NAGP GT2 - Round 1 Qualifying at Suzuka

Longshot Racings' second season in the NAGP GT2 category kicked off last night at Suzuka in Japan. The format for the first (Suzuka) and last races (Spa) are different than the remaining 8 races that make up the season. A separate Superpole followed by a 30 min qualifying race set the grid for next weeks 2 hr. event at Suzuka.
This season we drew third for our lottery pick which gave us high hopes for getting to choose a car of our liking. We were hoping for the Ferrari F458 Italia GT in the black and green patron colors. Luck was with us and we got our choice. This Ferrari is fast and stable, easy to drive, and gives us hope for a successful season.

Glenn at speed during Suzuka qualifying race

Jarrod has plans on being out of town for the 2 hour race, so Eric was called up to fill his seat. During the Superpole, I put in a decent time, but became dangerously close to blowing my engine 1/2 way through the lap. I tried changing my gearing selection going through the esses in hopes of keeping the engine revs at their sweet spot. It didn't work as well as hoped and almost ruined the engine. It cost me almost a second of my practice pace and set me back into the 24th spot. Eric fared much worse as he went off course coming out of turn 1 on his hot lap, bouncing off the wall.
I hoped to have a clean race and possibly move myself up to a better starting spot in the qualifying race, but the typical turn 1, lap 1 incident changed that in an instant. A couple cars got sideways causing those following to take evasive maneuvers. I was able to slow down in time, but the driver behind wasn't as quick on the binders and rear ended me. This put me into the grass and tweaked my suspension a bit. It got me a little miffed and I gunned it to get back on the track. Once my tires hit pavement I pitched left and hit one of the yellow corvettes making their way around the carnage. That was a dumb mistake on my part. I should have waited until all the traffic passes before entering the track again. It may cause a penalty on me, we shall see.
It took a couple of laps for me to make my way back to 28th. The car was tight, from the bumping and banging earlier, but still pretty fast. Had a Ford GT get sideways in front of me and knock me into the gravel a few laps later and that put me back down again. I guess I could have parked it then as I was way down in position. Couldn't get much worse. But I kept going because... I don't like to quit. Every lap is good practice.
I drove the car pretty hard to see how it would handle under stressful driving conditions. Despite being beat up it still had good pace. What I didn't notice was the engine gauge drop to 0% and on the last lap, it gave up before the finish.
So, I will be starting from the back of the pack near Eric, who didn't fare well either. And, for the 2 hour race, I'll take it easy and let others drop out and try to pick my way carefully up the field and look for a finish in the points. I'll be sure to watch the engine health gauge closely also. Hopefully, that's not a weakness in the car. Most likely it's because of my out of control driving and off road excursions.
Glenn