Track
25 laps, 3.08 miles (4.96km), 10 lap stints.
Low fuel burn, very low tyre wear.
Tyres
- Softs 10-12 (Excess of 8)
- Medium 14-16 (Excess of 20)
- Wet weather 15 to 17.
Critical
- Acceleration
- Deceleration
- Medium Speed Corners
Weather
Practice
Rain during the early practice session.
Both cars started practice on Inters, but went to wets for the 2nd lap.
The track started to dry after that and the cars were sent out on softs for the 3rd stint.
Race
No indication of rain, and 14°C. It remained dry through the race.
Weight Stripping And Config
Gomes
- Front Wing: Spec, 150 (80% Reliability)
- Engine: Good, +45 to 217 (84%)
- Brakes*: Good, +15 to 210 (85%)
- Suspension*: Stock, 140 (88%)
- Gearbox*: Great, +30 to 238 (89%)
- Rear Wing: Spec, 150 (80%)
- Tyres 20.4psi, Camber -2.4°
- Wings 17.0/27.5 (Excellent)
- Suspension 38% (Excellent)
- Gear Ratio 38% (Excellent)
- 99% Total
- 5% bonus for Softs, 10% bonus for Race Trim.
- Both of those were taken.
Thomas
- Front Wing: Spec, 150 (80% Reliability)
- Engine: Good, +45 to 219 (85%)
- Brakes*: Good, +30 to 200 (85%)
- Suspension*: Stock, 62 (73%)
- Gearbox*: Great, +15 to 223 (89%)
- Rear Wing: Spec, 150 (80%)
- Tyres 20.4psi, Camber -2.4°
- Wings 16.8/26.8 (Great)
- Suspension 44% (Excellent)
- Gear Ratio 38% (Excellent)
- 96% Total
- 5% bonus for Softs, 10% bonus for Race Trim.
- Both of those were taken.
Pit Plan
Gomes: Laps 10 and 19 (10 / 9 / 6). Sent out with 10 laps.
- 10: 7% and 0.93. Fresh softs and 9 laps of fuel, push / medium.
- 19: 21% and 0.64. Fresh softs and 7 laps of fuel (for 6 laps), Neutral / Medium. Brakes at 45%, suspension at 43%, other parts 57 or 58%.
Thomas Laps 8 and 17 ( 8 /9 / 8). Sent out with 8 laps of fuel.
- 8: 19% and 0.45. Fresh softs and 9 laps of fuel, push / medium.
- 17: 16% and 0.68. Fresh softs and 9 laps of fuel (for 8 laps), Neutral / Medium. Gearbox was at 47% but all others were in the mid 50’s; 61% for the engine. Britner made an error on the rear jack which cost 1.297 seconds, 12.902 total.
Race Report
Target: 10th or above, 400K. (Nippon)
Grid: Thomas on row 7, Gomes on row 8.
Only 4 of the teams launched on mediums. Everyone else launched on softs.
Lap 4: Stone Jr (Garuda) had crashed.
Lap 6: Most cars were in the mid 1:33s. Thomas was 1:33.489 and Gomes 1:33.707. The tyres were starting to cool down and needed to be brought up again.
Lap 8: Sara called in with tyres at 27% and a projected 0.45 laps of fuel.
Lap 9: Santa Ana (Vexala) crashed.
Lap 10: Gomes called in with tyres at 14% and projected fuel of 0.65. NOTE: Softs theoretically do 10 to 12 laps. Clearly this is optimistic here.
Lap 12: Thomas 6th, 1:32.771 (flying), Gomes 14th, 1:36.226 (out), most were in 1:33s except Zarate (Kruger, 1st, 1:29.925) and Sabado (Firebird, 2nd, 1:30.401).
Lap 14: Thomas 7th, 1:32.572, Gomes 12th, 1:32.466, most were in 1:31s or low 1:32s.
Lap 17: Thomas called in with 22% and a projected balance of 0.47.
Lap 19: Thomas sent to Medium / Push. Gomes was called in with 25% and a projected 0.55 laps. Several cars were in the pits with Antonov (Vexala), Iannizzi (Silva) and Marchetta (Octane) having mechanical issues.
Lap 20: Both drivers were sent to Push / High. Sara was then brought back to Neutral because of tyre temperatures.
Lap 22: Times were around 1:31.2xx. Most of the others were in that range as well.
Lap 24: Both drivers were back to Push / High, in Sara’s case to make a move on De Oeste. Her gearbox as registering a warning at 29%. Top 8 Zarate (Kruger), Sabado (Firebird), Molly Fox (Kruger), Falko (Garuda), Cooper (Dragon), De Oeste (Firebird), Thomas, Gomes. About half way through the lap Sara went to Overtake mode.
Final lap: In the last quarter Thomas overtook De Oeste to seize 6th (32.5 seconds behind), and Gomes pushed past into 7th. Right on the line De Oeste took 7th back (32.5x seconds behind), with Gomes finishing 8th, 32.6 seconds in arrears of the winner.
Gomes finished with 0.55 laps of fuel and 42% tyres, Thomas ran out of fuel just past the flag and had 8% on her tyres.
The podium was occupied by Zarate (Kruger), Sabado (Firebird MRT) and Fox (Kruger). Engelhart (Garuda) 4th, Cooper (Dragon) 5th.
Aftermath
The sponsor objective was achieved.
Gomes held 9th and Thomas held 11th in the drivers’ championship.
The team retained 5th position (65 points behind the leader). Firebird MRT passed us to take 4th, but we in turn passed Vexala Motorsport, dropping them to 6th.
Garuda had the lead in the championship, 9 points clear of Kruger. Silva was 3rd, a further 40 points behind.
Best Laps
- Gomes 1:30.721.
- Thomas: 1:31.289
- Molly Fox (Kruger): 1:29.485
The Race Video