Do love Nürburgring and had high hopes for the race yesterday, but what a disappointment it ended up being.
Herculean effort in qual knocked over 3 secs off my pb, but with aliens and handicap limitations, it only got me 5th on the grid. Jumped a couple of the slow starting Minis, but they summarily outdragged me on the following straights.
Avoided John in his moment, but Bob behind me didn't, so got a gap from that. Up ahead, the lead group was pulling away. Mid-L2, I came upon and passed a recovering Attila. He was on my case right away, and slipstreamed past at the beginning of L3. Behind us, John was closing in his Mini. Retook the position from Attila when he repeated John's mistake at Wehrseifen. Didn't take long for a car to appear in my mirrors. Hoped it was John, as even in a Mini, he would probably be more manageable than Attila, but of course it was the latter.
Drove my socks off for the remainder of L3 and most of L4, trying to stay ahead of him. Looked good late on L4, as I seemed to get a better exit from the 2nd carousel and had a gap that just might have held to the finish. Then all went tits up. Grazed the left side hedge when entering Döttinger Höhe straight. It sent me across the track and into the right side hedge, doing a crazy somersault. Car came to rest upside down. When it finally righted, it was - of course - facing the wrong way. Not much room to turn around between the hedges, and when I had done that, Attila & John were long past. Thus limped home in a disappointing 6th place. Gutted, as I had a very real chance of beating Attila, if only I hadn't touched that stupid hedge
Grats to the podium & of course Attila + John.
Cheers,
Erling