Feature races are rarely decided by pure lap pace alone. More often, the outcome hinges on pit stop strategy — when to stop, which tire to use, how much fuel to take, and how to manage traffic. The Sardegna B Feature Race in ALR once again proved this truth, with three very different strategies battling for the podium.

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🏎️ The Track: Sardegna B

Sardegna B is a medium-speed track with short straights and plenty of technical corners. It is tough on tires but has a very short pit lane. This combination opens the door for aggressive two-stop strategies, though one-stoppers can still work with the right car and efficiency. Cars with strong cornering speed (like the McLaren) usually shine here, but the balanced BMW M6 also has tools to fight — if used with the right plan.

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🔑 Starting Point

Thanks to a reverse grid after the sprint race (P9 → P2), Orrak1 lined up on the front row. This created a rare opportunity: with only one car ahead (M.Goo in a McLaren), he had a chance to clear traffic early and run in clean air.

• Car: BMW M6 — strong on mediums, slightly quicker on softs.
• Fuel: Full tank at the start = more tire wear.
• Goal: Use softs to break free and set the rhythm of the race.

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🛞 Stint 1 – Soft Tire Gamble (6 laps)

Most of the grid started on mediums or hards, saving softs for later. Orrak1 rolled the dice and started on softs.

• Quickly passed M.Goo for the lead.
• Ran in clean air, building a 4-second gap in just 6 laps.
• Pitted without refueling (the BMW carried 18 laps of fuel).

Why it worked: Sardegna’s short pit lane makes early stops affordable. On a front-row start, softs delivered maximum benefit: clean air + raw pace.

👉 Lesson: On short-pit tracks, early softs can be golden — but only if you escape traffic immediately.

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🛞 Stint 2 – The Lexus Problem (12 laps)

Rejoining P12, Orrak1 again found himself in free air. By lap 12, he had already climbed to P5, overtaking Gin Tonik (running a hard-tire, one-stop plan).

But now came the turning point: catching the Lexuses of Adz45 and xBenditx.

• The Lexus was ~20% more fuel efficient.
• This meant their pit stops would be ~6 seconds shorter.
• To beat them, Orrak1 needed to build at least a 4s buffer before the pits.

He managed to pass only one Lexus, ending up in a “Lexus sandwich.” That 4-second gap never came — just 1s. As a result, he lost 3s in the pits, undoing much of his early advantage.

👉 Lesson: Numbers don’t lie. A brilliant stint can still collapse if the margins aren’t met.

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🛞 Stint 3 – Mediums to the Finish (12 laps)

Rejoining in P8, Orrak1 once again had clean air and put in strong laps. By lap 24, he reeled in xBenditx.

But now, both cars were on equal tires. With equal pace and equal grip, overtaking was no longer possible without a mistake. A late chance appeared in the final corner, but it never materialized.

Final Results:

1. Adz45 (Lexus) – 18H / 12M (1 stop)
2. xBenditx (Lexus) – 19H / 11M (1 stop)
3. Orrak1 (BMW M6) – 6S / 12M / 12M (2 stops)

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🎯 Why Softs for Orrak1 Made Sense (But Not for the Lexuses)

At first, starting on softs with a full tank looks risky. But strategy is not just about tire life — it’s about track position and traffic.

• Orrak1’s Case:
  • From P2, he had only one car to pass.
  • Once clear, he could maximize the softs in clean air.
  • With Sardegna’s short pit lane, the early stop carried minimal penalty.
• ADZ & xBenditx’s Case:
  • Both started deeper in the pack.
  • Softs would have been wasted in traffic battles and dirty air.
  • By starting on hards, they survived the opening laps, saved fuel, and brought their strongest pace into the endgame.
  • Their Lexus cars were already more fuel-efficient, which made the one-stop plan even stronger.

👉 Different grid positions and car traits meant different “best choices.” For Orrak1, softs were the right call. For the Lexuses, hards were.

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📚 Final Lessons

The Sardegna B Feature Race showed how pit stop strategy can make or break a result:

• Short pit lanes reward aggression. Orrak1’s soft start made sense and gave him the lead.
• Fuel efficiency is invisible but decisive. Lexus’ shorter refuel times decided the pit battle.
• Clean air is priceless. Every time Orrak1 was free of traffic, his lap times were competitive.
• Margins are ruthless. 4 seconds were needed to beat the Lexuses; with only 1, the fight was lost.
• Raw pace isn’t everything. Time has shown that Orrak1 is not always the outright fastest driver. But with the right strategy, he can — and did — reach the podium.

In racing, speed sets the stage, but strategy writes the story. At Sardegna B, Orrak1 proved once again: you don’t need to be the fastest to finish in the top three — you need to be the smartest.