Conversely after the first 20mins or so I was in Enduro mode and didn't want it to finish
Had a prolonged 2 part battle with Matt - I passed him early on when he got into a tank slapper at the entry to the back straight.
He than pushed very hard and eventually caught me up enough so that when I ran wide (At the same corner
) and hit the wall he was able to get up along side me, and then muscle past as we negotiated the right, left, right, left, right sequence towards the main straight.
From behind it became clear how hard Matt was driving (Or just how loose his setup was?) as his car was squirming everywhere and would often loose ground to me in the middle of the technical sections.
I was enjoying hastling him right up until I cut slightly too close to the pit wall at T1 - A glancing blow luckily, but one that saw me bounce fully across the track into the outside wall and loose about 4 seconds.
I settled back down myself and returned to putting in fast, tidy laps (I was convinced tyre management would be important here, esp as Matt and i had the same car) and after about 10 mins was really starting to get close to an even more nervous looking Matt.
I kept it tidy and smooth as I closed on him and was suprised when I past him, it wasn't thanks to a mistake on his part - it was simply down to extra grip on mine as got the power down 10 meters or so before him (Entering the back straight yet again!) and sailed up the inside to pass him just before the braking point.
A few carefull corners later and I was clear to carry on at my own pace - I think Matt struggled harder and tryed to stay with me but lost it big style between the front stretch and the uphill section letting me pull clear by about 5-6 seconds.
From there on in my gap was slowly increasing right up until near the end when I half span into a wall and possibly damaged something. What ever I did Matt started gaining slightly from then on and I think I over drove the car to try and hold him off. It wasn't until the final 2 laps that I saw the gap grow again when I forced myself to calm down more (Matt my have had an incident aswell - don't know though).
I was left aching and covered in a sheen of sweat (
) but thought it was an excelent choice of car/track