Time Trial League - Rd 12 - Spa

After a well deserved summer break, we come to Spa, the home of the Belgian GP for the next round of our Time Trial League. 

We are using F1 Virtual's recreation of the track, available here: http://f1virtual.blogspot.com.

Championship Standings

Here's a reminder of the standings from before the summer break:

1	Fongu	98
2	Gildoorf	70
3	32bobo32	33
4	Prblanco	30
5	Carl_gpgames	28
6	Duffer	20
7	KerleyF1	7

Track map

There's plenty of praise for the circuit:

KerleyF1: "Lovely track, a shame no time do run more laps. Great work on track @Prblanco [and] @Gildoorf too!"

Carl: "same here, one of my favourite tracks"

As usual, let's get the excuses out the way:

Prblanco: "Where are the hotlaps guys? Is everyone on vacation? 😃"

Yes, I am, so no lap from me this round! 

Congratulations to Carl on the birth of his daughter during the summer break. He did well to get a lap in at all, even if it was a banker lap from the beginning of the break. Thanks again for the great video. 

Gildoorf: "[I] wasn't able to manage [a lap] this week, so just as @Carl_gpgames here it goes a [banker] lap from last week."

Kerley: "Just one run with 2 laps... I think no time to do more."

32bobo32 leaving it to the last minute to set his time...

32bobo32: "I'll try tonight"

Prblanco: "pretty happy with it considering how little time I dedicated to the track"

Duffer too was unable to set a lap, so only 5 runners this time, all of them done with a lack of practice and time, should be entertaining! At least there will be more action than at the real GP.

Hotlaps

0:11 - Into La Source, and almost everyone locks up and runs wide, Prblanco the only one really troubling the apex. It's not a wet weather race you guys! The most important thing about this corner is getting a good exit, because Eau Rouge/Radillion is flat, you carry that speed all the way up the hill. The entire first sector is based on how well you take this turn, and exit it - the other key factor is setup which we'll come onto. 

Let's take a quick speed snap at the pit exit line:

		kph
1	Prblanco	180
2	Gildoorf	184
3	32bobo32	183
4	Carl_gpgames	177
5	KerleyF1	177

Prblanco establishes a good lead out of turn 1, whilst Carl and Kerley have already dropped back. 

0:22 - Looking at the apex speeds at Eau Rouge, Prblanco and Gildoorf are neck and neck with 32bobo32 in contention, but Gildoorf travelling 4kph faster than the pair of them. Carl, who is a little behind is carrying the same speed as Gildoorf, whilst Kerley is travelling faster still, clawing back some of what was lost in turn 1. 

The key here is to keep momentum, to lose as little speed as possible. At the top of Radillion, Gildoorf and Carl do this better than anyone but it's Kerley who keeps the highest speed. 

0:37 - Sector times have been set:

1	Gildoorf	00:29.176	+0.000
2	KerleyF1	00:29.488	+0.312
3	Carl_gpgames	00:29.573	+0.397
4	32bobo32	00:29.645	+0.469
5	Prblanco	00:29.930	+0.754

Despite leading at the top of Radillion, Prblanco drops to the back of the field, hoping his higher downforce settings will help claw his way back up the order in the next sector. But it's Gildoorf who leads the way, a clear 3 tenths ahead of the nearest competitor, Kerley, who has powered up the Kemmel straight into second position. It's close here in the midfield, but sector 2 will give us a better picture. 

Into Les Combes and Malmedy. You have to take as speed into the first right hander as you dare, but it's all about getting a good line and carrying the speed through Malmedy that's important to get a good run down to the 180degree right hander. It's pretty uneventful for the keyboard runners to be honest, with Prblanco, Gildoorf and 32bobo32 able to carry the most speed through the turns. Carl is in understeer city, he's having to put lots of steering lock on, and he is compromised by his line into Malmedy. Gildoorf maintains his lead, but Prblanco is right up behind him now. 32bobo32 has dropped back a bit, with Carl right on his heel. Kerley is not too far behind the pair of them. 

0:48 - Bruxelles is a long corner, so it will favour those with more downforce. You can run a bit wide in this corner, so long as you get on the throttle early and use the wider turning angle to carry more speed through the second half of the corner. Prblanco and Gildoorf are neck and neck through there, nothing really to separate them at this stage. Kerley runs wide on the exit kerb and gives up some time. 

Another important corner, the quick left hander leading onto a long straight section with near flat out corners, it's important to get a good run out of there. Prblanco edges into the lead out of the nameless corner, 32bobo32 keeps ahead of Carl and Kerley is struggling a bit with his lower wing settings. 

1:01 - Pouhon, a super fast double left hander, is anyone able to make it through here flat out? The answer is no, but it's Prblanco and 32bobo32 who are able to carry the most speed through there. Carl is still really struggling with understeer, the setup looks to be doing him no favours. Kerley is smooth through here, but has to lift off more because of the lower wing settings. 

