Hero To Zero

On a cold and crispy night, in the deep dark heart of the winter (for those in the Northern Hemisphere) Week 13 begins - a week of races - every day a different track placed in front of some of the world's best virtual drivers... One of these is Robin, he is no different from you or I, just a normal, avid car and motorsports fan. Robin has been iRacing since January 2019, and since the summer, he's had his own team. This would mark the first time in 12 weeks that he he's done a solo race. The update has just finished, and Robin has just finished a candle-lit dinner with his family and is keen to get week underway. Ever since the spyshots were leaked, it's been crystal clear that Robin is a massive fan of the Porsche 911 Cup car - in his words "The difficulty to drive, the music she plays...I just really want this to be the future of my career" he said in an interview with EDrivers Magazine. For the first race of Week 13, the Porsche's were at Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval...A track that Robin hasn't had too much experience at - the last time he attended this track was a good, solid 12 weeks ago in the Ferrari GT3 Challenge - which he retired from.

Practice was definitely one to forget for him and the team. Multiple spins and minor crashes (grazing/sliding into the wall) hampering Kabort's progress. In Qualifying it was like Robin was a changed man...a man on a mission, and set a somewhat blistering 1:23.719 - (with a baseline setup) the top 2 doing a 1:19 and 1:20 respectfully, most likely WITH a PECSU (Performance Enhancing Car Set-Up) This baffled him, as he was used to starting in the midfield.

However, despite only 5 cars managing to complete a clean lap, this was still a massive achievement. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (Into 1st Person) I was buzzing to get into the car and jumped in early...so early in fact, that I forget to re-fuel the car...but with adrenaline going around my head, he didn't consider this possible.

I eagerly watched for lights the lights to go out, 3 Red Lights, None! I floored it...the car went sideways, but I corrected. P4, Oscar Can Der Woude, nailed the start and didn't have such trouble and barrelled through the middle of me and P2 who also suffered wheelspin. With the suprise of Oscar, and wheelspin, P2 spun out within meters of the startline...before then carrying too much speed into turn one, and hitting the barrier.

I gently guided my Porsche through turn one, and made it through the other side. Jakub Krefak then had a go at overtaking me through what I like to call "Arsehole Bend", because that's what I call myself when I stack it there.

Jakub was too late on the brakes and went careening off into the barriers, returning 2nd place back to me. The driver behind me (Tom Breier) also discovered only a couple of hundred meters behind me that the Porsche's doesn't have ABS, and thus further increased the gap between me and the driver behind...

More proof that Charlotte bites even the most professional drivers was that pole sitter Maxime Ferreira went wide at the corner after Arsehole Bend, which caused significant damage. To add insult to injury, he locked up his brakes, and crashed on entry to the pit-lane. This gave me the lead.

I feathered the car around the course, not wanting the back end to do anything, and wanting the best result possible. The slow, little boy from Surrey lead the race for 2 whole laps and 5 corners, lapping P12 in the process! But the pressure got too much. From the beginning of my final lap in the lead, 2nd placed driver Brad Robinson, who started down in P13, was breathing down my neck like a dragon. Into Arsehole Bend, I forgot I was racing, and all my focus went to him. I went wide, giving him room, expecting him to go down the inside and take the place. And then I remembered I was racing. And that I had braked too late. and that I was off-line....the inevitable happened...I hit the wall on the outside of Arsehole Bend. In the process, the cable to my wireless headset came off. Not knowing how much charge it had left, I scrambled trying to get the little wire back into the hole. Brad Fled By.

P4 fled by. 5th place fled by. Then, as I was re-joining, the guy In 6th went by. With the question of fuel now on my mind, I knew this race was aboslutely fcked. I kept on going, hoping that I could make a small gap to the driver behind. But with being angry at myself, and fuel on my mind, I braked too late at the last corner, locked up and slid, luckily coming to a stop on a service road, making for an easy re-join. The only slice of luck that I had, was that the driver behind me also cut the last chicane...but caught me at the end of the lap as I was in the apron to enter the pits. As I stopped to get more fuel, the driver behind me, 8th Place, Zoomed past. The last hope of a decent finish. Gone. I emerged an enternity later, the drivers behind me a whole lap ahead. One more spin (with wall contact), being lapped by 8th, and four laps later, the ordeal was over. The only way to get the frustration out further was to write a blog, and do some donuts. This car is tricky to drive, it's been said countless times before...but this race gives me true positivity....If I'm up against drivers such as these, and don't make stupid mistakes...I have at least a shot at a chance of a Top 5. ..

It Was At This Moment He Knew....

Porsche iRacing Cup, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Week 13, Day 1.

E: 20

Q: 3RD!!!!

R: 8th

F: 10

S: 12 (8 DID NOT START!!!)

SOF: 1067 Lime Rock Park is tomorrow...Lime Rock was were I stood upon my first ever podium...could I make a return? Or has Charlotte set the standard for week 13? Find out...Tomorrow.