It all came down to this, all of the hard work during the pre-season was finally over and it was time for the real racing to begin! The car had been transformed since media day into a proper weapon and I was eager to see how the revitalised car would perform against the competition. If you missed my Blog from media day you can read about it here: http://forums.theonlineracingassociation.com/t11392-blog-slider-s15-nankang-uk-pre-season



Qualifying was up first and the car was feeling solid, I managed to squeeze out the second fastest time I've ever achieved in the Nankang UK Megane with a 1:01.9 which was good enough for 73rd out of 110 Drivers and 5th position in Lobby-F. With Qualifying always being my Achilles heel on race nights I was looking forward to moving forward and scoring some solid points on my return to the series.



Race 1 and I started in 5th position in the Nankang UK Megane, With the BMW's and Subaru's lurking in the lower positions in the lobby their start advantage was somewhat negated meaning I was able to make up positions in the opening laps, the highlight of which was a great side by side battle with sbiggs which lasted for half a lap before I eventually made my way past and into 3rd.



Sbiggs fought back though and I soon found myself in 4th, after a mistake in the braking area for Brooklands I was under attack again from the Honda Civic of TFR Smokinmasta, after a long fight and another mistake I sadly dropped back down to 5th position where I finished the race. It was a good start but I knew there was more in the car and if I could get a clean run I could do much better in race 2.



Race 2 and I again found myself starting in 5th position on the grid. A comparatively good start saw me launch past one of the Honda Civic's, However I then found myself stuck on the outside of Turn 1 where I braved it out and managed to emerge in 3rd place!



Emerging from the Turn 1 battle I received a slight tap in the rear quarter from the Honda Civic of Dan G8360 which put me into a big tank slapper, with my heart in my mouth I nailed the throttle and managed to power out of it and still hold on to 3rd place!



With my race suit now much browner than before I battled on with the car mechanically unscathed and managed to pull a gap on the rest of the pack and despite a late race charge from Dan G8360 managed to hold on to 3rd place as I took the Chequered Flag!



Race 3 and it was time for the reverse grid race meaning that the starting order would be the reverse of the finishing order of Race 2, this put me right near the back of the grid in 10th place and with a Subaru and a BMW behind me it was looking as though I'd be last heading into turn 1. As it turned out that was far from the case with the pack closing the gaps and the RWD's unable to push home their advantage. The Nankang UK Megane was feeling amazing by this point and I was able to start to really work my way forward through the pack.



Then the reverse grid craziness started as I found myself 4-wide through the final turn with BG Chucky 82, Pikeysmurf and D4RR3N 3579, we battled all of the way down the home straight but then coming into turn 1 the inevitable happened.....



….pikeysmurf's Subaru Impreza was tapped from behind and spun into the path of my Nankang UK Megane leaving me nowhere to go. Luckily I managed to avoid any serious damage but I was punted back down the order after working my way up to 5th position.



With the car relatively unscathed I got my head down and started to fight my way back up the order, avoiding the carnage in front of me until I found myself in a 3-way battle for 5th with BG Chucky 82 and MVG Skyshadow5. I was fighting Chucky for 5th when MVG Skyshadow5 lunged down my inside and into the back wheel of Chucky's Seat Leon sending them both wide and letting me through on the inside. I managed to finish 5th in the race but it wasn't quite over yet....



The next day I awoke to be informed that I was under investigation by the stewards for an incident on the last lap of Race 3. Having overtaken me on the back straight MVG Skyshadow5 was braking down my inside and in an effort to retake the place I braked harder and went to try and cutback up his inside, however I misjudged the move with MVG Skyshadow5 having held a much tighter line than I'd anticipated and I clipped his rear bumper sending him into a half-spin and allowing myself back past. I held up my hands and admitted fault for the mistake, with the stewards agreeing that there was no malicious intent behind it. I was eventually found guilty of causing an avoidable accident and given a 3-Race warning and a 5-Place grid penalty at the next round.



That brings us to now with a solid if eventful start to the season placing me in 64th place overall (out of 151 Drivers) and with the car performing really well in race conditions I'm feeling good about being able to move forward as the Championship moves on to Round 2 at Circuit De Catalunya. The car survived well only sustaining 3,829cr worth of damage bringing the total for the season up to 24,681cr

Thanks for Reading and here's looking forward to Round 2!!

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