Porsche Cup at Miami — P23 to P16, and 0.127s of Last-Lap Defence

Miami, a street circuit, and a bone-dry track — which felt like a gift after a practice session that was closer to a boat race. P23 on the grid, P16 at the flag. But the number I’m actually proud of isn’t the seven places. It’s the 0.127 seconds I still had left at the line.

The Warm-Up Act (Not My Finest)

Before this one I ran a race in the Open Series, and I jumped the start. Fine, that happens. What happened next was less fine: instead of taking the drive-through, I pulled into the pits. So I got to serve the drive-through anyway, one lap later, with the added bonus of having thrown away a pit stop for nothing. Then practice for this race came down in full rain and was an absolute disaster. So when the Miami grid formed up on a dry track, I’ll admit I was quietly relieved.

Thirteen Laps of Elbows

This race was gripping from the very first second. Overtakes going my way, overtakes going the other way, hard fights the whole distance — and I enjoyed every lap of it. Miami is a street circuit, and street circuits are exactly my kind of track: walls close, no room to be sloppy, and every pass has to be properly committed. The field around me churned constantly. There was never a lap where I could just settle in and drive.

This Time I Defended

Here’s the change I’m most pleased about: I’ve started actually defending. In the past I’d see a car in the mirrors, think “fine, take it,” and let them through. Not anymore. I held my line, made people work for it, and it worked.

The final lap was the test. The car behind had been reeling me in the whole way round and was right on my bumper going into the last few corners. I nearly lost my nerve — I’ve thrown a position away in exactly this situation before. Not this time. I defended through the last sequence and held it to the line by 0.127 seconds. Seven places gained is nice. Not giving one back is the part that actually feels like progress.

Up Front

Mehdi Kousha took pole, but Tobias F. Olsson took the race. Olsson cleared the front row early and led 12 of the 13 laps, holding Kousha at 2.123s to the flag in the only genuine fight of the top three. Joel Paldanius completed the podium from P4, a distant 9.621s back. The bigger story was behind them: Karim Zuhour led the opening lap from P3, then disconnected on lap eight and dropped to last. Liu Youfu ended his run from P8 three laps short. Sean Zhong collected 13 incidents on his way from P10 to P22. Zero cautions on the board, and still a quarter of the field never saw the finish in one piece.

The Rig — Simucube 3 Ultimate, Still Dialling In

Same setup as always — D-BOX platform underneath, Cubic belt tensioner pulling me into the seat — and the Simucube 3 Ultimate up front, which keeps feeling better every time I sit down with it. I’m still experimenting: pulling profiles I find online and modifying them to taste rather than building from scratch. Every round of tweaks gets me a bit closer. Over a bumpy street circuit like Miami, the amount of surface detail coming back through the wheel is exactly why I made the switch.

Race Stats

Full Results

Livery design by Jeremy Kerr.