A tremendous couple of races yesterday. Not only the fights were great but there was also the extra dimension of who I was fighting against. Yes, both Tim and Matteos had some ballast but, hey that's a little detail without significance
... In any case, I wasn't counting with such a race against them anytime soon (not even on my dreams... Both being such extraordinary talents!).
Another fantastic factor that worked for us in the Sierra yesterday was the awful tendency that the Ford seems to have in wearing out its tyres... For this race distance, however, shifting to Hard tyres gave us a great pace at the end of the race when virtually everybody else was struggling with their Mediums. Thus I could feel Matteo's sweating at the end of the first race XD
RACE 1: Starting in 6th, I was preparing for a fight against Lorenzo and Mindaugas, assuming that Fabri, Tim and Matteos would disappear in the horizon after a few laps... But after a pretty good start, I found myself in 4th behind Tim and with good pace. The fight between Fabri, Tim and I gave Matteos a good breathing space and, after a compromised attempt by Tim to overtake Fabri I found myself in a position I thought it would only happen in another life... Challenging Tim for position!? And I went through. LOL, I could have retired from simracing after T1 and that overtake (even if it was aided by the compromised position Tim was at the beginning of the straight...). With renewed confidence I went after Fabri and, as if I had lost 200kg after the previous overtake, I got Fabri at the same place in the next lap... Wow! Next was Matteos but he was already 5 secs ahead... I had no idea yet that the tyres were going to give me the advantage at the end of the race but I had to push anyway as Tim hadn't, of course, said his last word on the battle and P2 wasn't going to be given away without a fight... The threat from Tim kept me focused and charging... And Matteos tyres were deteriorating much faster than my Hs... Those couple of final laps with the lapped drivers were amazing.
Fantastic drives by Matteos and Tim. Being sandwiched between them was really a privilege. Great race guys.
Here the video of the race:
https://youtu.be/7uHB3-z3IWgRACE 2: Now I knew tyres were going to play a role and starting 2nd after Matteos was potentially a great chance for a win. I just needed to stay behind him for the first 2/3s of the race and then smoothly transition to 1st when his tyres dissipated...
But Tim had different plans for the race... Containing such a great attack was tough. I was feeling the pressure. Matteos was gaining breathing space again. I made a terrible mistake at the beginning of Wurth engaging 1st instead of 3rd. That was the section on the track that I was a bit faster than Tim and the remaining was faster for him... Conclusion: He got me in the following T1. But I had gained a bit of confidence against godlike Tim after the first race, so had something more to say... And that overtake on T2 (minute 5 of the second race...) Every mile I have done on the simulator since I started 5 years ago went through my mind during that overtake
. Suddenly everything made sense and I could happily retire from simracing having achieved the impossible (LOL).
There was much more race ahead of us. Tim came back in a superior charge and the close racing in T1 a couple of laps later gave him again the advantage. This time Mindaugas was also there and got the best of me and ahead! In the ongoing battle we touched and I could only wait for him to recover... Lorenzo and Mindaugas went through. Tim was gone for good. A new race, fighting with Mindaugas for 4th and, who knew, with Lorenzo for 3rd was panning out. Great fight with Mindaugas (thanks for the close racing)... And then, the final lap... Lapped cars and Lorenzo at reach... That T2 yesterday was miraculous for me. Loved it!
Video of the second race:
https://youtu.be/uo9sOmGqFOIHope you enjoy the video of the races.
Finally a mention to my teammate Maxime. Thanks to his great eye for the car selection. This shift to the Ford has been great. And, whilst we have a different way of driving and setting up the car, I always picked up something good from his engineering abilities. Yesterday I gained a couple of tens thanks to tweaks from his settuping. Thanks mate!