A huge thank you to the club and all the volunteers for the fantastic work all weekend!
And a special mention to the farmer next to the track, who kindly agreed to postpone working his field to help us preserve the grip on the track. That definitely deserves a shoutout!
Track & conditions
A fantastic outdoor track, both technical and fast, and honestly a real pleasure to drive on.
Grip was tricky at the beginning of the weekend, as only a small part of the track had been treated, leaving roughly a 1-meter-wide racing line. The slightest mistake in line would send us onto the dirty part of the track, where there was basically no grip. Things improved progressively as more cars ran and everyone got more familiar with the layout.
Practice
I stubbornly stuck with the Vortex Avalon body throughout free practice, trying to adapt the setup around it. Friday and the beginning of Saturday morning were pretty painful, because this body is really particular: the chassis setup has to be absolutely spot on. The slightest loss of rear grip can trigger an aerodynamic stall, leading to an unrecoverable spin.
I definitely don't regret sticking with it though, because I finally found the setup that made the body work during reseeding.
And my god, was it fast!
I didn't quite put my three consecutive laps together, mainly because the new tires were struggling to come in with the relatively low track temperature, so I ended up P10 after reseeding.
Qualifying
My Schumacher Mi10 combined with my TestLogger package was absolutely flying during qualifying! I managed to qualify P8 on pure pace, while using only one set of new tires across the whole qualifying session.
Finals
Starting P8, I finished P7 overall.
R1: I started again on old tires and got caught up in the traffic at the start. There wasn't much I could do, and I finished P7.
R2: New tires on, and wow, this Mi10 was FAST! I climbed hard through the field and eventually found myself fighting for P3, before making a really silly mistake and throwing it all away. Back to P7.
R3: The tires were still fresh and the pace was still there. This time I put together a really solid run, with some great and mostly very respectful battles. I worked my way forward little by little and eventually finished P5.
Final result: P7 overall.
A very strong result considering the level of the field, and especially satisfying for my first national race with the Schumacher Mi10!
Weekend summary
I'm really happy with this weekend. First French Nats race with my Mi10, and it's incredibly satisfying to have a chassis working this well straight out of the box.
Special mention to Valeriane, who also had a really strong weekend in 17.5T! There is some very clear progress, and it's really encouraging to see. Qualifying didn't quite go her way, but the pure pace was seriously impressive, with P11 after reseeding. She eventually finished P19 after the finals, but the speed is definitely there!
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