Ah! A shiny new season. Endless possibilities of winning lie ahead... until the harsh realities of racing set in!
Three of the team (Don, Mark & I) took to the track in our shiny NGT Legends skinned GT3's for the new format of 80 minute endurance races.
A sigh of relief when the track was dry for qualifying and the new season was up & running. A PB by me of 1:45.7 put me in 2nd place on the NGT grid with Jakob Schmidt just a fraction of a second behind me in his Mosler.
I was feeling pretty confident from my pre-race practice, but that evaporated all too quickly as Jakob immediately put me under intense pressure. Less than a lap into the race I made a stupid error of watching him too closely in my rear view, missed a gear change and sailed into the gravel, throwing away my 2nd place.
Re-joining back in 20th overall, at least there was another 75 mins to try to make amends!
Unfortunately, things didn't get much better...
After passing a couple of cars, a bit of contact with an overtaking GT car saw me into the gravel again but I pushed on and was slowly getting back into running when it came to pit-stop.
Listening too closely to my pit crew after requesting a pit stop, I missed my breaking point on the start / finish straight and sailed into the wall. Miraculously the car was undamaged and I made my pit-stop, somewhat flustered after a very poor 40 mins of driving. Eager to get back on the track I mistakenly turned my pit limiter off (it was already on!) and immediately recieved a 10s stop / go penalty which I came in for on the next lap.
The race had been well & truly chucked away by now and I failed to make much impression in the 2nd half of the race, passing a struggling Tyf and an out of fuel Don.
An NGT 5th was hugely disappointing, Magny-Cours next week and a big improvement from me!
With NGT championship winner Dave Gymer enjoying his victory on holiday in Egypt we still had some work to do so we tied up the NGT team championship.
With little to go for, a relatively small field took to the track at the fast Monza circuit.
After 3 straight wins in NGT I was feeling pretty confident with Monza being one of my strongest tracks and with a fresh new PB at the track the day before I was really looking forward to it.
Mark was suffering a bit with a hangover but he always seems to pull out his best races when he's in that state!
I was surprised to see Jamera in the Porsche Bi-Turbo, then immediately a little concerned as it's flat-out speed is a real asset at Monza, question was, how would it handle through the treachorous chicanes?
Qualifying went exactly to plan, go out quickly and establish a good time, then attack it hard. I was extremely pleased to put in a time around my PB on my 3rd lap but then drove a blinder to go 0.5s quicker!
Jamera did go quite close, about 0.4s behind in the Bi-T which confirmed my suspicion he'd be quick but I retained the pole throughout qualifying fairly comfortably.
We'd hoped for a NGTL 1-2 after qualifying but Mark was back in 4th with the hangover still lingering so there was no room for any mistakes.
As the race started I was very concerned about the heavy braking into the first chicane on cold tyres, a mistake there could easily have seen me drop to the back of the field. I took it a little *too* easy though as Jamera outbraked me to grab the lead.
I settled into 'following mode', prepared for a long fight to regain the lead when Codsworth in a GT span out into the 2nd chicane forcing Jamera to brake heavily. Luckily for me, Codsworth's momentum took him out of my path as I entered the straight and a gap like the parting of the Red Sea opened for me to squeeze between them and regain the lead!
Jamera recovered quickly though and was less than 1s behind and chasing hard. Although the Bi-T is faster on the straights, my familiarity with the GT3 meant I could make up for it in the chicanes and I was pulling away ever-so slowly over the next 4 laps.
Jamera over-cooked it coming out of chicane 2 to leave me a clear 13s up on Mark who's managed to grab a place before passing Jamera.
The tyres held out extremely well as I drove very cautiously, maintaining my lead over Mark right to the finish line and another win!
The NGT Legends 1-2 was the icing on the cake as we won the NGT team championship! Hurrah!
A very enjoyable season, can't wait to see what season 2 brings!
With the title race over, there was still plently to play for as we're right in there for the NGT team championship.
Mark Jonzo and I make the treck over to Portugal with a solid strategy for a conservative race designed to minimise the chance of a DNF.
We'd planned a 1-stop strategy but during the qualifying session it looked like Jamera and Dave Gymer had chosen their cars to go for a no-stop which got me thinking...
Mark edged me out of pole by just over 0.1s but we were both considerably faster than the rest of the NGT drivers so I decided to switch my strategy to not stop.
A big "well done" to Mark, a great qualifying session to grab his first pole position!
As the race started, the NGTL 1-2 pulled away from the rest of the NGT's at a rate of about 1s / lap. Mark was driving well.
At around half distance JonM, who was leading the GT race lapped us. I was safe but Mark was watching his mirrors a little too closely and braked a little too late for the Parabolica Interior and left the track enabling me to nip through for the lead.
