Time Trial League - Rd 20 - Losail

Welcome to Round 20 of the Time Trial League, and we're in a new location of Losail in Qatar.

We're indebted to the quick and accurate work of Prblanco (with help from Oggo in a vital part of the process) in getting a playable version ready in time for our Time Trial League Round. You can try it yourself from this link here: https://www.grandprixgames.org/read.php?4,1107982

Championship

1	Fongu	154
2	Gildoorf	112
3	Prblanco	75
4	32bobo32	57
5	Carl_gpgames	47
6	KerleyF1	26
7	Duffer	20

The only real remaining battle in the championship remains for fourth place, but it's not stopped each round giving us some exciting battles and we hope to see another one in Losail. 

Track

With this being a new track to many of us, and completely new to GP4, it means we're all starting from scratch, getting used to the lines, getting the right setup. With one week to do this since the previous round, it will be interesting to see if it shakes up the usual pecking order. 

The track map kind of reminds me of Caesar's Palace in Dallas, the one they made in the car park and it was so hot the tarmac melted. Anyway, this is an established track and there's lots of medium and high speed corners. For me, the trade off wasn't too difficult, I've got to put on just enough downforce to make gains in sector 3, ideally taking turn 13 flat out and having good balance for turns 14, 15 and 16. but you don't want to over do it, because you will lose out on speed and acceleration on the other parts of the circuit. 

Fongu: "My tips are, nice and tidy on the way in, and it's about how early do you dare to get on the throttle in those long corners. Use all the exit kerb if you can, and be super brave in sector 3"

Gildoorf: "Key points in my opinion, T1, T10 and T13."

Hotlaps

Let's watch along the video together. Thanks again to Carl_gpgames for another great video, keeping it fresh with new graphics and soundtrack for each round. 

0:10 - There's only one significant straight on this track, and it's the start finish straight, so once again we've got some speed trap data to give us an indication of the levels of setup we're all using. 

1	KerleyF1	319.7	0
2	Gildoorf	319.5	-0.2
3	Prblanco	316.9	-2.8
4	Fongu	316.4	-3.3
5	32bobo32	312.8	-6.9
6	Carl_gpgames	308.2	-11.5

It's Kerley and Gildoorf who are running the least wing, with Prblanco and I running similar levels too. 32bobo32 is significantly slower, but Carl is lagging way behind on the top speed front, we'll see if he gets a pay off around the twisty stuff. 

Incidentally, Prblanco is back on the wheel for this round, whilst I'm sticking to the keyboard - both of us using both inputs at various rounds. 32bobo32 attempted some laps on the wheel too, but didn't have enough time to calibrate it to get a good lap time. 

Turns 1 and 2 are pretty much identical, with turn 1 you're concentrating on slowing the car down from its top speed, whilst on the exit you're trying to line up for turn 2. In turn 2, you're looking to get a good exit to launch you into the flat out turn 3. Other than that, they are pretty standard long radius corners where it's car and setup limited, i.e. there's not much opportunity for the driver to find lots of advantage here, so I'd expect everyone to be pretty equal through them. 

0:22 - There is one thing that stands out on this track and that is you can really make use of the wide exits and exit kerbs with astroturf on the outside. For me, that was an opportunity to find time by getting on the power a bit earlier and using all the track to get a good launch down the next straight. 

Coming out of turn 2, and it's a three way battle for the lead from some usual suspects, Gildoorf, Prblanco and I are pretty inseperable at this stage. There's a more clear running order behind, with 32bobo32 leading Carl, with Kerley trailing behind a little bit. 

Turn 3 is flat, and you're thinking about and planning for the double right-hander in T4 and T5. This is notoriously tricky on the keyboard in GP4, where you have to have patience and not over drive it. If you are too fast out of the first right hander, or you are significantly off line, then you will not get the CC-line help in the second right hander and you can lose seconds off your lap. This gives a huge advantage to the wheel users, as Prblanco is able to use the exit kerb out of T4, and is right on the edge of the kerb on the exit of T5. Carl is typically understeering through these turns. 

But it's disaster for 32bobo32 as he runs wide on the exit of T5, which grants him a warning but not an exclusion from this round. I think the penalty is to create more content for GP4. 

0:36 - The sector 1 timing beam is somewhere around here, ignore the times on the video, they are not correct for sector 1, they are corrected later in the video. 