1:11 - Into the right-left hander the Fagnes 'chicane', are both high speed long curves which benefit those who have more downforce and stability on their car. You're looking for smooth lines through here, but 32bobo32 immediately goes wide in the first corner, out braking himself, whilst Carl is still struggling to turn his car. Gildoorf is throwing everything at it, using the exit kerb and more as he tries to keep up with Prblanco, but ultimately it costs him momentum and time. 

The final key turn leading onto a long straight is the right hander just before the sector timing beam. Gildoorf and 32bobo32 take a slightly wider than ideal line, but Prblanco is off to the races as he leaves everyone else behind. 

1:26 - Sector 2 times have been set:

1	Prblanco	00:47.538	+0.000
2	Gildoorf	00:48.697	+1.159
3	32bobo32	00:48.976	+1.438
4	Carl_gpgames	00:49.701	+2.163
5	KerleyF1	00:51.461	+3.923

We were expecting Prblanco, slowest in sector 1 to bounce back, but this is triumphant, a full second ahead of Gildoorf, much of that gained right at the beginning of the sector and cemented at the end. (The video has the wrong time for Prblanco in this sector). 32bobo32 would be lamenting running wide at Fagnes, but encouraged to be close to Gildoorf's sector time. Kerley is really struggling after his heroics in sector 1, both he and Carl would benefit from a better set up. 

Prblanco: "Judging by sector times alone, I probably ran the most downforce of the field"

Overall, the standings look like this:

1	Prblanco	01:17.468	+0.000
2	Gildoorf	01:17.873	+0.405
3	32bobo32	01:18.621	+1.153
4	Carl_gpgames	01:19.274	+1.806
5	KerleyF1	01:20.949	+3.481

Prblanco storms into the lead, but will it last, as the final sector is largely made up of flat out kinks with the bus stop chicane being the only real corners to make up time. Gildoorf will have to perform heroics to claw this one back, but he did gain such a benefit in sector 1, it's not all lost yet. 32bobo32 will be looking to consolidate third from Carl who is keeping the pressure on. Kerley will be looking to gain back some lost time in S3 too. 

1:41 - at the braking markers for the bus stop chicane, Prblanco has enough of an advantage to maintain his lead from a chasing pack, positions being maintained from Stavelot and through Blanchimont. Again, 32bobo32 brakes a bit too late, snatches a locked brake and runs wide. But Gildoorf is super confident on the brakes, and in the braking zone he all but eradicates Prblancos advantage. At the exit of the turn, there's very little between Prblanco and Gildoorf, it's another drag race to the line! Prblanco is slightly ahead, but Gildoorf has more speed. 

1:59 - Over the line and here's the sector times:

1	Gildoorf	00:29.658	+0.000
2	Carl_gpgames	00:29.925	+0.267
3	KerleyF1	00:29.947	+0.289
4	Prblanco	00:30.044	+0.386
5	32bobo32	00:30.266	+0.608

It's all very close, Gildoorf taking the honours once more with another quickest sector, gained more on the brakes than on speed. But Carl and Kerley clearly both benefit from the speed and are again at the sharp end of the sector standings. 32bobo32 continues his form of final sectors that are not quite as good as everyone elses. Prblanco just about clings on with a good time, but is it enough to claim victory?

1	Prblanco	01:47.512	+0.000
2	Gildoorf	01:47.531	+0.019
3	32bobo32	01:48.887	+1.375
4	Carl_gpgames	01:49.199	+1.687
5	KerleyF1	01:50.896	+3.384

Yes, it's a photo finish, a gap of only 0.019 seconds but Prblanco crosses the line just ahead of Gildoorf to earn his second win of the season. Congratulations Prblanco, that was a fantastic lap, helped by a massive second sector. Prblanco and Gildoorf each share 2 victories each this season, and with me back in the frame for the next race at an all new track built by Prblanco, the competition remains wide open. 

32bobo32 secures third place, just 3 tenths ahead of Carl. He'll be disappointed by the number of mistakes, as he had the pace to be closer to the top two. 

Reactions

Gildoorf: "Once again by a whisker from @Prblanco, this time for my bad 😀"

Carl: "damn second sector. @32bobo32 i beat you on S1 and S3... (so did @KerleyF1)"

32bobo32: "As tradition my S3 is always ****... I used a Baku setup 😂"

Championship

1	Fongu	0	98
2	Gildoorf	+ 6	76
3	Prblanco	+ 10	40
4	32bobo32	+ 4	37
5	Carl_gpgames	+ 3	31
6	Duffer	0	20
7	KerleyF1	+ 2	9

Gildoorf doesn't quite get maximum points to close the lead in the championship, but he is getting closer. Prblanco storms into third place in the championship after this impressive victory, even though he has missed a round too. 

32bobo32 secures his sixth podium of the year, and will be in the fight for third in the championship. 

Carl_gpgames continues to score consistently, keeping pace with the midfield, whilst Duffer has now missed four rounds and is begining to lose ground. 

KerleyF1 also improves on his tally, edging towards double digits. 

It's a long season, probably, but there's plenty of time for the championship to change. I'll see you next week for Zandvoort for the Dutch GP.