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Blancpain GT Series is cancelled due to lack of attendance. And with that, there will be no more rFactor 1 series on Racin Nexus. Too bad. Could rFactor 1 really be dead? Well, the matchmaker has been out for more than a week now. Anyway, I can focus on OEL Championship for the moment. Still waiting for the leagues to come back from winter break. There will be a new series that I can join that will be opening soon.

a touch of existential flu

Racin Nexus Blancpain GT Series - Round 4 at Portimao

Another race, a different series, and I finish 2nd again behind Fabio Lozio. I was leading during the first half of the race but then I pitted and he didn't. So I had the faster car but he had the track position and he had a big enough gap to finish ahead. It was a bit like the big endurance race in Fuji just a few days ago. And it reminded me of the race at Hockenheim where I finished 2nd behind Marino Brozinic who also went the full distance without pitting. 

In this series, I have been getting poles and usually lead the practice sessions. So the speed is there without a doubt. But in the race I fall behind. I have to work on getting good lap times when the car is heavy with fuel and making the most of the tires after they wear out and the performance goes off. I feel like I've become the hare and second is the first loser and all that.

Only four drivers showed up for this race, and now the series is in danger of being cut short just like Japan Super GT last year. The new drivers who showed up for the first three rounds didn't return after the holiday break. And the rFactor Matchmaker has been down a few days, too. Anyway, I am 2nd in the points standings now behind Fabio, but there might not be any more races to make up the gap. I guess it will all depend on how many drivers attend the next race at Brands Hatch.

rabbit is good rabbit is wise

 

OEL F40 GT Endurance Series - Round 1 - 3 Hours of Fuji 

A few hours after checkered flag and my lower back still feels a little bit sore. I finished 2nd place out of 10 starters, applying a short stint / quick stop strategy that had me pitting in 6 times total compared to the "normal" 3-4 times. I did this because the tires performance would drop considerably after a dozen laps or so and refuelling also took a lot of time. I thought that limiting tire usage, lower fuel loads, and spending less time in the pits was the way to success. The strategy worked for the most part. Early in the race I dropped back but I was able to overtake those ahead eventually.

But I could not keep up with Fabio Lozio, the race winner who was 2 laps ahead by the end. He was just faster overall and seemed to do fine when the tires went off. He did longer stints and stopped just 3 times. He also avoided trouble at the start of the race when everyone was still close to each other. Congrats Maestro, you were in a class of your own in this race.

Next round will be the 250 Miles of Barber Motorpark. I don't recall ever having raced there so I will have to do some track learning along with figuring out how to maximize the ephemeral tires. But before this big event we return to the Blancpain GT Series over at Racin Nexus.