Clutchless down shift with clutch on

So I was reading a few of the threads of people struggling with the Abarth 500 race and had another go at it myself earlier with a few different setups to see what all the issues people were having.

I was lapping around 1:02.8

I use a G29 with the clutch on manual, H-shifter and no blip activated.

I started clutchless down shifting and blipping the throttle which helped left trail braking and gained a small advantage to 1:02.2 a lap.

I then missed a blip and realised I didn't need to dip the clutch or blip at all to downshift so I thought I had auto clutch and blip on so tried an upshift, low and behold it didn't go into gear so clutch definitely on.

Checked the settings to make sure and as normal, manual clutch with no auto blip.

Tried again to confirm and I was right and also confused.

I still blip on a clutchless downshift as it's natural to me but if anyone is struggling with the race still just a bit of info that may help.

Use clutch to upshift and no clutch to downshift and left foot trail brake.

My adjusted car settings:
Fuel - 8
Front psi - 23 both
Rear psi - 25 both
Front camber - -1.4
All other settings left alone