MQ:HS competitive sim racing
If you’ve already checked out lessons in sim racing – you know that we do this all for fun. Except when we’re competing…
Low Fuel Motorsport (LFM) is the MQ:HS league of choice when it comes to competitive sim racing. Why? The answer is simple.
Easy access to racing, whenever you want
Incredibly robust ranking system
The home of our favorite race class to compete in, GT3
Like with any sport, competing is not always fun or a good time. We take our training and race preparation extremely seriously. When you want to fight for top positions, it’s not just an arrive and drive situation.
Things like care setup, physical and mental preparation, and practice practice practice,
are essential to having a successful competitive racing experience
Current Ranking
Here you can follow along on the current status of how MQ:HS is doing at any given point in the LFM league
LFM Ranking is made up of two things:
Safety Rating
ELO
Safety rating speaks for itself. But if you don’t know what ELO is, read more about it here.
Depending on a variety of factors, your ranking in both of these categories goes up and down. Our goal here at MQ:HS is not necessarily to win every race, but to find consistent and clean performance – practicing (and enhancing) our driving skills, learning race craft, and developing our expertise in car setup
MQ:HS
LFM Race Highlights
Track
Nurburgring GP
RAce Time
45 minutes
Pitstop?
Tires + Fuel
Grid
34 entries
Car
R8 LMS GT3 EVO II
Race TiMELINE (spanish commentary)
Race Start
Qualified in 9th place, amongst many pro (e-sport) drivers
The Audi (as discussed in the Audi section) is no longer a very competitive car. For that being the case, I was extremely content qualifying in 9th. There were quite a few quick drivers and the stakes at this level of competition are high (low reward, high penalties for poor race performance)
29:30 – LAP 8
After taking a small hit on Lap 1 / Turn 1, I dropped down to 11th and had to start crawling my way back up the grid (or at least try…)
In the first few minutes of a race (especially if you’ve taken a bit of damage and/or lost some places) it’s important to keep a level head, analyze the competition in front and behind you, and have patience as you try to make moves
15:58 – LAP 14
Thirty minutes in, I had clawed my way up to 8th
You’ll notice that after the Ferrari (which is an extremely fast chassis in GT3), is all McLarens. Arguably the most competitive GT3 chassis in this current era.
I had gone for the undercut 11 minutes prior and gained a lot of time on the 720s GT3 Evo (Andersson). I held my place behind him and let him tow us towards Pryadko (296), and later, Hunter and Cherbonnier
14:30 – LAP 15
The following lap, Andersson, Pryadko, and I were bunched into a train
I was in a huge advantage at this point as I had more pace than both of them, and I wanted to captalize on the two cars battling. You’ll see me poking my nose into the side view mirrors of Andersson after Dunlop Kurve and after Michael Schumacher-S
My main priority was to stay close, and look for any opportunities to squeeze my way by either one (or both) of them
13:02 – LAP 16
The lap after that, my first opportunity to make a move arrived. Pryadko went wide in Turn 1 (a very common move at the Nurburgring GP), which led to him opening the door at Turn 2 after a poor entry for that turn
The entry into Turn 3 can be a good passing opportunity as it’s low speed and cars typically tend to drift out wide for the braking zone as it requires significant trail braking (it’s also down hill so it can be difficult to react ahead of the Turn 3 entry). If a driver goes out wide enough for that braking zone, it’s a great place to squeeze through with a dive. Luckily, I had passed him before this zone and had the inside line for the next turn as well
03:37 – LAP 21
After a few laps settled in behind Andersson, we were both eager to pass Cherbonnier who was very down on pace – most likely due to poor tire management in the second stint
On the main straight, Andersson was able to get a better exit and passed Cherbonnier before Turn 1
It was only a matter of time before I caught Cherbonnier myself in order to make a move
01:51 – LAP 22
A lap later, I was still stuck behind Cherbonnier and really trying to put pressure on him to make a mistake or give me an opportunity to pass
You can see in the onboard footage before the entry to Turn 1 I move slightly to the right so he is forced to scan his side view mirrors under braking (can be very distracting)
00:36 – LAP 22
The same lap, really starting to put the pressure on Cherbonnier
He had lost significant pace over this second stint and I was eager to not let the pack in front of build an even bigger gap between us in case I could set myself up for some last minute offensive moves
The announcer thought this was the last lap when in reality, there were going to be one more lap (the leader had passed the finish line before the race finished on Lap 22)
00:00 – LAP 23
Cherbonnier’s luck finally ran out when his lack of grip gave him a bad exit on the last turn onto the main straight. This passing move into Turn 1 got me into 5th position
This allowed me to get an incredible draft (you’ll notice the speed difference in that first shot on the main straight) – he did not even defend the inside line
You’ll also notice on the main straight I am dramatically all the way to the right side. I wanted to rip away from him as I got the pass to avoid Cherbonnier getting a side draft (the McLaren is very quick in a straight line, as is the Audi)
Even though Cherbonnier’s lack of pace was pretty severe, you’ll also notice I blocked a potential retaliation going into Turn 3 by staying in the middle of the track for the braking zone (prohibiting any late move dives under acceleration out of Turn 2, or under braking for the following corner)
Race Finish
Qualified in 9th place, finished in 5th place
Action packed race full of ups and downs – very proud of this final result
Endurance racing is a game of patience and strategy. 45 minutes is a long time, but also a short time. This race was another lesson in being patient, analyzing the situation in front of (and behind) me, and being smart about offensive moves