This week the boys traded paint and used up every part of their vehicles (and the track!) as we rolled out the GT3 beauties on a heavy driver-favorite course, Laguna Seca.
Now, we have had some crazy close battles when it comes to the Pole this season, but the trio of Kyle Spencer (KDawgHonda777), Tyler McIntosh (MacAttack0922) and Patricio Campos (Pitricio_Guitar) really put on a show for the crowd. Kyle S. snagged his first career Pole for the GT3 league, as only .080 secs separated the Top 3 qualifiers!!! Kyle Ely (Rocksson2Kyle) and Sergey Degtyarenko (Sg_Rus_Us) both put in their best qualifying efforts of the season, snagging 4th and 5th respectively.
As soon as the green lights hit, we had action immediately. Patricio was able to get a good jump on the light, and was able to take the preferred line into Turn 1 to get around Tyler and split up the Attack Racing teammates up front. The Top 3 drivers would stay in line and start to put a gap on the field, with Kyle E. holding down 4th place not too far behind. As the Top 4 would stay single file, the 4 cars battling for 5th place would do everything but that! Including going 3-wide down the front stretch on Lap 3! When the smoke and dust final settled from that crazy 4 lap battle between the 4 cars, Charles Sumner (Hootius) found himself in 5th place and pulling away from the others as tires were an issue at this track. Around this time is when issues would arise for a few of our top cars. Turn 4 first claimed Kyle E., who bounced on the curb, slid into the wall, suffer suspension damage, and had to pit early. Kyle E. would rebound from that early setback and recover for a solid 5th place finish. A handful of laps later, Turn 4 again claimed another victim in Tyler. While the scenario started out the same, unfortunately Tyler’s hit was a lot more severe and ended up losing a front wheel. By the time Tyler was able to make it to pit road, he was 2 laps down and at a severe disadvantage. Once repaired, Tyler would use his strong pace to bounce back and finish only 1 lap down in 9th place, while setting the fastest lap of the race. That left Kyle S. and Patricio to battle it out for the top spot, while Charles would claim 3rd, but over 15 secs back due to the earlier battles he was involved in. Kyle S. was the first to pit at the end of Lap 11, making everyone wonder if he would be able to make it to the end on tires pitting that early. Patricio would hit the pits 5 laps later. As all of the pit stops cycled out, Kyle S. was able to pass Patricio as he left pit road and used the position to reclaim the lead as Charles pitted on the next lap. From this point, the question to be answered was if Kyle S. could indeed make it the rest of the way on his tires, while being able to defend enough to keep Patricio behind him on fresher tires. Unfortunately 1 lap later, that answer was taken away from the audience. While Kyle S. was leading and going through lap traffic, a lapped car had a severe lag issue that developed and didn’t just bounce his car around on the screen, it was causing his car to teleport. In a heart-braking moment, one of those teleports reappeared inside of Kyle S. car, which caused his car to flip and suffer terminal damage. Patricio would also suffer massive rear-end damage by the same lagged car on the next turn, and would have to pit on the next lap for repairs. That left Charles to take a 13 sec lead once Patricio finished his pit stop. Things were looking good for Charles, as all he had to do was keep the car straight and he would have a comfortable win. That was until the lag car started teleporting again, which caused contact and a half spin for Charles on one occasion, and a decent amount of side damage on a 2nd occasion. Once everything sorted out, Charles’ lead over Patricio was gone, and it came down to the Cromo Ramrod teammates to race it to the end and see who would be victorious. Due to the earlier events, Patricio played it safe with his teammate, and would not force the nose of his car in a way that would possibly cause either driver to spin. So it was up to Charles to run a hard last few laps, and not make any mistakes for Patricio to pounce on. In the end, we saw Charles cross the line in first, with Patricio right on his bumper and flashing his headlights in enjoyment as his teammate claimed his first win in the PRL PS4 Project Car Series. 40 secs later, we were also treated to another first as Vince Nadal (TSpottr723) held of Sergey by just a couple car lengths to claim his first career podium! Charles was also the Hard-Charger Performer of the race, gaining 7 spots from his qualifying effort.
The top 10 finishing order was:
1st – Charles Sumner (Hootius) – 1st Project Cars League win
2nd – Patricio Campos (Pitricio_Guitar) – 4th Podium of the Season
3rd – Vince Nadal (TSpottr723) – 1st career Podium!
4th - Sergey Degtyarenko (Sg_Rus_Us) – Best finish of the Season
5th – Kyle Ely (Rocckson2Kyle) – Best career finish in the League
6th – Max Lewin (RiteAidKid84) – Best career finish in the League
7th – Dallas Johnson (Porq_Chopz) – 2nd Top 10 of the Season
8th – Daniel Lozano (Gordow3497) – 1st Top 10 of the Season
9th – Tyler McIntosh (MacAttack0922) – 3rd Top 10 of the Season
10th – Drayton Simpson (Dray_SS_81) – 3rd Top 10 of the Season
In the Driver’s battle, Patricio Campos (Pitricio_Guitar) saw his lead close for the first time all season, as Charles Sumner (Hootius) moved into 2nd place with his win, but still 14 points back. Kyle Spencer’s (KDawgHonda777) unfortunate DNF saw him fall to 4th in points, 2 points behind Vince Nadal (TSpottr723) who took over 3rd place following his podium finish.
The Team battle saw Cromo Ramrod’s (Patricio and Charles) lead jump up to 58 points after Attack Racing's (Tyler and Kyle S.) terrible luck at Laguna Seca. Vin Rin Racing (Vince and Mark M.) now owns a 18 point lead for 3rd place, while the remaining 5 teams are only separated by 18 points for the battle for 4th!
Next week, the crew packs up and heads to the Czech Republic to tackle the very precise Brno Circuit.
Very special thank you to AJ Jobes (GameofJobes) for donating his time to the league and broadcasting for us. You can find Jobes’ other great broadcasts and racing at www.twitch.tv/GameofJobes
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/169097554