1	Gildoorf	00:29.369	+0.000
2	Fongu	00:29.370	+0.001
3	Prblanco	00:29.491	+0.122
4	32bobo32	00:29.783	+0.414
5	Carl_gpgames	00:30.207	+0.838
6	KerleyF1	00:30.735	+1.366

Incredible! The gaps just get smaller and smaller, as there is 0.001 seconds separating the leading two.

Fongu: 0.001 in sector 1 @Pruitt-Igoe 😱

Whilst Gildoorf has an advantage over me out of T5, I brake quite a bit later into T6 and that's why we're so close. In reality, the top three are still neck and neck, Prblanco losing a little time bouncing over some of the kerbs and not applying too much steering lock. 32bobo32 is heading the midfield battle, not a million miles away from the leading trio, but there are growing gaps behind him. 

Turn 6 is a tricky, tight left handed hairpin. It's quite a wide radius hairpin, so there's some options to take slightly different approaches. Gildoorf and I both run wide, whilst Prblanco and 32bobo32 are able to keep it tight at the apex. The key for Gildoorf and I are that we're able to maintain good mid-corner speeds which helps us ace our exit speeds. 32bobo32 gets a good entry, but is not confident on the way out, whereas he could have committed to the throttle earlier and made the most of the exit kerb. Carl loses so much time understeering through this turn that he almost runs out of road, and this allows Kerley to close back up on him. 

0:46 - Turn 7 is another wide radius 180 degree corner, and again you can plant the power down early and use the kerb to straight line turn 8 a bit more. It's interesting watching the HUD for the top three, revealing something of our approaches to this corner. Gildoorf and Prblanco are almost identical with their inputs, even though one is on keyboard and the other on the wheel. But it's mid-corner where my slightly different technique gives me an advantage. Gildoorf and Prblanco get on the power a bit earlier mid-corner, whilst I'm getting most of my turning done at the lowest speed. It means that the Brazilian pair have to get out of the throttle later in the corner, or in Prblanco's case wait until he can apply full throttle. When I have the confidence, I am fully on the throttle when the other two are having to wait. It means that when we hit the exit kerb, I am 5kph up on Prblanco and 12kph up on Gildoorf. The midfield are unable to match the top trio through this corner. 

Turn 9 is really tricky, because you can't ignore that turn 10 is shortly afterwards. It's a fast right hander, but you really want to be over on the right hand side on the approach for T10. I opt to ignore that, instead taking as much speed as I can with the smallest of lifts, and I'm using all the exit kerb available to me. But with all that extra speed that I've got from my earlier attempts, I completely miss my braking point, but it's not entirely unplanned on my part. Because Turn 10 has a tight entry which widens dramatically on the exit. That means there's more track to play with and you are really concentrating on getting a good exit, getting the power down early for the quick sector 3 coming up. However watching the video and the side-by-side with Gildoorf and Prblanco, I have to wonder whether my approach to turn 9 was really worth it - or maybe if I took turn 10 more conventionally, there is more time to find here. 

Anyway, I have a significant lead into turn 10, but by the exit, the other two have eradicated my advantage, and more crucially, they are 10kph faster than I am on the approach to sector 3. 32bobo32 also gets a reasonably good exit, whilst Carl is able to eek out an advantage over Kerley in T10. 

1:05 - I have to say, I'm a little confused where the timing beam is located here, because if it was where the track map says it is, then I would be behind Gildoorf and Prblanco, and I haven't had time to go back in game to find out. But I suspect the timing beam was somewhere around T10. 

1	Fongu	00:30.126	+0.000
2	Prblanco	00:30.422	+0.296
3	Gildoorf	00:30.507	+0.381
4	32bobo32	00:31.424	+1.298
5	KerleyF1	00:31.503	+1.377
6	Carl_gpgames	00:31.624	+1.498

This would make sense, because it shows that I have a significant advantage, but as I said above, all that was lost, indeed, I'm down in third by the time we reach T12. The top three are a class apart form a tight midfield battle in sector 2. 

Overall, there's not massive change from sector 1. 

1	Fongu	00:59.496	+0.000
2	Gildoorf	00:59.876	+0.380
3	Prblanco	00:59.913	+0.417
4	32bobo32	01:01.207	+1.711
5	Carl_gpgames	01:01.831	+2.335
6	KerleyF1	01:02.238	+2.742

Turn 12, a flat out right hander for Gildoorf, 32bobo32 and I. The wheel users need to lift, lacking a bit of the confidence of the keyboard users, whilst Kerley has a very minor lift off the throttle too. 

