Congratulations Rob, Iestyn, and Peter! That was another very convincing win for Rob. It doesn't surprise me. With enough practice for Iestyn, it could have been another great fight for the win. I'm glad you tried to take it easy Rob and tried to assure yourself the win. I was watching at one point when you made some rapid downshifts. I thought, "Oh no, Rob! Take it easy!"
Nice job Iestyn! Excellent lap time on such short notice! And congratulations on your championship! You are a very deserving champion! Same with Rob, whoever won would be deserving. Neither of you left the other much room for error throughout the season.
Good job for you too Peter! Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good. It appears to have been a wild adventure. It's good to see you get some good fun out of a race you weren't prepared for, especially on a track that can easily destroy a car.
It looks like I didn't get quite enough practice. I had my doubts Saturday that I could keep the car on the track for the entire race. Before qualifying I hadn't been able to complete more than 2 or 3 laps. I went out in Q with 4 laps of fuel, I made it through 3 laps setting a decent time at 5:12. Lap 4 was looking good until I found a new post to remove a wheel. I thought I could break 5:10 with a clean lap so I went back out with 2 laps of fuel. I felt much better about my race when qualifying had ended. Over the past two weeks I got about 25 laps of practice including qualifying. That seemed just enough for me to be able to drive the track decently. It's a shame I didn't get another ten laps of practice. After another 25 here, I should be in pretty good shape for Schottenring.
BAM!!! That was a quick race for me. A bad shift to 2nd gear turned the 312 engine inside out. Once I got the car off the track, it was all over for me. I would have been disappointed but I was so relieved not to have caused a huge pileup, that there was no time to feel bad. It looked like everybody made it past me without too much trouble. Andreas appeared to take the worst hit. It's good to see that didn't stop him from securing 5th place. My apologies guys.
I did enjoy practice and getting to learn a new track. It would have been interesting to see if I could have held off Iestyn in the race. I expected Iestyn would be at least 2 seconds faster than me before the race was over. With his slow qualifying and 2 cars between us I thought I could get away early and open a gap that might be too large for him to overcome. If I could have kept the same gap in qualifying, 3.654 seconds, throughout the race that would have put me 36.54 seconds behind Rob. Just enough to keep Iestyn from catching me. I intended to run somewhat of a conservative race as Rob said he did. I've still got a lot to learn about this track so I may have picked up a little speed in the race but I sure wasn't expecting I would.
It's good to see Rob is still trying to finish the season strong! Sorry I couldn't keep you mathematically alive for the final race. The disco at Spa67, my confusion at Stardust, and now this horrible start at Schottenring hindered your efforts against Iestyn and wrecked my efforts against Clive.
Congrats to you too Clive! It looks like you've secured 3rd place in the championship. I may still be alive, but I'm more likely to be the lottery winner even though I've never bought a ticket.
I'm beginning to dream of the next season, but I'm still intent on trying to make a good showing at Interlagos. I hope I can get a good start to the next season. This is two seasons in a row where I've been denied valuable points in the opening race. I missed Sachsenring to start S27, a race I could have possibly won. And I had an easy 3rd at Spa67 this season and very likely 2nd with Iestyn's late race troubles. That disco wouldn't have hurt so much had I not spent so many tokens on the Eagle. But that's one of the reasons we love GPL. It's always a challenge.
I'm thinking I can improve my strategy a little bit. Driving the Honda at Brno may have been wise. I likely could have finished 2nd and still had the possibility of winning. I didn't think it mattered since Rob and Iestyn were impossible to catch but it may have helped me keep Clive from taking 3rd.
I'm a bit disappointed, winning 5 out of 9 races, but simply lost the championship blowing up at Silverstone.
I'd be very happy if I could do as well as you've done. It looks like a championship for you is like a race win for me. You have to be almost perfect. One mistake and it's gone.
I finally won because I had a huge advantage, not that I was perfect. I think I could have beaten Iestyn at Brno while driving a Honda but I would have had to been perfect to do so.
I used to get pissed at Schumacher when he would crash instead of taking a sure 2nd place. Throughout the 90s, if you could finish 2nd every race you'd be F1 champion. You may not have been able to beat Mansell in 1992 like that, but every other year until 2002, finishing 2nd every race would make you champion.
That's one of the reasons I've become Iestyn's fan. Not only is he incredibly fast, he's patient and smart.
Today - perhaps - unluckiest man, GT
It's a little disappointing. Sometimes it's too real though. I was happy to get the car off the track only needing an engine repair and I suffered no injury.
Plus I had such a good time at Lemans Friday and I've been enjoying the Targa Florio that I didn't feel deprived of my fun.
Thanks guys. Once again, I appreciate you letting me race with you.