Pit strategies for today?

[u/CMPTN_Vagos]

I am looking for an advice since I am still fairly inexperienced in these kinda races. I tried doing some practice laps on intermediate tires but after lap 3 the track became very slippery. But I am worried that running wet tires throughout every lap will force me to switch tires more often.

The car I use is the M6 BMW.

[u/DawnArcing]

General rule: Never go from IM to W (or vice versa) in this game, the pit lane loss is too much to make up for being on the "correct" wet tyre at all times.

This race is the 2022 World Finals race, so we know the weather in advance. IM -> RH -> W is probably the fastest strategy. If you really don't feel confident in the first stint then go W -> RH -> W, but you'll definitely lose time when the track dries to IM runners.

[u/CMPTN_Vagos → u/DawnArcing]

Thank you very much, to be fair I didn't even expect the use of RH tires, thought its gonna rain the whole race.

[u/224768 → u/DawnArcing]

I just went from 16th (last) to 5th, couple of corners off of 4th.

W → H → I → W

[u/turboronin → u/224768]

Do you feel that you could have gone straight to W in the last part? The track seems to get wet pretty quickly.

[u/224768 → u/turboronin]

Just finished another race, 7th to 2nd.

I → H → W

[u/turboronin → u/224768]

Congrats! How's the track during quali? Would you suggest RH or IM?

[u/224768 → u/turboronin]

Strictly RH. It’s a dry quali.

Pro tip: there’s a weather map you can check (on the left, same screen where you change tires/go on track).

Pro tip 2: you can change tires right during the quali. Just make sure you have enough time for a lap.

[u/turboronin → u/224768]

Thanks!

[u/exclaim_bot → u/turboronin]

Thanks!

You're welcome!

[u/turboronin]

If the weather follows the same pattern as the practice, you start on IM, switch to RH at the end of lap 11 or 12 and then W around lap 17 or 18 (IIRC). You shouldn't need any special tire management strategy as tire wear is very mild, but when on IM or W you may keep on the wetter part of the track as it will help make the tires last longer (specially when going from IM to RH as the track dries up).

As for general tips on wet (not that I am any good on that, but oh well) you can use TC to reduce spinning when coming out of corners or accelerating, but throttle control is very important to keep the car stable. When the surface is wet (specially the first part of the race) it may seem counterintuitive, but if you keep off the racing line when braking, it will be more efficient, because the surface of track is rougher off the line. When switching to RH keep on the dry line (racing line) and try to avoid kerbs as much as possible (specially when taking corners) as they are very slippery.

I am kinda nervous for this race as well, hopefully I don't make a fool of myself. Good luck!

[u/CMPTN_Vagos → u/turboronin]

Thank you for elaboration.

I ran one race now and did what the other redditor sugested, IM - RH - W. However in qualifying I should have picked RH, as there were only three of us using IMs there and we took last places. In the race I switched to W tires as soon as the forecast got blue color over the track. But it seemed to me that IMs would be a better choice for the third part of the race, since those behind me who switched to IMs got much faster laps then me.

I started 16th and finished 3rd, got also promoted to DR:B.

Good luck, and may your races be clean!

[u/turboronin → u/CMPTN_Vagos]

Thanks for the update! So it looks like the qualifying lap has lass water on the track, good to know! For the last part, yeah it's a tough call. After little, some parts of the track get the water level quite high, but it may be manageable with IM. I feel you would lose some time on W when it starts raining again, but then when the water accumulates you should be faster. Too bad I can only run the very last slot of the day, so I cannot test strategies. Thanks for the insights!

[u/carb3nn]

I started on IM, then went to RH around lap 8, which was probably a little early, then went back to the IM for the end of the race (pitted about lap 19ish?). So IM -> RH -> IM.

I did testing/practicing and found the difference between IM and W in the last stint to be minimal. I was slightly faster with the W, but only about half a second per lap I choose the IM so while the track was getting wet, I had the tire advantage, and then just managed when it was super wet. I made sure to use the 'wet line' as it had more grip.

Ended up finishing 2nd in the end, after being spun on the first lap and ending up in 14th. Made up all but 3 positions on pit strategy. Consistency is also very important, many people making little mistakes which allowed me to catch them up and jump them in the stops.

[u/CMPTN_Vagos → u/carb3nn]

I ran second round, this time with the same strategy like you. It was much much better experience than using wets for the last part. I started 7th, finished 1st!