TMR Game – Week 20

Welcome to Week 20 of the Too Much Racing Game!

I usually use this space to write about the racing I watched over the weekend, but I’ve decided to do that in a breakout post which will follow shortly. All I’ll say now is this week will be crucial, so be sure to make your picks! On with the game report.

Quick-Start

Racing this week:

LM24 – 24 Hours of Le Mans;

F1 – Canadian GGP;

Sprint Cup – Michigan;

Usual restrictions apply, pick up to 10 drivers, no more than 7 from one race. Toughie this week.

The cutoff is Saturday 12th June at 4.59am BST (British Summer Time = GMT+1), that’s 11.59pm Friday night US EDT.

For the full results from Week 19, read on.

How To Enter

1. Reply to this post.

2. List up to 10 drivers, with no more than 7 from a single event.

3. Send your entry before the stated deadline. You can make as many changes as you like until the closing point, I’ll take your last entry.

Most weeks feature 2 or 3 races, some weeks may have more than that and some may only have one. There’s not a rule stating you have to choose a driver in each race, any combination of up to 10 drivers is accepted.

On to the results!

Top Tens – Week 19

Week 19 IndyCar NASCAR Cup DTM
Points Texas Pocono EuroSpeedway
1 50 Ryan Briscoe Denny Hamlin Bruno Spengler
2 40 Danica Patrick Kyle Busch Paul di Resta
3 35 Marco Andretti Tony Stewart Jamie Green
4 32 Scott Dixon Kevin Harvick Mike Rockenfeller
5 30 Dario Franchitti Jimmie Johnson Gary Paffett
6 28 Tony Kanaan Kurt Busch Martin Tomczyk
7 26 Ryan Hunter-Reay Jeff Burton Susie Stoddart
8 24 Alex Lloyd Juan Montoya Timo Scheider
9 22 Dan Wheldon Clint Bowyer Ralf Schumacher
10 20 Vitor Meira AJ Allmendinger Markus Winkelhock

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Points Awarded – Week 19


 Player IndyCar N-Cup DTM Week 19
1 Sebastian 122 50 157 329
2 Jackie 88 120 94 302
3 Sean 122 79 93 294
4 Pat W 95 108 87 290
5 RG 82 40 157 279
6 Startledbunny 114 83 80 277
7 Jon Waldock 78 86 93 257
8 The Speedgeek 138 78 – 216
9 Dank – 145 – 145
10 James – – 128 128
11 Burwellian – 78 – 78

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Congats to Sebastian for another win! That’s a reasonable gap over the rest, perhaps a little for one week but stack up a few more of those and the rest are in trouble. Jackie had a good week too as her 3 Cup picks finished 1st, 2nd and 3rd. Sean and I are also up there.

It is interesting how each week the middle of the weekly table is always so close.

Positions 8 to 11 didn’t register an entry in time and carried over, luckily for Speedgeek his IndyCar and Cup picks from a week ago contained both this week’s winners in those series!

James submitted his entry after the cutoff so I’ve not counted it, but he already had DTM picks on the board from Valencia (the balance were ALMS which didn’t race). I counted the scores for curiosity’s sake: 117 DTM points, 120 IndyCar and 85 Cup which is 322 in total, good for 2nd on the weekly list.

Overall Standings – Week 19

Pos Pre +/- Name Prior Wk 19 Total
1 1 0 Sebastian 4633 329 4962
2 3 1 Pat W 4538 290 4828
3 2 -1 The Speedgeek 4577 216 4793
4 4 0 Sean 4428 294 4722
5 5 0 RG 4332 279 4611
6 6 0 Jon Waldock 4303 257 4560
7 7 0 James 4052 128 4180
8 8 0 Startledbunny 3837 277 4114
9 9 0 Burwellian 3652 78 3730
10 10 0 Jackie 2747 302 3049
11 11 0 Dank 1871 145 2016

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Sebastian’s lead obviously extends, particularly with Speedgeek dropping back to 3rd – luckily for me I’m the beneficiary, so thanks! Sean is within range of the two of us though I’m not sure he can catch Sebastian, but anything can happen in this game.

I think RG is opening a gap on Jon now. Startledbunny now has someone to play with. 😉

Results sheets are available on the TMR drop.io.

Coming Up – Week 20

This week we have three events:

Le Mans 24 Hours – This race could be crucial in scoring big points. Remember you can pick multiple drivers from the same car – but there are up to six potentially winning cars. 3 top Audis and 3 top Peugeots (and maybe a 4th). A tricky choice. The official entry list is here, a car-by-car Autosport.com guide here (subscriber-only), and James will have some previews at The Chequered Flag linked via that page during the week (GT2 is up now). There will also be live commenting at Sidepodcast.

Formula 1 – It feels like we’ve missed many more than one Canadian Grand Prix, which is a measure of how welcome it is to see it return. Safety Cars should be expected, as well as the normal issues of a bumpy track and very high brake wear.

