What a great race, and I even surprised myself with some pb lap times in the final 2 laps. Qualified 2nd with a 1:28.9XX, just a few tenths off SPL's pole time so was super pleased to be on the front row. Had a look at SPL into turn 1, but he matched me on the brakes, and Jim streamed in up the inside taking 2nd. I could see a lot of Orange in my mirror and lots of ghosting so was glad to be ahead of that!! Jim was insane on the brakes, but SPL was making himself wide through the turns, but a tight line through the final S on the GP track put him out of whack for the tight left. Jim was on the inside and I was way out wide to take a sweeping line when SPL outbraked himself a little, and we both dove through into 1st and second. Our little scuffle brought the following pack, led by AOCleaner, onto our tails again, and I badly wanted the lead. As we come to Hatzenbach I could see Jim was coming in way too hot, not braking for the first left kink, then trying to do all all the braking while turning and running wide and slow, allowing me to slip by on the inside. Behind me an arrow was spinning around and SPL dropped down the leaderboard like a stone. Here was my chance to try get away but Jim was always right there, not quite close enough to pass but certainly in my draft. A dive into Schwedenkreuz but not close enough. All over my bumper through Fuchsrohre but still I held him off, even pulled a small gap, but it closed back up by Metzgerfeld. A big dive by Jim on brakes into Wehrseifen, but a slide on exit opened the gap a little and dropped Jim out of my slipstream. I was glad of some fresh air, and not having to look back every 2 seconds to see where Jim was. The gap opened and closed over the course of the lap, and seeeeth was up to 3rd and on a bit of a mission. He was lagging pretty badly though, and DSC'd at about 3/4 of the way around lap 1 (bad luck teammate). As we come through the final compex onto the long straight I had a nice 4.4 second buffer on Jim and I was more than a little excited about getting away. I said to myself "Self, you are now your own worst enemy, concentrate!" I tried to take my own advice. I saw the red PIT indicator come up next to AOCleaner end of lap 1 and I started worrying that it was possibly supposed to be a two stopper, but decided I really wouldn't know until I did my first stop so concentrate on your laps. By the time I put my full concentration back into my lap I was at Ford-Kurve and Jim had closed the gap down a second and I cursed myself vowing to worry about my lap not what else was happening. For the second lap, I barely looked back, just worried about my lap, but there was always the greeny-yellow menace not far behind reminding me that if I messed just a little the lead was gone. I pitted end of the lap and Jim followed me in after having a bit of a kerfuffle into the final braking area before the pit straight, and his AI had a hiccup on the way past. I was surprised to see a 9:29.795 even with the stop, and was thinking it wouldn't last long, but it did. X-3vi1m00n zoomed past and SPL turned of his tail into the pits. My crew was done before he got near my bay and I didn't get any hesitation passing Jim's pit crew, but he had to pause slightly as SPL turned in front as he pulled out. molch zoomed by as I exited, and pykeybraa moved in between Jim and I. There was no message saying I had to pit again so that was one less thing to worry about. pykey messed up the final S before the transition to the Nordschleife, and Jim closed in, as I slowly closed on molch, but only by hundredths. Jim was now closing on pykey hand over fist, and I was hoping he'd hold up Jim but it wasnt to be. A good draft up to Quiddle-whatchamacallit and a very violent pass sent pykeybraa spinning off the track. I started to get worried and started pushing harder, closing quicker on molch, until by Metzgerfeld I was close enough to see his driver check his mirrors. I trailed the brakes into Wehrselfen, but I mounted the inside kerb, upsetting the car and understeering toward the outside barrier. I was off the throttle but the damage was done. I know from experience that trying to keep momentum on the grass or even trying to stop just ends in a spin, and I was gritting my teeth as it bounced along the armco. It looked like it was gonna turn around anyway, turning itself into the barrier as I coasted to a crawl but it righted itself just as Jim whizzed past. NOOOOOOOO!!! He was only just ahead (about 3 seconds) as I got back up to pace, thankfully not having caused any damage, and I got myself into the mindset to start trying to claw my way back up again. As I came into Breidscheid though, Jim had run wide on exit and spinning out, and I gleefully zoomed back past with a cheeky flash of the lights. That was the last time he was ahead of me, and I resumed the lead at the end of the lap as X-3vilm00n and molch pitted. My final 2 laps had my full concentration, and I cranked out a 28.3 and a 27.111 on my final lap. Very happy with the win, taking double points for team GRT being the joker, and the extra point for FL is the icing on the cake and finally gets rid of that little zero in my sig. Brilliant track, great race. Well done to SPL for clawing his way back up to 2nd in the final part of the last lap, and to Jim for keeping the pressure on early.
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