If every sim race could be as much fun and as thrilling as this round in Austria, I’d wont for nought. A great, race-long duel with Axel, each of us in the mighty Ford Mk 4's, came right down to the wire. And to add some spice, Sergio contending for a podium slot in the tiny Porsche.
It’s getting a little monotonous to say but once again, we must tip our hats to Hristo who drove splendidly in the GT40 to claim yet another victory. Such pace in this car is admirable, to say the least. He re-writes the record books every time he straps himself behind the wheel.
I must confess to be more than a little shocked to have claimed P2 on the start grid behind Al’s Ferrari. In pre-race trials, I’d managed a good lap at a 1:49.56 timing but in practice and Q, shaved that down to a 1:48.25 lap. A 1-1/4 second reduction in a PB is nothing to be sneezed at.
Al lead a good pace lap and off the Rindt Kurve, accelerated away cleanly. I gave chase with Axel in hot pursuit of me. As Al staged a breakaway, it was all I could do to keep Axel at bay. For many a lap, we circulated in a virtual nose-to-tail train never more than two seconds apart. Around Lap8, I began to catch site of another car behind Axel. I thought that this was most likely Clive in the Lola. Comes Lap10 and imagine my shock. It’s Hristo in the puny GT40 and he’s taken over P4. Good Lord!
By Lap12, Hristo had disposed of Axel to close right up on my tail and at this point, I made my only real mistake over the distance by paying rather too much thought to determing the best place to let him pass then watch where I was going. I went a bit wide in Rindt and kissed the barrier. This was all Hristo needed to pass and pull away. At the end of Lap13, Axel dropped into the pits for his service. On Lap15, Al did likewise to surrender the lead and promote Hristo to P1 and me to P2.
Lap16 and a bit of a scare for Hristo as just up ahead of me, he spun late in the Doctor but recovered quickly to retain P2. At the end of the lap, I, too, dropped in to the pits to serve my stop. Blasting out of the pits, I was only just ahead of Axel. The battle was joined once again. Not realized by me at this time was the fact that Sergio had roared up the field and was now running P4 just a handful of seconds behind Axel.
Lap23 and high drama. Going into the Doctor, I guess that Axel thought the door was open wide enough for a stab up the inside and went for it. My typically wider approach gave him hope for a pass but that gap quickly shrank. WAMO! We’re both off with me getting rather the worst of it Struggling to get straightened round, Sergio skipped through to take over P3 just behind t-mate, Axel. Dear me... A job of work to do now.
Lap24 and I only just managed to squeak ahead of Sergio on the run into the Doctor but the nimble, little Porsche rim-rode on the outside and repassed for P3 as we swung into the corner. I was low and couldn’t keep the big Ford pinched down enough to avoid the 910 as it cut across my bow. A nudge and a spin for Sergio. Sorry, Sergio. The only decent thing to do in a matter such as this is to check up and wait for an adversary to recover. Sergio regained P3 and motored away with me giving hot chase. It took a couple of laps of hard driving but I did manage to repass the little Porsche cleanly on Lap26 on the run over to the Doctor. Leading through, Sergio ducked low and came powering up on my right as we cleared the crest and we traded paint on the exit. Luckily, we both hung on to control and roared off down towards Bosch. Far out stuff!
Only a small slip from Sergio just downstream of Bosch put him too far back to stage a direct challenge for the duration.
I went gunning for Axel but simply ran out of time to mount a threat. P3 it was and I’m happy to score it.
A great round!