Turn 13 and Gildoorf is carrying more speed, and less downforce, and has to lift, whilst I am able to take it flat. It's not every lap I could take this flat, the exit kerb can pitch you into a spin, or it could compromise you into Turn 14. But with a bit of setup tweaking and practice, I was happy to take it flat. Prblanco and Carl are able to feather off their throttles a little bit. 

Into turn 14, and again, my heroics from the previous turn cost me into the following turn, and both Gildoorf and Prblanco regain what is lost on me through this bend alone. 32bobo32 is right on the pace here too. Carl is right on the track limits exiting T14, he'll be happy to run right on the limit there, but Kerley nearly loses it on the exit of T14, only having the tiniest of margins of keeping his front tyre touching the kerb. But that correction costs time unfortunately for him. 

1:16 - Into Turn 15, another fast left hander, and it's Gildoorf with a clear lead once again. I'm in second and Prblanco is in third, but it's still all to play for. 32bobo32 extends his fourth place advantage as Carl and Kerley are engaged in a scrappy battle to not finish at the back of the pack. It's my turn to use my slightly more wing to and advantage and I gain time on Gildoorf. Unfortunately this is where Prblanco drops out of the running for victory, being quite cautious through here and dropping around 20-30kph by the time we get to the exit of T15. 

1:22 - Turn 15 has done wonders for me, as I am literally a nose ahead of Gildoorf as we approach the final turn, it's going to be really close. Gildoorf and I both miss the apex, whilst Prblanco almost surprises himself as the apex rather jumps out at him and he has to release some steering lock. A pretty perfect execution for 32bobo32 as he is looking strong in this final sector. Unfortunately for Kerley, he doesn't quite have the downforce to keep with with Carl in this final turn. Back up front, and I am able to maintain a higher mid-corner speed than Gildoorf, and I'm just able to maintain the advantage at the exit as it's my turn to run to the edge of the exit kerb and the track limits. But coming back on to the kerb in the lead, I lose traction as I bounce over the kerb, giving Gildoorf the speed advantage on the run up to the line. 

So I'm in the lead, but I'm travelling slower. Gildoorf has less downforce and will be closing that gap all the way to the line. It's another tantalisingly close battle, and not for the first time this year, it's a drag race to the line. Who is going to win?

Gildoorf has all but closed up, but he's about a car's length behind as we cross the finish line, it's another close one!

1:40 - The final sector is done. Apologies again that the sector times are not working on the video, but here they are:

1	Gildoorf	00:28.817	+0.000
2	32bobo32	00:28.979	+0.162
3	Fongu	00:29.110	+0.293
4	Carl_gpgames	00:29.546	+0.729
5	Prblanco	00:29.578	+0.761
6	KerleyF1	00:29.882	+1.065

As expected the advantage I had in S2 is cancelled out by Gildoorf in this sector, but we'll see how close that was at the end shortly. 32bobo32 had a great sector as I said above, and the times prove it with a truly competitive showing on arguably the most difficult sector to get right. The two wheel users, Prblanco and Carl put in very similar sector times, as Kerley is still struggling with his setup choice going into this sector. 

Prblanco: "And I thought my S3 was good... 

Wow it really shows how I lost touch with @Gildoorf and @Fongu in the fast right handers, I was pretty close until then."

Gildoorf: "S3 is easily the best [sector] of the year." 

1	Fongu	01:28.606	+0.000
2	Gildoorf	01:28.693	+0.087
3	Prblanco	01:29.491	+0.885
4	32bobo32	01:30.186	+1.580
5	Carl_gpgames	01:31.377	+2.771
6	KerleyF1	01:32.120	+3.514

The final times are set, and the difference between me and Gildoorf is only 0.087 seconds around the whole lap. A truly back and forth battle once more, trading positions almost corner to corner, and whilst Prblanco was close, it was just two corners that cost him around 8 tenths in the end. 32bobo32 also puts in a good solid performance to finish not far from the back of Prblanco in a deserved fourth place. Carl puts in a tidy final sector to secure fifth place, but some way behind his rival in the Championship. 

Gildoorf: "🤏🏽😀

                    Always fast, always not enough 😀 Congrats, @Fongu"

Championship

1	Fongu	164
2	Gildoorf	118
3	Prblanco	79
4	32bobo32	60
5	Carl_gpgames	49
6	KerleyF1	27
7	Duffer	20

We all finished where we are currently sitting in the Championship, so a new track in GP4 has done nothing to shake up the order. There are two rounds left, as Gildoorf and Prblanco have secured their second and third place finishes in the Championship. Round 21 for our league will be hosted by Dubai, with the real track in Jeddah only just finished in time for the actual race.