Well, that was easily the most enjoyable race of the season for me. The first 9 laps were packed with action, the middle few laps were a little lonely, and then the last 8 laps were packed with action again.
I didn't have a great run in qualifying this week. I made too many mistakes, including one which ruined a lap for Bounty, I'm very sorry about that mate. Ended up sitting in P5, I wasn't at all disappointed with that though because I knew some other guys were faster around there and it would give me an opportunity for some great racing and close battles. I wasn't disappointed.
The start of the race was pretty hectic. Familiagtr didn't seem to move off the line at all, I got off the gas and tried to avoid him but it was too late so I have him a little bump which in turn sent Ad right into my back bumper too. I lost a few positions there but just put my head down and got to work.
The next 9 laps were full of the best racing I've had all season, possibly ever on ROOZ. It was very tight through the first few corners with a few bumps and scrapes but nothing major. I fought my way up to P7 and set to work trying to chase
@Mick down. Someone had an off at turn 6 on the following lap and then I got alongside Mick coming into the back straight, we battled through to turn 11 where I was able to get by him.
@Anthonyb and
@Telum (Familiagtr) were having a great battle ahead of me until Familiagtr had a little moment coming out of turn 7 and I was able to gain another spot there.
He did not make it easy for me though, putting heaps of pressure on me. Anth, myself, and him spent the next few laps in a little train producing some great close racing.
@SuiCid3 and
@Bounty05 were having a fantastic battle not too far ahead of us as well. This continued for a few laps until I finally got a good run on Anth coming out of turn 12 and we were side by side through the left link of turn 13 and I was just in front after that but cooked it braking into turn 14 and went really wide. We were 3 wide coming out of that turn and coming into turn 15 as well but Anth had better speed coming out and we settled back into our original positions by the final corner.
I had another run on Anth coming down the main straight and by turn 1 we were side by side yet again with Familia right on our rear bumpers. Anth got a better run out of the corner and we again settled into our original positions. Familiagtr put more pressure on me but I somehow (just barely) managed to keep him behind me until I pulled into the pits at the end of lap 9 to put a hard tyre on the LF and softs on the rest of the wheels.
I came out of the pits and the next few laps were relatively lonely apart from passing a couple of drivers who hadn't pitted yet. Another lap or two later Familia came out of the pits just behind me as we went through the first turn. Not long after that I noticed Anth a few seconds up the road after he pitted but I just wasn't able to catch him. The gap stayed the same right up until Bounty had a little error somewhere around turn 13, Anth got by and I latched onto Bounty's bumper.
We spent a few great laps battling away but I could tell his tyres were shot. I made a move into turn 10 that didn't stick. I made a move into turn 1 that didn't stick. Later on that lap I made another move coming out of turn 14 that finally saw me pass him. I was ecstatic to bring the car home on the bottom step of the podium in a race that truly made me work very hard to achieve it. Thanks to all you guys for providing some fantastic racing this round, this was an absolute joy. Congrats to Rano on the win and Anth on grabbing a solid P2 tonight. Also thanks to everyone for racing this season, it's been an absolute blast.
Here are some highlights. This reel is a doozie, the race was so full of action that the reel is just under 28 minutes long!
Click to expand...