Feb 13, 2014
Considering this was my first league race in three and a half years, I think I did okay! With the track not being one the company made, I hadn’t actually run it before. I did know the whole of the stadium section from old F1 games, but the rest was new to me. I felt that the track clicked with me a little bit during the race, but I never was able to find the last couple of seconds I would have wanted.
Qualifying went OK, considering, as I lined up 13th-place of the 16 entries. Pole was a 1:47:030 and my time was 1:50:578.
I got a decent start and gained two places into the first turn, drag racing for another spot into the first chicane. As we braked though, I saw another car in the mirror and thought he was going to make it three-wide, so I stayed far left, ultimately losing out, dropping back to 13th.
Later on that first lap, there was a coming together ahead of me, I drove through the smoke, avoiding both cars, going up to 11th-place for a moment, but dropped back to 13th again by the end of lap 1.
I lost another position starting lap 2, probably driving a little too carefully around others, but did pass for 13th again before the end of the lap.
Things remained very stable for the remainder of the race, with me just concentrating on being consistent while attempting to catch the guys ahead. Attrition set in, and I slowly gained places of those who spun out, until I ran in 9th behind Simon Hill.
Hill seemed to be struggling for grip, and I passed him on the outside after a spin. I think he was ultimately faster than I was, but the condition of his tires compared to mine meant that he was sliding around a lot more. He would begin to catch me, then make one little mistake and lose it all. This pattern lasted until the end of the race, where I would finish 8th.
| Fin | Sta | Driver | Interval | Led | Fast Lap |
| 1 | 1 | Hany Alsabti | 20 laps | 20 | 1:47:897 |
| 2 | 2 | Joern Hoormann | +1.323 | 0 | 1:48:014 |
| 3 | 7 | Rob James | +26.721 | 0 | 1:48:850 |
| 4 | 3 | Xavier de Carvalho | +36:190 | 0 | 1:48:731 |
| 5 | 5 | Stefan Mizzi | +36:465 | 0 | 1:48:915 |
| 8 | 13 | Timothy Wheatley | +1:06.308 | 0 | 1:49:927 |
Hany Alsabti won the race, and frankly looked unbeatable, though there was an extremely close finish. His fastest lap was 1:47:897 while mine was a 1:49.927.
Check out the official league race report for more information on the race and league. Of course, if you want to try or buy rFactor 2, check out rFactor.net!