FRL: Daytona Daydream....

Prologue It's Monday 24th July, 2023, another Monday has rolled around, another day of work has finished and it's time to race in my first league of the week: FRL (Formula Racing League)

It started at Nurburgring on 3rd July - coming home 7th - my worst result of the season, followed by missing the Magney Cours round - finished up with a 5th place at Spa - where I felt uncompetitive.

by that point, I had dropped to 3rd in the Championship points - I needed a miracle...and a miracle is absolutely what I got at Daytona.

I love Rovals, they bring an element of chaos and unpredictability to the league/season - just like when the QRT series went to Charlotte (roval) twice.

I finished practice in 5th - but then realised something rather important - instead of going around a high-speed left hander, the course darted right - into a very tight right, left chicane - and on further research (lapping the track) - there was only slow corners, until the very last corner of the infield circuit, which built up speed to head onto the banking. In theory, running a minimal amount of wing (trading downforce for aerodynamics/Top Speed) would be a smart trade off - and might give me an advantage going into the race.

Qualifying was...messy - only three cars managing a clean lap - I'd be starting 4th - either due to my iRating or the fact I got the furthest before invalidating the lap.

The Race

FRL isn't usually known for its massive grids - but 7 showed up to Daytona, with 5 racing.

The start was almost comical - having a standing start on a banked circuit never goes well - I only revved half way and still got wheel-spin, sliding down the circuit - Klaassens, however gave it the full booty and fell from Pole to 3rd before even arriving at turn 1.

Klaassens would then get me into the next braking zone after turn 1, Brough following him down the inside - passing me on the inside before out-braking himself at The Cut-Through Chicane (where the normal roval layout curves left, and this layout jinks into a right/left chicane.

After just the first lap, Klaassens and De Filippis lead by 4 seconds.

With Cooper going off on Lap 2 and me several seconds off the lead pair - I had a decision to make - to fuel save and try to make it to the end - or go after De Filippis.

Despite the gap increasing - De Filippis had lost touch with Klaassens - and no longer had the slipstream advantage - I also further noticed that on my relative, my gap to De Filippis occasionally flickered from time to time.

With Cooper a lap down - and Klaassens in a different Universe - it was now a three-horse race between myself, Brough and Filippis for title of "best of the rest".

On Lap 4 - the gap between me and De Filippis was 10 seconds on the dot. After a spin on Lap 5 - it had narrowed to just 3 seconds. I could work with this.

For the next lap, it remained the same - but I knew I was gaining in tenths, not seconds.

By the end of Lap 7 - I had narrowed it down to 2 seconds. "1.9" seconds appeared on my relative - and I knew it was game on.

A further 4 laps later, on Lap 11, I finally narrowed the gap to less than a second - I now had slipstream and a lower wing angle (presumably) on my side.

De Filippis only dipped a wheel on the grass here, and took the next corner a little slower and by the end of the lap I was attempting my first overtake (of many) on him starting Lap 13.

I got him on my first attempt - braking later around the outside of Turn 1 - a bold move, but one well worth it.

Now the challenging part - keeping focus up front with immense pressure behind.

Ironically, on Lap 14, I too would make the same mistake De Filippis did (albeit worse), but just about hung onto the position starting the next lap.

Whilst I remained in 2nd - the gap did yo-yo - De Filippis closed the gap in the corners/infield, my low-downforce setup pulled away on the straights - saving me every time.

Eventually I started Lap 20, on this lap Klaassens pitted from the lead, De Filippis following him in 3rd.

I now had a chance to pull away and make a gap.

Klaassens in 2nd was about 30 seconds behind - so I knew a win was off the cards - but my real goal was De Filippis.

Just watching the relative plummet like a stone as I'm sat in the pits/pit-lane as De Filippis is roaring around the oval section is a heart-sinking feeling - knowing I was just a sitting duck.

As De Filippis crossed the line at over 170mph, I had just turned off my pit-speed limiter and was doing a measly 76 mph (about a 90mph speed difference).

The margin was tight (3 seconds) - but somehow I only just managed to pull it off.

With just over 10 laps to go (12) everything was to play for.

On Lap 30, with just 6 laps to go - the fun began - De Filippis had caught me - and now I had to summon the Ministry of Defence within me to hold him off.

On the final lap - this was the gap.

De Filippis threw absolutely EVERYTHING he had at me - but, miraculously, I was able to hold him off - and still to this day I don't know how - De Filippis had rapid pace, I just needed to make my Ferrari double the width it was - and by sheer luck (and maybe skill) it worked/paid off.

This race did absolute WONDERS for my championship bid - tying me for second place.

*the results with a strikethrough (a line through them) don't count as your four lowest points throughout the season are dropped - almost as if the race never happened and points weren't gained - this means, if you won every race of the season, and a win was 40 points - you'd lose 160 points off your final championship. In this case, Klaassens lost all 40 points for his win at Spa as his four lowest finishes were:

1 - DNF @ Monza (R2) 2 - 6th (Human)/DNF @ Imola (R4) 3 - 2nd @ Nurburgring GP (R5)

4 - 1st @ Spa

If he were to finish 3rd at the next round, the points for that race would be dropped - so the more severe your worst 4 results are, the less it affects you - so you want your Top 4 results to be high, and your Top 4 to be detrimental as to lose as least points possible - but with four races still to go - it's anyone's to win - and who knows - someone could have there worst result next time out and lose a significant amount of points?

But for now? It's all down to that battle in 2nd for "Best Of The Rest". Next up? Road America.

For me, it's a Road America double-header as the FalkenTyre Sportscar Challenge also heads there during the same week.