Completely shocked to come away with the victory tonight, after a messy qualifying I was almost a whole second off the pace but come the race, I found another gear. Adopting a strategy of just sending it and see what happens, I desperately tried to hang onto the slipstreams of Ranger then Keeden following their offs. It seemed to work as my pace delta continued to decrease as I found my rhythm.
Once Keeden fell off at Turn 1 & 2, the lead was mine but I was now vulnerable from Ranger on less worn tyres. I felt that the lap times were still good enough to stay out an extra lap as Ranger and Keeden both pitted at the halfway mark. I had to push hard to prevent the undercut, and thankfully it worked and it meant I had the security of one lap fresher tyres. Ranger put me under immense pressure, but I was able to resist and he fell off in pursuit. Keeden was now hunting me down but he couldn’t close in like I expected, the tyre advantage proving to be the decisive factor.
I did not expect to take away 2 victories this season and especially not one at Suzuka, a track that has been a massive bogey circuit for me in the past. It’s certainly a result I’ll be able to take a lot from, I felt I was the 3rd fastest driver but I ended up on the top step.
I’ll sign off on a small update on my Dad, his transplant was forced to be delayed until the 14th of December due to him having never gone in to undergo a colonoscopy or endoscopy despite being 51 (there’s a pattern here with him for those playing along at home), so he was ordered to have those procedures done first to find anything of concern. Luckily nothing was found. We’re still fighting, taking each day as it comes, but he’s doing well. Not long to go now. My family is grateful and amazed to see so many cars with the END PKD decals, ROOZ being an online family of sorts is a bit of a foreign concept to them, but I think I managed to explain it well enough for them.
We cannot thank you all enough. Thanks to all for an enjoyable season despite the rather painful consumable regs, keen for next season in (hopefully) a fun car!
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