Round 5 of the TORA Touring Car Championship saw the TCC Circus move on to Sunset Infield Reverse for the penultimate round in the championship. After a double Lobby Victory at Round 4 in the Nankang UK Megane I was really looking forward to showing what me and the car could do given the chance to show our true pace (After being unable to post a time in qualifying at Round 4).

Qualifying went very well indeed with my focus being on clean laps and tidy exits rather than attacking the circuit and I was rewarded with my highest qualifying position of the season so far Qualifying 2nd for Lobby-D!



Race 1 and I started on the front row of the grid, but a bad start and a lack of straight line speed compared to the others in the lobby saw me plummet down the order off of the start, I knew right then it was going to be a hard fought night.



By turn one I was down to 8th, but the straight was over and it was time to fight back!



However the first place I got back wasn't of my own doing with CQR Aero crashing out spectacularly in front of me Rolling his Prodrive SEAT Leon Cupra out of contention for Race 1, luckily not taking anyone else with him, sadly another slight mistake cost me another place meaning I was still in 8th at the end of lap 1.



Next up was an awesome pass round the outside of Bandit1097 in his Lexus IS300 heading into the first of the tire wall chicane's to take 7th position, Next up the road was AdamWatson99.



It took a lap following AdamWatson99 in his BMW 135i to finally pass him with the my lack of straight line speed meaning any move I pulled would have to be in the turns. I finally got him coming out of the final hairpin managing to take a tighter line and pull just enough of a gap to keep him behind me down the straight to move up into 6th position.



The final car on the hit list for Race 1 was the Vauxhall Insignia VXR of WizardWoz88 who put up a really strong fight against my Nankang UK Megane, I actually had to pass him twice as I passed him through the final hairpin only to be re-passed down the straight as the Insignia came from behind and pulled several car lengths, It was then my turn to hunt him down through the corners once again managing to pass him through the final hairpin and this time making it stick.

Although I managed to catch the Honda Civic Type-R of ApexAzrael I was unable to pass him meaning I finished Race 1 in 5th place. Not a bad finish at all considering the competition I was up against or the problems I was having in a straight line.



Race 2 saw me start in 5th place after my efforts in Race 1 and once again I dropped places off of the start as the long straight took it's toll.



As the turns started so did my fightback with WizardWoz88 being first on the list, with me managing to get my Nankang UK Megane down the inside of his Insignia VXR coming out of the first hairpin to move forward and start to hunt down AdamWatson99's BMW.



Then thing's took a turn for the worse. I passed AdamWatson99 coming into the first hairpin only for him to fight back and clip my rear bumper putting me into a half spin. I recovered only for AdamWatson99's BMW to be spun out by WizardWoz88 into the path of my Megane...



...The resulting damage to the front aero and one of the shock absorbers caused me to run wide at Turn-1 loosing yet another place and dropping me down to 8th. It took a while to get used to the car with the damage and started to catch the Honda Civic Type-R of ApexAzrael. However with the damage slowing me down in the turns and the car naturally slow in the straights I was unable to make up any places and finished Race 2 in 8th place.




I know I've been complaining a lot about the straight line speed of the car, but this isn't just racing driver excuses. The above pictures are from the same lap, the Top picture is entering the main straight, and the bottom is at the end of the straight on the same lap chasing ApexAzrael's Honda Civic Type-R. This was a scene repeated with almost every car in my lobby and made life just the bit harder in the races.



And so to Race 3 and thanks to the reverse grid system in the TCC I started in 4th place on the grid....



But once again the lack of straight line speed hurt off the start and by Turn 1 I was almost last.



However I was fighting back hard through the turns and making my way back up though the field....



….Before the CQR Boys took each other out in spectacular fashion on Lap 2 and gave me a MUCH Browner pair of Nankang Branded Overalls then when I started! Luckily I managed to avoid the bulk of the accident and debris and moved up into 5th place and began to battle VAMR Wilson for 4th place...



...Until a single car accident for AdamWatson99 made it a battle between me and VAMR Wilson for 3rd place!



But try as I might I just couldn't finish him off, every time I made the pass through the turns he'd blast back past on the straights until I made a mistake under braking and put myself too far back to challenge. But I don't want it to sound like I'm taking away from VAMR Wilson at all. We had an awesome 3-Lap battle which was totally clean and respectful, both giving each other the space we needed to show what we could really do in two very different cars. Hopefully I'll get my chance to exact my revenge in the not too distant future!

In the end I managed to bring the Nankang UK Megane home in 4th place and score my highest finish of the season so far!



After such a strong performance me and the Nankang UK Megane have climbed from 69th place up to 55th place in the Championship Standings. If I can manage one more leap like that I'll beat my pre-season target of a Top-50 finish, Not bad in a field of over 140 drivers!

The Nankang UK Megane did have a bit of a rough time of it this time out and suffered 5,634cr of damage, taking the total to 37,246cr for the season.

Next up is the season Finale at the Nurburgring GP Short Circuit, with possibly the most dangerous first turn in the championship and the cars not needed afterwards this could be a recipe for disaster, or a chance to make a serious points haul if you can keep your nose clean.

I'll be looking to maintain my new found momentum and take a strong points haul at the finale which as I write this is now just 1 week away.... BRING IT ON!!!!!

Thanks for reading!

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