Q-5
R-2
I was surprised to be mid-pack after quali. I did have my PB time (1:31.5) though so, that was nice.
Race start was not so good, fifth to last by the end of T1. Neale was ahead of me and he got a good start but we were both on the outside of the track for T1 and staying wide was always going to be what we needed to do if there was any contact in T1 (39m into video). Unfortunately Nate tapped the back of Neale and went wide as well, rather than try to make the corner (not wanting to make contact with anyone on my right) I just followed Neale into the gravel and we rejoined the circuit as all the others went by.
Neale made quick work of some of the cars ahead and was up to P6 or P5 in no time it seemed. I struggled a little more to make it though the field. We both got by Peter when he went a little deep into the gravel at T1. Next lap Neale made quick work of Micko and Greg, but I couldn’t find my way pasty Micko. He placed his car well and had good exits out of most corners. I didn’t have the overspeed down the straights to get him. It was a fun little bit of racing that eventually ended at Turn 1 when I tried to overtake up the inside and went in a little hot locking the brakes. I think Micko let me have the spot in the end because I think he could have kept me behind him much longer.
Next up the road was Greg, but he had had an off after the T7 hairpin and was still rejoining the circuit when I went by. Then in the next corner I saw Nate was just rejoining the circuit as well from having an off at T9. I thought I heard him say he had some damage so I dove up the inside at the next corner. He must not have had too much damage though because he hung onto me quite well for the next lap or two.
Finally I was back up behind Neale, but he was still on a quick pace and was 5 seconds up the road. He was racing closely with Oxy and Chris and I gained some time as they were battling it out. Then Neale had a slight slide coming out of T1 on Lap 8 and I squeezed past him into P5. Neale also had his hands full with Nate and while they were racing behind I saw Nate slide out coming out of T10 to hit the barrier (about the 51 min mark in the video).
I caught up to Chris next and we had some good racing before I managed to get past him at T1. That put me up to P4 with Oxy up the road about 5 seconds. On top of that, Neale was hot on my heels again. I started setting some of my fastest laps and Neale was holding pace as well, pressuring me from behind. Eventually the pressure was too much and on Lap 15 at T7 I went too deep missing the braking point and he got through to retake P4. I stuck close to him as best I could after he got by, and we wound up catching up to Oxy in P3. But a couple laps later he went wide in the last turn following a backmarker and wound up in the pit wall barrier. That put me back to P4.
When I caught up to Oxy about 6 or 7 laps later (Lap 26ish) I couldn’t find a way past. I was a little quicker through T7,9,10 but and he had more speed in the other parts of the circuit. We had some good close racing for a couple laps then I decided to pit early and try to leap frog him in the pits. I stopped on lap 29 with Oxy just in front of me and Joeri about 7 seconds further up the road in P2. After the fuel went in and I rejoined I had managed to maintain P4.
Joeri stopped a couple laps later and I passed him before he exited the pits. I was then lapped by Sean though, which was a little disheartening if I’m honest, because I felt I was racing quite well, Sean just has way more pace than the rest of us…..maybe it’s setup related, maybe driver related, maybe a bit of both. A few laps later though he stopped for his pit and I got that lap back.
Oxy stopped about 6 or 7 laps later and I almost crashed into the pit wall coming out of the last turn trying to push to get further ahead before he could exit the pits. Meanwhile behind me Joeri and Micko were battling for position as well ,although I think Micko still needed to stop for fuel as well. With about 30mins left in the race I was in P2 with Micko, Joeri and Oxy closing in behind. I had another slide on Lap 41 at T1 that cost me a lot of time and Joeri got past me into P2. I stuck really close to him and tried to find a way past. It was tough racing and a lot of fun. I tried a move at T9 on lap 47 that was a little too close and we made contact, but no damage to either of us. I was just trying to keep the pressure on him and hope for a mistake, but when he did make the odd mistake here and there I wasn’t close enough to capitalize. Then finally on Lap 51 with less than 10 minutes to go Joeri got a poor exit from the final turn and ran wide. I just tried to focus on running clean laps from there to stay in front of him. The gap between us never got more than a couple second for a long time in the latter stages of the race, and he made a huge push on the last lap but I just managed to hold on across the line at the end.
It was a great race for me and ultimately felt like a win. Congratulations to Sean for the win and Joeri for the podium. Oxy, sorry, i feel like you could have been up on the podium as well, you had a great race.
Video is here:
mixer.com/niblips2?vod=278212142