lot of time. Eventually, he finished in
> 16th losing his position to Kobayashi 3 laps from
> finish. Senna made an impressive race as he
> started from 18th but finished 4th more than one
> second behind Petrov. Anyway, I won another race.
> It's great to see myself win the final race of the
> season. I grabbed the tite in front of the tifosi
> who hoped that Pantano could claim the title
> before this weekend.
>
> The winner - Kosewski, 2nd - Rodriguez, 3rd -
> Petrov
>
> The season is over and I'm glad I, I think for the
> first time, claimed all the most important awards
> for both, individual and team achievements. Well,
> there's no wonder why I did it. I kept a good pace
> throughout the whole season as I had only few bad
> races. I also had a great rival in my team -
> Romain Grosjean who finished 3rd in the
> championship. I really would like to thank Pantano
> for a great rivalry. He really was a major threat
> up until the final weekend.
> [i165.photobucket.com]
> gp22008awards.jpg
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"If in doubt, Flat out."
This is why I now decided to get back to F-1...season 1987 as Nelson Piquet. I already used this driver in 1986 but then my performance was a complete failure. This time I hope it to be much better.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/09/2010 12:12PM by abdelkader.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/09/2010 12:12PM by abdelkader.
DFoes somebody know if theres a good CART mod for GP3? I've just reread Alex Zanaradi's: 'My sweetest victory' and im anxious to go the american way :p
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"If in doubt, Flat out."
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"If in doubt, Flat out."
i meant a trackpack?XD
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"If in doubt, Flat out."
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"If in doubt, Flat out."
no packs afaik but singles tracks. you need to specify what year you mean to play and pwople can suggest the best list
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Thanks, well there is no real specific year, especially since a lot of CART/Indycar carsets are coming out. I suppose the 1998 tracklist would be great.
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"If in doubt, Flat out."
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"If in doubt, Flat out."
...and that's it. The season is reasonably advanced to start things. Signed as the flying polish in the non-flying Renault. Wish me good luck
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