Yeah, you kinda have to play the whole track as it comes. Every car is different, every driver is different. Drive it like it's a mountain road and you're going off of a cliff if you make a mistake. That will keep you out of trouble for the first few laps. Then you can start adding speed where it makes sense to do so.

For 17, just plan on downshifting to 3rd and taking a smooth line that leaves your right mirror on the wall at the "first apex", use a little of the middle of the track (but don't get out too wide, it gets BUMPY out there), and then back almost across the grass for the exit apex, and track out toward the wall as you accelerate out into the straight. That's sort of the "shortest distance - momentum" line. Guys in really fast cars will take a line that has a much wider entry and allows them to get on the gas much earlier for the front straight. They give up a little distance and make up for it with speed and power.

You'll never feel like you got 17 right, and most people will admit that there isn't one "right" way to take it.

As you get more comfortable with 17, you might be able to take it in 4th depending on your gearing and how much torque you have. For my Yaris, and before that my Miata, I needed 3rd gear to get down the straight with "authority".