I knew Mark would pit-in for tyres so I kept my conservative pace for an uneventful 2nd half of the race for my second win in a row!
Despite the pit, Mark came in 3rd, leaving us in a great postion for the last race at Monza to push for the team title!
After missing race 7 with PC problems, my vague hopes of a Div 2 NGT crown were all but mathematically gone. Only pride and team points to play for.
I've never performed very well here so I set my strategy to drive very conservatively and just take what the race offered me. It's all too easy to spin on this tight, twisty track.
Qualifying went well, a very good first session where I managed to avoid all the traffic saw me in NGT pole after 10 mins of the session. Subsequent attempts became more and more frustrating either with mistakes or traffic hampering my attempts at a better time. In the end it counted against me with NGT championship leader Dave Gymer nicking pole with about 5 mins to go and no chance of a reply.
Still, 2nd in class isn't bad and Mark Jonzo was a fraction behind in 3rd. A good team performance.
A horrific accident on the start/finish straight after the parade lap saw the field in disarray, luckily I was unaffected behind Dave Gymer as I set off to challenge for the lead.
Deciding not to push too hard on the first few laps I followed Dave, slowing pulling away from 3rd. On the 2nd lap, as a couple of the GT's who had suffered at the start started making their way past us, Dave became distracted and went wide on the last turn, I kept on the line and took over the lead, Mark unfortunately followed him off. So, I was in the lead with Willier about 2s behind.
Determined not to over-drive, I was sticking with my conservative brake points as Willier very slowly started to catch me over the next couple of laps. Just as I was considering re-thinking how hard to push, Willier span leaving me an incredible 16s in the lead. I was guessing this was Shark in the G3 BMW, no threat to me for points and a pretty difficult prospect to pass for the other NGT's!
Dave left the game after a pit-stop cock-up which left the vaguest sliver of hope for the title provided I didn't mess up the rest of the race.
Staying conservative, I gradually eeked out a little each lap to leave me a very comfortable winner in the NGT class, although I was struggling a little with worn tyres at the end.
Mark Jonzo ended up stubbornly staying on for 2nd, bringing a great haul of 18 points in the team standings (if the results hold up - Mark may well get penalised)
So, still mathematically possibly for me to win the title but it means I need to win the last two races and for Dave not to score at all. Realistically, all he needs do is turn up. Curse my faulty PSU!
With season 1 all but a distant memory it's a brand new shiny start back to Barcelona to kick off the new season.
The entry list for season 2 is looking worryingly strong so despite some hard practice during the off-season, I reckon I'll do well to hold my own and finish as high as I did in season 1 (9th if you are interested!).
Barcelona's never bee a happy hunting ground though, as witnessed by my 19th place finish in this event last season. The 1FPS bug tends to always bite here too but I was pinning my hopes on a fix to sort that out (it worked - hurrah!).
Qualifying has always been a weakness but I was delighted (and somewhat amazed) to be lying in 6th on the grid with a new PB and just a couple of minutes to go in qualifying. Went to get a drink only to find PaulW had pipped me with just a few seconds to go! Bah! Still, I'm glad it was a teammate rather than someone else.
So, I was in 7th and new addition Mark Jonzo a tremendous 10th, all three in the top ten. Good going NGT Legends!
The race started badly... Greg130 got the jump on us from 8th with a well timed run on the long start/finish straight, overtaking both PaulW & I. PaulW then went wide on cold tyres a couple of corners later to let me nick through and re-take 7th.
The game was on. Greg130 wasn't pulling away and PaulW was bearing down on me, we were very closely matched. Fate decided to intervene however with Edza experiencing technical problems and his stationary car left mid-track. Greg & I somehow avoided him but PaulW wasn't so lucky going off in spectacular fashion (as viewed from my rear-view). I was amazed he could carry on.
My pursuit of Greg continued, less than 0.5s separated us but he wasn't putting a wheel wrong, despite a few tentative stabs, there was no opportunity to try a passing move. After 20mins my obligatory unforced error, I missed my braking point by a fraction, over-corrected and span, watching Greg disappear into the distance.
As we'd pulled out quite a distance over the 8th place driver, I was able to safely re-join in 7th despite my over-heated tyres.
Rich_A was catching me from 8th though and as we came up to some back-markers I was very concious of this. Trying to get a good run on Tom Cooper for an overtaking move on the start/finish straight I misjudged it, realised I was going to nudge him, over-braked and left the track again to let Rich through. Very disappoining as both mistakes were entirely down to me.
No more incidents saw me finish 8th, a considerable improvement on last seasons 19th! A couple of team points into the bargain made for a satisfactory night's racing.
After missing race 5 at Donington I was in a bit of a hole championship-wise lying in 3rd with Dave Gymer (1st) and [ZiP]Tyf (2nd) quite a few points ahead of me.
