Thursday 17th August, 2023: From Zero To Hero...

The land of iRacing is very much a "dog-eat-dog" world - if you're not racing in in a certain league - you're either racing elsewhere or busy - you can't race in two races at once.

On August 10th, 2023 - I was meant to have a clash between two leagues I was participating in - the brand new Formula Racing League (FRL) "iChallenge LMP3/GT4" league and the pre-existing Evolution Sim Racing "Season 1" League.

Fortunately (for me) the iChallenge series was postponed a week due to numbers - and I would only have to deal with the conundrum the following week

Thursday August 17th, 2023 By Thursday, the race (Long Beach) hadn't been postponed - so it was absolutely going ahead.

I worked out that by the time the FRL race ended, I would have about 15 minutes of practice before qualifying would start for the Evolution Sim Racing league.

Long Beach

Long Beach went... "challenging" - being multiple seconds off race-pace.

By the end of practice, 8th place put in a 1:26.252 - I could only manage a 1:27.676 (1.4 seconds off) - fastest in GT4 managing a 1:24.539 (3.2 seconds faster)

I had a rather opening race - finishing 16 seconds behind the driver ahead - and last of the runners - again in the feature, I would finish last of the runners and multiple seconds behind the next car.

Mount Panorama

No sooner had the checkered flag fallen, I leapt out the car/session - and jumped into the Evolution Sim Racing session.

After two weeks on the mainland, Thursday 17th August was the first time I was on the Isle Of Wight (on a Thursday) - and that meant two things 1) Had I missed Bathurst, it's likely my "spot" on the ESR grid would be given up to someone on the waiting list (you can't miss more than 2 races in a row)

2) It just so happened that on my return, the league was at a track I very much liked - after racing it at Bathurst, it only took a few laps for me to get my eye in before I could set competitive lap-times. 3) Being such a tight, twisty track - it was absolutely anyone's race to win.

The Season So Far...

After finding out about the series in July 2023, I had missed the three pre-season races, but got stuck in the first race of the season.

I had an absolute blast at the first three rounds of the season, finishing:

(24 attended pre-season promo race) (Numbers in brackets is total attendees)

Silverstone (Round 1)

(43) Q: 12th (28th overall) -- R1: 7th (20th O) --

Grid: 7th (20th O) R2: 11th (23rd O)

Brands Hatch (Round 2)

(31) Q: 13th (22nd O) -- R1: 8th (17th O)

--

Grid: 8th (17th O)

R2: 10th (19th O)

Spa 1hr Race (Round 3)

(36)

Q: 10th (21st) R: 5th (17th)

VIR

(25)

Donington Park

(29)

Mount Panorama/Bathurst

(24)

The start of August was absolute mayhem, and I was on the mainland for the first two weeks - as much as I hate VIR (Virginia International Raceway) - it seemed like absolute chaos, laptimes reaching into the 3 minutes!

Next up was a favourite of mine - Donington Park - but sadly I was once again busy.

Qualifying

Miraculously, after only 3 full laps of practice and 7 qualifying laps, I'd complete my best qualifying session to date with a stellar 9th in class and 16th overall.

Race 1

Admittedly, the first race wasn't anything "spectacular" - starting from 16th overall (9th in class) and finishing 14th overall (8th in class) - only making up one position in class - despite not appearing an overly "great" race, finishing 14th did mean two things - firstly me achieving my best overall result all season...and secondly a rather "advantageous" starting position...

Since the Top 15 were reversed, and I finished 14th, I suddenly found myself on the front row with 23 cars glaring at my rear-bumper...this was about to get wild...

Race 2

I won't lie, sitting on the grid with 22 highly-skilled drivers behind me was absolutely terrifying.

I had one job: Bring. Her. Home.

All I had to do was stick to my lines and braking points - and the rest would deal with themselves.

And "deal with themselves" they did - 4th - 7th all being wiped out in a start-line shunt - 8th nipped through a Ferrari-sized gap - but the rest were impeded or too far back to be affected - I now only had two cars on my gearbox.

As the lap went on, I kept it cool, calm and collected in 2nd place - before the leader went deep into the Esses - me being not far behind stole the lead with both hands...now I just needed to keep it.

Despite a little look and tap from Mcconachie (P2) at turn 1, I managed to hold on just a bit longer - before P2 managed to use the slipstream - and a small divebomb to get the move done into Turn 2 (Quarry Bend)

Not to blow my own trumpet, but I was absolutely in a league of my own - the next AM car was in 5th position overall - so I was (at the time) fending off some of the best PRO-Class drivers in the league.

Sadly for me - Parkinson (PRO) behind spun at Forrest's Elbow - releasing Thomas (PRO) and Newton (AM) behind - allowing them to both gain a position - and close up to me.

I held onto 2nd until Lap 4 - before I came under threat from the next PRO driver - Mark Thomas.

It was a thrilling battle through the last sector - but having the slipstream and being better on the brakes than I, Thomas managed to pull alongside on entry to The Chase, hold it on the outside, and managed an impressive move around the outside of the final corner (Murray's).

I stayed in 3rd until the end of Lap 6 - when I ran wide onto the grass at the exit of the last corner - this significantly slowing me down - and giving Glass (AM) and Cowlishaw (PRO) all they needed to roar past.

Unbeknownst to me - Saunders (a PRO driver) had just pulled off an absolutely ingenious strategy - under-fuel the car, pit on Lap 3 - and wait for everyone else to stop for fuel later on.

I'd quickly return to the AM lead as Glass had a terrible run through Quarry Bend - Glass being pushed out by Cowlishaw on his inside.

As if the stars aligned - the top 3 all got into an accident at the final corner on Lap 7 - Thomas (P2) tapping the leader into a spin, Cowlishaw getting caught up in the aftermath.

I lead until Skyline before - inevitably, Thomas stole my thunder - being a much quicker driver - it was only inevitable.

By this point, we were deep in the pit-window - Cowlishaw behind relieved me of some pressure, but Zilinskas (PRO) carried on where Cowlishaw finished - making quick work of me heading into Turn 1 on lap 10.

Things went from bad to worse as I went deep into Quarry Bend - and Glass passed me - just as I had passed him - dropping me to 4th overall, and 2nd in AM class.

This didn't last long as Glass made a hash out of Forrest's Elbow - and I once again re-took the position.

At the end of Lap 11, I pitted.

Unaware Saunders had already pit - I thought "I'm going to be about P3 on exit".

I was 4th behind:

Saunders (Ingenious Strat)

Zilinskas (P1 as he pitted - L11)

Thomas (P1 as he pitted - L10)

Me

From there, it was a three-lap sprint to the finish - with us all wanting to just get it to the end Parkinson behind maintained the couple second gap we had - gifting me my first ESR win - oh boy what a feeling it was to know I beat some true giants in this league - with a bit of luck of course.

Sadly I wouldn't race in either of the last two races of the season - but I promised to myself I'd be much more active in the coming season.

Wins come few and far between (for me) - so I always celebrate it like my first.

League Wins

Formula Racing League (iMotoring Monday)

Monza (12/06/2023)

Imola* (26/06/2023) (First of the Humans)

Delta Motorsport League

SIMX-5

VIRginia International Raceway (23/08/2023)

Virtual Racing Group (VRG)

(AM) - Imola (AM) - Nurburgring GP