So qualifying went well, I managed to hit second spot by draining most of the excess weight out of the BRM, and I had good pace with a race setup. I thought fuel was a little marginal, but OK. How wrong would that be! I was nowhere near Hristo's alienating pace, and he deservedly took the pole. I was surprised at the amount of wannabe-BRMs in the field, as I had a guess that I was probably the best driver out there in that car.
At the start I got the jump on Hristo in Curva Grande, kept the inside line and just tried not to lag-crash him or run wide. He got alongside me on the exit and I let him go into Lesmo 1 and from there he just streaked away. I kept a measured eye on the gap, a measure on the cars behind me, and just kept plodding along, trying to find a little more pace here and there. Took my pitstop reasonably early, and just waited for Hristo to stop; waited, waited some more, then when I thought he'd dropped off the map (Pribluda can be a little screwy some days), realised he'd opened about 45-50 seconds on me and he had more than enough time to get in, stop, and get out again a full 10 seconds in front. After that, I just tried to consolidate 2nd place, I opened a little more of a gap on Sam behind me, and was looking good for 2nd until I noticed the fuel gauge was a bit lower than it should be. It was then decided that I had to save fuel; short-shift, use the clutch some more coasting to corners, and it seemed to work; I had about 1 gallon left for the last lap, at which point I told myself "go for it, get your PB in the race, you've done everything right".
Then the engine blew.
I apologise for swearing in chat, and I regretted it when I hit "Enter", however I've never been so pissed off at the BRM in my life; even it's lack of outright pace at the trickiest of circuits didn't have me swearing as much as that bloody engine going "kaboom" on the S/F straight. All I could do was coast it across the line so I started the last lap (think Hill at Spanish GP 1995), not knowing what position I'd be in at the end of the race. I retired the sick motor and just watched the leaderboard, hoping I didn't go too far down the order. 5th at the end of that is a good result, all things being said, but to be frank, I was robbed of 2nd by a faulty engine! I reckon Sam passed his engine gremlins to me that day!
The annoying thing is, I've not blown an engine in all the practice I've done this week, and it has to go on the S/F straight of the last lap. Life's a right royal bitch some days! Monza's not quite my lucky circuit, but I do enjoy it more than others. That's the second competitive league race I've had there and the 2nd engine that's blown in the closing stages. Shame there weren't no Shift-R, I could have really used that then!
Congrats go to Hristo; you were a class apart from the field *and then some*, and your pace was not to be reckoned with. Even though you say "this isn't my strongest track", you dominated. Congrats also to Sam for keeping me honest through the race. Congrats also to the last guy on the podium; I can't remember who you were, but kudos nonetheless.
Bring on the Amateurs!