What a great turnout for round 1!! Hopefully we can keep this up.
Was very surprised to qualify 4th considering some of the times I was seeing in the warm up session. As the clock ticked down I waited with baited breath but no it didn't change. I took a photo of my dash and as I did
@VARDZ must have DSC without me noticing.
Anyway the race fires up and I spot the blank grid space ahead and wonder wth is going on and totally muffed the start.
@Anthonyb gets the jump on me and starts to move across my nose just as the car takes off and I end up right in his left rear door. NOOOOOOO my 4th place start wrecked!! I cruised around staying out of everyone's way as it seemed to take forever for anthonyb to catch back up. Then
@webnomad DSC and both
@Nathancarhead and I pulled into the sand trap at the end of the back straight to call for a restart. It was then I realised VARDZ was gone too.
The first restart was aborted when webnomad DSC again and it was a thankfully problem free second restart and we were away.
I mounted the final kerb a little too much causing me to hesitate on the throttle so my start was a little slow which also baulked the drivers behind me. After a couple of corners VARDZ had gotten ahead of
@rossi0nsx and i was starting to catch the lead group. Rossi ran wide at the right kink leading onto the back straight letting all three of us past and I was up to 3rd!
Rossi seemed to drop back a little while VARDZ and
@dj2ca started to pull a gap. I was being careful not to push too hard which is what I normally do in frustration trying to keep up and end up in the fence. My cautiousness however was allowing Rossi to catch me in every braking area slowly but surely. I seemed to be getting out the corners a little better though but it looked like only a matter of time. Rossi got a better run onto the back straight as I put two wheels on the wrong side of the outside ripple strip and he positioned himself for a dive up the inside. At the time I didn't see him coming and as I turned in it was into his left rear door. I bounced off in surprise and briefly into the gravel as anthonyb snuck past too. I recovered well and still had a good gap back to
@fezza and
@Bounty05 so kept my eyes forward and sucked up my gravel rash. dj2ca also managed to get past VARDZ on the back straight.
Anthonyb pitted end of lap 2 so regained that position but now there was quite a gap up to 3rd. VARDZ went into Turn 1 real hot just missing dj2ca and locking his rears. Rossi gave him a little tap and ran wide but recovered well. This however allowed dj2ca to pull a gap and me to catch up slightly.
We all held position over the next few laps, except dj2ca slowly fell back to VARDZ. I was quite surprised I was managing to keep up and maintain the gap. I was also trying very hard to not get distracted. I was only drinking on the main straight lol.
I think it was lap 7 I saw the leaders start to pull ahead, and decided to try push a little harder. In the first section I was doing pretty well but the hard braking left after the first straight I ran a little wide, and then put the power on a little early after the long right hander running a little wide. All of a sudden Bounty was in my rear mirror feeling me in, and was right beside me onto the main straight. Up ahead dj2ca pitted. I out-dragged Bounty to turn 1 and it left over like he was making a dive but thankfully held off. Then I stupidly short shifted into third in the middle of turn 2 but still somehow managed to stay ahead. A dive from Bounty into turn 3 but he ran a little wide and I managed the cross over and was back ahead up the hill under the walkway into turn 4.
Over the lap he had a couple more looks at my inside line but couldn't manage to get alongside. Over the next few laps though I managed to open the gap back up until a small mistake let him catch back up breifly lap 11 but I pulled ahead again and pitted end of the lap.
No tyres or fuel and back out. Dj2ca went zooming past as I came out locking horns with I think
@webnomad and I tried to latch on too but they were too far ahead for a draft. I slowly reeled webnomad in as dj2ca disappeared into the distance. I was in webnomad's draft onto the front straight but backed out just at the last minute turn 1. He ran a little wide and I saw a gap and tried to drive into it but he also hit the loud pedal and managed to hold me off. I hounded his rear bumper over the lap and could see the pressure forcing him little mistakes, running wide here and there. I liked him up for a draft onto the front straight but he dove for the pits.
Now I was lonely, dj2ca was nearly 7 secs ahead and anthonyb was nearly 4 secs behind. But definitely gaining. A few laps later VARDZ and Bounty came out the pits together. I got a little distracted and outbraked myself into turn 3 and anthonyb halved the gap up to me. By the end of the lap he was right behind me and pressing hard. It stayed like that over the next few laps, and I tried my hardest to ignore the pressure but he was always in my mirror. With about 6 laps to go I passed VARDZ facing the wrong way on my left at the exit of turn 1. It appears he took too much ripple strip on the outside causing a slide which sent him across to bounce of the inside wall and rotate 180 as he went back across the track.
It looked like I was starting to open a gap now on anthonyb and was catching up to Bounty. With 3 laps to run anthonyb made up massive ground on the brakes into the first few turns while I still struggled to find my way around Bounty. At this point my fronts were feeling pretty used and was having to brake just a tad earlier to get around the bends, which wasn't helping me get past Bounty. Onto the back straight and come up to the braking area and all of a sudden Anthonyb comes barreling into me pushing me wide and into the gravel. Scared the bejesus out of me!! We both recovered but Bounty was now out of reach.
Anthonyb again started reeling me back in on the brakes and he now had
@fezza not far behind. On the tight left just before the long right I rode up on the inside kerb a little too much causing a massive slide. I somehow managed to catch it on the grass but not before anthonyb snuck past. So now I was 5th with only a few laps left and fezza not too far off my tail. Anthonyb was lagging just slightly for me which was making it a little risky driving close. It was now the final lap and we were catching up to lap
@colin-50_. Like a true gentleman he stayed out of our way without upsetting himself at the same time. Fezza was closing fast and dammit Anthonyb was yo yo-ing up and back. A great run onto the back straight and I went for a death or glory dive, slamming down the gears but it caused the rears to lock and the car skidded to the left into the tyre wall. Fezza must also have outbraked himself because as I bounced off the wall he went sailing by into the gravel trap. So I was resigned to finishing 5th, which tbh is one of the best results I've had in quite a while but it wasn't over yet! As anthonyb exited the final turn he goes skidding across the circuit sliding towards the pit entry. I zoomed past claiming one more spot to cross the line 4th.
Well done rossi, dj2ca and Bounty for the podium positions.
See you all at Hockenheim.
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