04-15-2018, 07:49 PM
So, i have 32 starts with an incident average of 1.263. I'm rated at 469.79 right now.
Of those 32 starts, 2 are top 3, and 16 are top 10.
I'm pretty clearly a middle pack person. I've been rear ended and taken out in the rear a few times, but I'm finding that I'm much safer in erring caution with my driving style. I don't fight for positions as much, and rather than trying to execute unsafe passes, I try to force the guy in front of me to make an error by keeping the pressure on. If someone behind me is clearly faster, I just let them go by and see if I can keep up with them. If they start gapping me after 2-3 laps, then they should definitely be in front of me. If I keep them behind me, then they'll either get impatient and try toe execute an unsafe pass, causing an incident, or I'll get distracted driving in my mirrors the whole time and make an error, losing the position anyway.
I'm finding that I now rather prefer to qualify bottom 18-24 rather than 8-14 in a field of 24. The worst place to qualify is middle pack because all the slow guys in the back will mess up T1 and take out the mid-pack qualifiers. If you just qualify back of the pack, you can hang back and drive around the T1, T2, and T3 incidents and find yourself fairly consistently sitting 10-15 mid-pack by the end of the first 2 laps. You're clearly not going to win the race that way, but if you're qualifying mid-pack 2-3 seconds off of the leader, you were never going to win anyway. The keep point is to finish the race without incident and aim for a top 10 finish (my own strategy and goals).
The other thing I notice about mid-pack qualifiers is that there's a decent amount of them that can only get in 1 or 2 fast qualifying laps, but can't hold that pace consistency through a 20 minute race or 1hr race where you now have to manage tire wear and overall concentration and focus. So, for those people, I usually find them off on their own stuffed into a wall at the trickier high speed blind corners. I pass them later. I don't need to be faster, I just need to be more consistent and have the endurance and focus, and that's where a 1hr race pays off - for those races, I definitely prefer to qualify in the back. You aren't going to win the race in the first 3 laps, but you can certainly lose it.
I usually do qualifying laps on full race fuel load and the tires I intend to run, rather than soft tires and minimal fuel load. It artificially places me further back (sandbagging of sorts).
Of those 32 starts, 2 are top 3, and 16 are top 10.
I'm pretty clearly a middle pack person. I've been rear ended and taken out in the rear a few times, but I'm finding that I'm much safer in erring caution with my driving style. I don't fight for positions as much, and rather than trying to execute unsafe passes, I try to force the guy in front of me to make an error by keeping the pressure on. If someone behind me is clearly faster, I just let them go by and see if I can keep up with them. If they start gapping me after 2-3 laps, then they should definitely be in front of me. If I keep them behind me, then they'll either get impatient and try toe execute an unsafe pass, causing an incident, or I'll get distracted driving in my mirrors the whole time and make an error, losing the position anyway.
I'm finding that I now rather prefer to qualify bottom 18-24 rather than 8-14 in a field of 24. The worst place to qualify is middle pack because all the slow guys in the back will mess up T1 and take out the mid-pack qualifiers. If you just qualify back of the pack, you can hang back and drive around the T1, T2, and T3 incidents and find yourself fairly consistently sitting 10-15 mid-pack by the end of the first 2 laps. You're clearly not going to win the race that way, but if you're qualifying mid-pack 2-3 seconds off of the leader, you were never going to win anyway. The keep point is to finish the race without incident and aim for a top 10 finish (my own strategy and goals).
The other thing I notice about mid-pack qualifiers is that there's a decent amount of them that can only get in 1 or 2 fast qualifying laps, but can't hold that pace consistency through a 20 minute race or 1hr race where you now have to manage tire wear and overall concentration and focus. So, for those people, I usually find them off on their own stuffed into a wall at the trickier high speed blind corners. I pass them later. I don't need to be faster, I just need to be more consistent and have the endurance and focus, and that's where a 1hr race pays off - for those races, I definitely prefer to qualify in the back. You aren't going to win the race in the first 3 laps, but you can certainly lose it.
I usually do qualifying laps on full race fuel load and the tires I intend to run, rather than soft tires and minimal fuel load. It artificially places me further back (sandbagging of sorts).