Between round 1 ending and round 2 beginning of the SRO IGTC, changes were upon us. A vote between teams and drivers was had to see if Laguna Seca, which was initially on the calendar as the American round in this championship, would be replaced by one of the new incoming venues to Assetto Corsa Competizione, namely Indianapolis, which officially replaced Laguna Seca in real life at the end of 2019. Indianapolis won the vote, so teams and drivers had two weeks of scrambling around to get up to speed and learn this venue as fast as possible before round 2 was officially here.
Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Round 2
So we arrived at round 2 for the 8h of Indianapolis, this time with a driver change to the line up with Ryley unavailable so being substituted for Joshua Allan. Meaning it was Chris and Adrien once again accompanied by Josh.
Qualifying for this event once again was unfavourable for the Aston Martin manufacturer teams with the highest Aston in qualifying only managing P28. No balance of performance was helping.
Our qualifying had its own problems and we lined up P44 and last on the grid for the start after not getting a clean fast lap on the board in the 30-minute qualifying session.
Rewatch the 8h Indianapolis race below:
Then every sim racing team’s worst nightmare struck in the first hour as we suffered a driver swap bug/disconnect on the race server in the pit stop, which meant the entire team had to leave and rejoin to continue and during this process, the team lost 4 laps to the leaders. Essentially race over in the first hour, but we are fighters and we continued until the flag as anything can happen.
The next hour saw us move up two positions as others started to falter early in the race so the team continued to circulate Indianapolis 4 laps down but were now in P42. After cycling through the driver swaps and completing 4 hours of the race, things started to unfold even further as we continued to make progress. Even if it was a lonely race for the team circulating by themselves for the first half of the Indianapolis 8 hours.
The Halfway Point
The halfway point and 4 hours into the race now, saw the team make steady progress into P37 overall. A gain of 7 positions on our starting position of P44, even with losing 4 laps in the first hour. All was not lost and we could see the point-scoring positions ahead of us.
Two hours remaining and the team of Chris Severt, Adrien Bourdon and Josh Allan showed great grit and determination to move into P35 overall and P17 in class. Just two places away from the points and the fight was on, although we had to bank on other teams faltering and we becoming the beneficiaries in the remaining hours.
Whilst we were able to gain one whole lap back during the race after our first hour troubles, as the sun set in the final hour of the race, we could only move into P16 in class and P33 overall and this is where we would remain until the flag. One place away from the points. Which is such a shame after fighting against the odds for 8 whole hours.
The Finish Line
Whilst the team ended the race outside of the points, we had many positives to take away. Our overall pace would have seen us challenge for a top 5 finish in class this weekend. Which gives us confidence and bodes well for the remainder of the championship. Although we have a lot of work to do to catch back up into the top 10 overall. Which is where the championship prize money waits for the teams and drivers.
As always thank you to romeo’s gin for the support and sponsorship for this season of SRO IGTC Endurance, check them out below:
Round 3 will see the SRO IGTC season head to Suzuka, Japan. We sit just outside of the top 10 after two rounds complete and we will need a great run at Suzuka if we want to put ourselves back into contention against the best in the world.
SOP MOTORSPORT 