Spa is a special 90 minute race (60 minutes usually) so a pit-stop is pretty much a necessity in an NGT.
With Tyf not taking part, this was a real opportunity to close the gap, and maybe even on Dave Gymer.
I set myself a target of sub 2:24 in qualifying and it wasn't looking too good for the first 35 mins of qualifying. With just 10 mins left I finally put it together and took NGT pole with a nice lap of 2:23.9, over a second quicker than my qualifying time in the NGT Sprint series. Improvement!
Sadly, there were only 5 NGT's on the start grid as once again a pretty poor Div. 2 turnout kinda spoiled the atmosphere a little.
Still, my first NGT pole, and that wasn't going to spoil it! Dave was only one spot behind and Jamera one further back, we were pretty close in qualifying, would my strategy work?
A nice smooth parade lap got the tyres up to speed and we're away. Immediately, I'm pulling away from Dave! Two seconds on lap 1, the gaps up to six seconds on lap 2, something's not right, it shouldn't be this easy...
Turns out Dave's internet connection is playing up causing him to 'lag' badly, causing problems for him and the cars behind. This is unknown to me while I'm pulling out a very nice lead.
Eventually, Dave has to disconnect after 20mins, his connection is just not up to the job tonight. A real pity, it could have been a super contest.
I've never really been in the lead in a race before and couldn't envisage just how stressful it is! Concentration is at a premium, especially at a fast track like Spa. Don't mess up, don't mess up....
I drove pretty hard for the first 45mins and was 50s up on Jamera coming in to my scheduled pit-stop. Pitting takes an *age* at Spa because of the extra long pit lane. I eventually came out just behind Jamera and was praying he was also on a single stop strategy.
I didn't have long to wait as Jamera pitted on the next lap for me to regain the NGT lead. Phew!
Had a bit of a sticky moment when Luis Branco's BMW engine exploded, filling the track with black smoke reducing visibility considerably. Luis had sensibly pulled to the side of the track and I managed to pass with no incident.
Jamera seemed to slow after his stop so I gradually pulled out to over a minute's lead when I admit the nerves really started to get to me and I slowed considerably not wanting to do anything stupid and throw away the win.
Under very little pressure for the last 30 mins I brought it home nice and easy for the win, feeling great and like the countless hours of practice had finally paid off!
I'll need another race or two like that to really put the pressure on Dave for the championship lead but you never know and there's 4 races left...
As this was my last race of the season (I'm going to miss Monza due to holiday), I really wanted to go out on a high. I've really enjoyed my rookie reason in UKGTR, the level of competition has been staggering but on few occasions I've held my own and sneaked a decent result.
I was quietly confident coming up to the race, practice had been going well and my GTank time was looking pretty healthy, and for once I was looking faster than PaulW!
Managed to break my poor run of qualifying with a time 0.5s off my best to put me on to 6th on the grid, just behind [ZiP]Tyf and ahead of truetom.
This being my last chance for points, I was unlikely to better my 8th position in the championship standings but with greg130 and picnic not too far behind, it was important to consolidate.
As the race started, [ZiP]Tyf used the power of his Bi-Turbo for a great start to beat Mike Wrightson to the 1st corner and push up to 4th as I tried to settle in. Hanging on to the back of Mike, I managed to pull away a little from truetom and even to harass Mike on the odd occasion over first 3 laps. As Mike's experience and class began to show though, I slowly lost touch but I wa pretty pleased to stay with him for the short period that I did!
[ZiP]Tyf span through the tricky chicane to allow Mike through and me to close right up. Unfortunately though, not close enough to have a real chance of a pass and soon Tyf was pulling away again slightly.
Mo, who was in 3rd, span out and retired to the pits to leave me in 5th, still not too far from the 3rd & 4th cars. This was going well.
Closing up to Tyf had cost a little bit of time which allowed truetom to catch a little, powering through the chicane, I was a fraction of a second late on the brakes and ran wide into the next left which allowed truetom through for an easy place. Dammit! I was back down to 6th.
It took me another lap to get back into the racing groove but I had a good gap on the 7th placed car so I could afford to be careful and not make a mistake.
Pushing on, with a fair gap behind truetom, I had to hope someone would make a mistake for me to capitalise. Tyf had been struggling on cold tyres and eventually he was the one to crack and left the track again and only managed to re-join after truetom and I has passed him, I was back up to 5th!
A few incident free passes of backmarkers gave me a relatively stress-free last few laps to pick up 5th and a tasty 20 points in the standings.
In the team events, we pulled a few more points out on the Kerb Crawlers to remain 4th but with neither NGTL driver at Monza, that's not looking too safe.
Just got to sit back and wait to see what happens in the last race now but very proud of our efforts in this first season.
A special mention to PaulW's podium finish at Anderstorp - definately the MVP performance of the year!
