That, I think, was pretty much my best single race performance ever: P9 to P1 over three hours resulting in my left leg asleep, hands cramped and right foot creeping back in evolution. I don't know about my eyes.
Perfect preparation. Had a rough weekend with three 0300's in a row, combined with plenty of beers. ..and a pitch and putt tournament in the afternoon which didn't go all that well Then had to prepare this, being a bit grumpy already from bad planning on my side and the hangover effect. Qualifying did not go as expected, so I thought "sit this shit out and just perform in the race".
In the first few laps I got knocked into the wall by Stewart after he went off track after turn three, after which I was in a very "fragile" state of mind. But I could still see the leading group moving into the chicane, so was hoping for them to battle and for myself to get into the almighty 1:40's (at that point I was still in the 42's), plus the credo "you signed up, you finish.".
At some point, my brain started to reconnect to my hands and feet again, and as braking improved (ahem, just braking earlier and less risk of flat spotting), lap times improved. Despite somewhat keeping up with the four leaders, I needed someone to screw up. Dima and Sleepwalker came within reach, and as Sleepwalker screwed up with Milvus already reeling me in behind me, after he spun, I was determined to push some quick laps to try and get close to Stephen as quickly as possible. It worked out, managed to get aside on Tarzan and took the lead. Stephen was struggling after, and I pulled a few 1:39's to create a gap.
After that there were a few different guys behind me (Milvus, Sleepwalker, in the final parts Stephen_hill and Dima/Urlauber) who were constantly on pretty much the same lap times, but hardly reeling me in (well, ok, Milvus díd have a chance ), and considering my hangover still lurking around, I decided to change tires every stop, no matter the gap, just stay in the 1:40's and not push too hard.
Stephen likely made a bit of a risky stop in the end as he suddenly closed in 10+ seconds, but with 20 minutes on the clock, on fresh tires and plenty of fuel there wasn't much risk for me anymore. Last few laps I tried pushing for a 1:39 and couldn't do it anymore.
I was never really the fastest car on track, but likely the most consistent. No safaris, no contacts other than the one with Stewart, no spins and only minor lapses of concentration..
As S4b1n often happily states,
I. Love. Race Car.
(again, props to everyone who finished, all of us won)
EDIT: results:
Perfect preparation. Had a rough weekend with three 0300's in a row, combined with plenty of beers. ..and a pitch and putt tournament in the afternoon which didn't go all that well Then had to prepare this, being a bit grumpy already from bad planning on my side and the hangover effect. Qualifying did not go as expected, so I thought "sit this shit out and just perform in the race".
In the first few laps I got knocked into the wall by Stewart after he went off track after turn three, after which I was in a very "fragile" state of mind. But I could still see the leading group moving into the chicane, so was hoping for them to battle and for myself to get into the almighty 1:40's (at that point I was still in the 42's), plus the credo "you signed up, you finish.".
At some point, my brain started to reconnect to my hands and feet again, and as braking improved (ahem, just braking earlier and less risk of flat spotting), lap times improved. Despite somewhat keeping up with the four leaders, I needed someone to screw up. Dima and Sleepwalker came within reach, and as Sleepwalker screwed up with Milvus already reeling me in behind me, after he spun, I was determined to push some quick laps to try and get close to Stephen as quickly as possible. It worked out, managed to get aside on Tarzan and took the lead. Stephen was struggling after, and I pulled a few 1:39's to create a gap.
After that there were a few different guys behind me (Milvus, Sleepwalker, in the final parts Stephen_hill and Dima/Urlauber) who were constantly on pretty much the same lap times, but hardly reeling me in (well, ok, Milvus díd have a chance ), and considering my hangover still lurking around, I decided to change tires every stop, no matter the gap, just stay in the 1:40's and not push too hard.
Stephen likely made a bit of a risky stop in the end as he suddenly closed in 10+ seconds, but with 20 minutes on the clock, on fresh tires and plenty of fuel there wasn't much risk for me anymore. Last few laps I tried pushing for a 1:39 and couldn't do it anymore.
I was never really the fastest car on track, but likely the most consistent. No safaris, no contacts other than the one with Stewart, no spins and only minor lapses of concentration..
As S4b1n often happily states,
I. Love. Race Car.
(again, props to everyone who finished, all of us won)
EDIT: results: