[973KGT]

Personally I would never use first gear in the 6-speed to decel. It's to short and by the time your going slow enough to safely put it in 1st gear your almost at a stop anyway.

The way your launching is taking a toll on your entire drivetrain by the way. When you launch these cars or any AWD really, it is always good practice NOT to drop the clutch. You need to rev to about 5-6K then slip the clutch out until the drivetrain in loaded up. Once you get to that point you can release the clutch and go. This will also solve the "bogging" issue which is caused from you building boost in the very begining but loosing that boost through the part of first gear because the rpms drop below boost. When you slip the clutch you keep the rpms up and therefore boost.