[NoSkillz]

RACE FOUR: Tondela Grand Prix, Portugal (June 8, 2017)

Track Layout B
Track Guide - Acceleration and Low Speed Corners Crucial; Top Speed Useful
Track Info - Fuel Burn (medium), Tyre Wear (high)
Laps - 49 (2.4 miles each)
Tyres Available - SuperSoft, Soft, Intermediates, Wets
Weather Forecast - Practice (Partly Cloudy); Race Day (Partly Cloudy)


Reliability improvements continue in earnest. We also begin building a new suspension.

We get a fun press report indicating that Rafael Rodrigues once again is taking part in some "fun runs" near his hometown in Portugal, the site of our next race. His temporary "Fun Runner" traits adds to his marketability. Our other main driver, Ines Santa Ana, is celebrating her birthday and we hear she's touchy about this - we are presented with a dilemma to either throw a huge party for a hundred grand or just give her a card. Ha! She just gets a card and her morale drops as a result!

We add another race bonus sponsor in three star Ishikawa Malt Whisky, who provide us with a cool £1 million up front and a bonus payment of £1,200,000 if we finish in FIRST in a five race deal. Not too shabby!

Our practice session before the race is played under clear skies and our session isn't the best but we get Rodrigues up to 94% efficiency and Santa Ana to 93%. This track chews up tyres so we'll have to base our pit strategy on that. We invite the same sponsor back to this race and we need a 6th place finish or better in order to gain £650,000.

It's looking like a nice day to start on race day, with Santa Ana starting on the pole and Rodrigues is in the 6th row, starting 11th on the grid in his home race. Santa Ana's tyres are down to the nubs and we need to pit with her on lap 10, with her holding onto 15th and Rodrigues is up to 5th. Rodrigues pits on lap 13 and was in second upon reaching the pits and leaves in 8th. Meanwhile, Santa Ana is in her customary 19th position. Geez. My strategy to finish the race with two pits stops with Rodrigues isn't going to fly so I get him back on SuperSoft tyres on lap 29 and just top off his tank, knowing I'll need one more stop regardless. He exits the pits in fifth and is still in good shape. I'm just completely destroying Santa Ana's race, not paying attention as she runs out of fuel. Holy crap am I pathetic!! She pits in last place and Rodrigues pits for hopefully the last time on lap 41 and is in fourth place upon exiting. We fight with Ozu Motor Team's Oli Clarke Smith but he bursts past us on a final turn and holds us off for the podium finish, while we finish in fourth, securing our sponsor bonus at least.

Ebony Tyler wins for the second consecutive race and also earns the fastest lap time. Alejandro Moreno from Firebird MRT finished in second with Clarke Smith finishing third. Ines Santa Ana finished dead last - she's pretty rotten but I'm not helping her out AT ALL right now - I'm going to give her one more race but if she doesn't show me something, I'm likely going with my reserve driver for the second half of the season.

Rodrigues moves up to 9th in the drivers standings with 50 points while Ines Santa Ana is in last with 11 points. We move up one spot to 7th spot in the Team Standings after four races.

June 8, 2017
Tondela Grand Prix - EVENT RESULTS

1. Ebony Tyler, Ozu Motor Team, 49 Laps, 22 Points
2. Alejandro Moreno, Firebird MRT, 49 Laps, +27.153, 19 Points
3. Oli Clarke Smith, Ozu Motor Team, 49 Laps, +43.360, 18 Points
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4. Rafael Rodrigues, Predator Racing Group, 49 Laps, +44.217, 17 Points
5. Amanda Cavalcanti, Silva Racing, 49 Laps, +61.668, 16 Points

20. Ines Santa Ana, Predator Racing Group, 45 Laps, (+4 LAPS), 1 Point