Sprint Cup – This week it is the fast Michigan speedway, another restrictor plate track meaning almost anything can happen. Go to nascar.com for more info.

I think that’s everything, any questions just ask in the comments.



26 thoughts on “TMR Game – Week 20”

  3. LE MANS 24HR
    Anthony Davidson
    Franck Montagny
    Allan McNish
    Andre Lotterer

    F1
    Lewis Hamilton
    Mark Webber
    Sebastian Vettel
    Jenson Button

    NASCAR
    Jimmie Johnson
    Matt Kenseth

    Like

  4. I have been thinking of a couple of variations on the rollover rule that might work better.

    One is a default rollover list that players could leave on the game-page of as many drivers as they like, such that if they miss an entry, the method is to go down this list picking the highest drivers on that list that are entered in that week’s events.

    The other is to go back in a similar fashion for their last few entries. For The Speedgeek’s missed entry in the week just gone, his carry-over included seven relevent drivers, and his previous entry included DTM drivers.

    I would temper either suggestion with the proviso that if they have missed the entry, only nine drivers are put on their list, only eight if they have missed two consecutive weeks, and so on. If The Speedgeek had been allowed his last ten relevent drivers, he would have scored 325, last nine 290. For James, his last ten relevant drivers would have scored 271, but deducting the last two for missing two consecutive entries, 204.

    However, for late entrants, the 70% of the worst scores for players making full entries might still be applied to give them a starting point.

    Any thoughts?

    Like

  5. “Toughie this week.”

    I don’t think so. Ten drivers; three teams. That must be some kind of record…

    Le Mans:

    Nicolas Minassian
    Franck Montagny
    Stéphane Sarrazin
    Simon Pagenaud
    Sébastien Bourdais
    Pedro Lamy

    F1:

    Sebastian Vettel
    Mark Webber

    Cup:

    Kyle Busch
    Denny Hamlin

    Like

  6. “This week it is the fast Michigan speedway, another restrictor plate track”

    Michigan is not a restrictor plate track (thank God); Daytona and Talladega are the only ones. Michigan is one of the more predictable tracks in NASCAR, actually. Whoever nails the intermediate package will win (although it’s not quite as dramatic as Penske/Ganassi domination on those tracks in IndyCar). Traditionally, Hendrick and Roush are the intermediate powers, but I think it’ll be Gibbs this time…

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  7. I figure on doing my picks at the end of the week with the latest information but have decided to put in a provisional selection in case something goes awry on Friday. In fact, I am really struggling with my picking-strategy with seven Audis and Peugeots, and Canada a race that often seems to jumble results to some extent.

    Le Mans:

    Pedro Lamy
    Sébastien Bourdais
    Franck Montagny
    Stéphane Sarrazin
    Alexander Wurz
    Anthony Davidson

    F1:

    Sebastien Vettel
    Mark Webber
    Jenson Button
    Lewis Hamilton

    (I reckon Jeff Gordon will have a good week.)

    Like

  8. Ooh, I had a good score this week, hope it wasn’t a fluke. Don’t know much at all about Le Mans so will have to have a look at the quali results before I pick.

    Silly question, but with teams of three in Le Mans do you have to pick a whole team and with different classes of cars is it just the overall leaders that get points or the leaders within a category? .. sorry for being dim.

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  9. I was just thinking, there are 4 Peugeots and any of them could win, and if they falter for whatever reason any of 3 Audis could win. That’s 21 potentially winning drivers, get the wrong ones and they could be 3rd or they could be 33rd while everyone else is scoring highly.

    With Montreal usually being unpredictable it makes that choice hard, I guess we have to go Red Bull just on their pace though in theory it should favour McLaren.

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  10. Ahh thanks, I was thinking Michigan and California Speedway were because they are longer ovals.

    I’m starting to wish I could see shorter highlights of these races so I can get a better idea of this kind of thing, unfortunately I can’t dedicate the time to following the races live.

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  11. No you still pick drivers. The choice you have is whether or not to gamble on 2 or 3 drivers in one car knowing it’ll pay off big time if it wins (50pts x 3 is very useful), but if it retires or struggles (as any car can at Le Mans) you’ll drop a ton of points to the other players. It’s probably worth it more for ALMS/LMS races where the winners are more clear cut, depends if you’re feeling lucky!
    Points are based on overall positions, so if they win their class and finish 10th overall, they’ll get points for 10th.

