You just have to know that you're in for a rough day when you have your first of several incidents even before you see the green flag. Groan... I lost the handle on the 'vette by getting in the 'grassphalt' approaching the last corner coming up to the start. I hadn't experienced this in any of my pre-race trials so it took me rather by surprise. Recovered to give chase but miles behind already. Knuckled down for some laps but the skid demon caught me off guard a couple more times. The clincher was going wide coming off the last corner and smacking the barriers with obvious damage. I pitted for repairs but decided to call it a day and watch the balance of the race from a safe place. Enjoyed watching the duels. Caitlin having a major off even more spectacular than my trip to the wall off the last corner. Fortunately, able to recover and proceed to a good P2. The battle for P3 to P5 in the last laps between Vito, Riccardo and Ken will make the season-end highlight reel. Grats to our class winners, Sam and Paul!
I lost around 10+secs early on when I had a moment under power coming off a turn in sector 1 where the natural line is to run over the kerbs a little. I'd tried to tune the shocks in practice to cater for those kerbs when putting down the power on exit, but it still caught me out that one time . I managed to close back up to Ricardo with a couple of laps to spare and tried to put him under pressure and made a couple of moves which didn't quite come off. A little bit of contact ensued back and forth, which was of the "rubbin' is racing" type, so no complaints from me. I did manage to drop down to 2.06.9 which was 1.5-2.0 secs quicker than I did in practice, but didn't have any answer to those two guys up the front running 2.04's. Damn!!
I can't believe I managed to overshoot turn one for the second race in a row. XD I suppose I'll have to get used to the fact that heavy fuel + cold tyres + green track = increased braking distance. Who would have guessed? Oh well. At least it allowed me and Sam to have a wonderful fight for the first twenty-five minutes of the race. It was absolutely thrilling, and I am considering making a video highlight reel of it. Sadly, it all ended when I made a slight mistake, got on the grass at the final corner and bounced off the wall. I actually made that same mistake again a few laps from the end with similar results, allowing Sam to win the race comfortably. Oh well. I wasn't too upset, because at least I kept second which is where I might have finished anyway, but I was disappointed when Sam snatched fastest lap away from me in the final ten minutes! Great race @Sam Butters ! You win this time, fairly and squarely. Also congrats to @Paul Anstey for the GTE win. Sorry for the rub I gave you as I came through. I misjudged the move. I'm just glad we didn't crash.
I was going well during the race keeping Ken at a comfortable 10 sec distance.... but after mid race I did a couple of mistakes loosing a total of 4 sec... Ken was fast approaching, panic! We had a good fight at the end of the race, he was faster in some places. At the end a touch, my car sideways, try to get it straight, saw Ken's car passing in front of me and then my car hit his tail and assume he lost control. Very exciting. Earlier I was thinking of release the accelerator a bit and let Ken pass, but then I thought he probably want to pass fair and square and want to have fun... Was I right?
Surprisingly I'd never done any laps around this track before the first lap in practice. Took to the track straight away. Was surprised to get pole and then even more surprised to win the race. Totally unexpected considering I hadn't been competitive in this car against the swarms of Ferrari's. Although I think I would have been competitive in the last round had I not got the race time mixed up with another race. A shame. Well done to Caitlin. No problems with the contact Well done to all the podiums
