Well I really did not have a free choice did I? SHE was watching
, so it had to be the Honda.
With Tristan, Mark and ( I'm not very fast) Sven in the fast seats, plus Al and Goran also ahead of me, this race looked like it was going to be hard work!!
I jumped Al off the grid and gained a place when the starter dropped his flag. Everyone behaved themselves for the first lap and I found myself behind Goran who seemed to be taking things carefully as his tyres warmed up.
After a couple of laps we came across Mark recovering from an incident and we moved up to 3rd and 4th spots. I started to close on Goran and was beginning to think where I might pass him, not an easy thing to do on this track against quick opposition.
Just as I was getting really close to Goran, we came across the leaders spinning across the track. Goran could not avoid them and I thought that I might just squeeze through....but I was wrong and found myself spun around and clipping a lamp post. That did not do the steering alignment any favours!!!
When I recovered I found myself in 3rd place ( I think???) and still going reasonably well.
Then I passed the car in 2nd spot when it tested the scenery and I was some 400mtrs behind Tristan who was still running in 1st spot. For lap after lap the gap stayed more or less the same, but a small mistake by either of us would make the gap open or close. I was lapping comfortably in the 2:06'sand felt confident of at least 2nd place with a chance of 1st if Tristan made a mistake. But..............
Through the whole race I was getting frame rate issues going up through the Esses and eventually that caught me out. I think everyone knew that there is only a single fast line from the hairpin up to the top of the hill and if you get off line then you are in trouble. One particularly bad frame stutter sent me towards the rock face when I should have been turning right
I rode the wall of death and thought that I might just recover, but a strategically placed lamp post and straw bale made sure that I did not, by flipping the car over and parking it on my helmet!!!
Grats to all those who survived and to Tristan for some very quick times. Looking forward to the next races already