    Like

  13. Le Mans
    Allan McNish
    Franck Montagny
    Stéphane SARRAZIN
    Marc GENE
    Sébastien BOURDAIS

    F1
    Lewis Hamilton
    Jenson Button
    Mark Webber
    Sebastian Vettel
    Michael Schumacher

    Like

  14. Le Mans
    Sebastien Bourdais
    Franck Montagny
    Anthony Davidson
    Simon Pagenaud
    Stephane Sarrazin
    Nicolas Lapierre
    Allan McNish

    F1
    Mark Webber
    Lewis Hamilton
    Jenson Button

    Cup
    –

    Like

  15. Risky and totally nonsensical strategy coming up

    Formula 1: Michael Schumacher, Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button, Seb Vettel, Fernando Alonso, Tonio Liuzzi

    NASCAR: Denny Hamlin, Kurt Busch, Jimmie Johnson

    Like

  16. Nah. I screwed up, I’m happy to get away with the points I got. I knew that I might forget for the week, but I knew that I’d have quite a few carry over guys, so getting my entry in was low on my priority list. Fixing the mistake this week.

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  17. Agreed. It sounds simple, but even if you’re trying to select the correct drivers out of just the Peugeot guys, that’s still 12 drivers. There’s lots of room to mess up.

    Also, I’d like to point ask if like in the ARFL, will cars finishing lower than 43rd score zero points for their drivers? That means that 12 cars will score zeroes…

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  18. Le Mans:
    Sebastien Bourdais
    Pedro Lamy
    Simon Pagenaud
    Alexander Wurz
    Anthony Davidson
    Marc Gene
    Franck Montagny

    F1:
    Lewis Hamilton
    Jenson Button
    Nico Rosberg

    Like

  19. Yeah I’ll do the same as ARFL, that’s a good point worth making.
    I’d like to think the Peugeots and Audis won’t be that far down though.

    Like

  20. F1
    Fernando Alonso
    Sebastian Vettel
    Lewis Hamilton
    Michael Schumacher

    Le Mans
    Sebastien Bourdais
    Alan McNish
    Anthony Davidson
    Pedro Lamy
    Marc Gene
    Franck Montagny

    Like

  21. Complete indecision. Are Audi really that slow? Will they be closer in the race? Will the tyre-problems in Canada be sorted out as the track rubbers in? I like to go aggressive on sportscar picks but this is much more a defensive selection.

    Le Mans:

    Pedro Lamy
    Sébastien Bourdais
    Franck Montagny
    Stéphane Sarrazin
    Alexander Wurz
    Anthony Davidson
    Alan McNish

    F1:

    Sebastien Vettel
    Mark Webber
    Jenson Button

    Like

  25. Well, I have to say that post-Le Mans, RG’s strategy is looking strong.

    I recall you said of the Le Mans thing of excluding cars not running from the results that you would deal with it when you got to it. Well…

    Normally, this game treats non-classified retirements as counting for position-points, even if the series does not. If we do this with Le Mans, the Oreca Peugeot was excluded from the official results, but having completed 373 laps, would come fourth on distance! Also, the Wurz/Davidson/Gene car would be 10th, and the Montagny/Sarrazin/Minassian car 32nd.

    I presume this will not be the policy (I am not trying to tell you as it is your game but I am guessing you would not do it that way as if anyone had picked the official fourth-place finisher, to be bumped down by a non-listed non-finisher, that would not seem fair).

    It seems this leaves two options:

    One, order them as Wikipedia have with cars running followed by retirements in order of distance. This would put the Oreca Pug 29th, Wurz/Davidson/Gene 31st, and Montagny/Sarrazin/Minassian 34th.

    Two, follow the WRC precedent that if not on the final result sheet, too complicated to decide, so give them zero. After all, the Wikipedia results include a non-classified car that was running at the finish that completed less distance than the picks in question. I would probably go for this option (it would avoid you beating me by a point as we have the same F1 picks).

    I felt bad about making cautious sportscar picks but now I wish I had been even more cowardly.

    Looking at the speed Peugeot produced at Le Mans, I think they must have been sandbagging at previous races, maybe limiting the turbo-boost, to avoid the ACO applying performance restrictions. The problem is they did not reveal until Le Mans that pushing that hard blew the engines.

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  26. I’m planning to follow whichever system Andy uses in his game, until now I wasn’t sure what that was but I’ve taken a look at last year and it seems to match the 2009 Wikipedia result in that Chris Dyson was not officially classified, but Wikipedia has him listed 36th and he was given ARFL points for 36th, same for Gavin/Beretta in 35th. (As an aside, it’ll be interesting to see how the ACO handles points for the IC Cup next year).

    I think it is dangerous to use WRC as a precedent, if anything it should work the other way and if a near-definitive list appears for each round then I could/should go back and amend our results. I’ve found official classifications on http://www.fia.com, I’ll double-check what I have for next week – to date I’ve used the result on the timing pages of http://www.wrc.com. I should add that sometimes on the WRC page there are 43 drivers who do complete the distance (if we ignore which class they are in), so going back wouldn’t make a difference.

    I haven’t looked at this week’s scores at all yet but I think you’re right, RG is looking very good and so are the others who didn’t pick 7 Le Mans drivers.

    I was convinced the Peugeots were reliable enough to get at least two of the four home on the podium, but Audi pushed them all the way.

    Like

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