Grats, Clive! Great drive.
I mis-counted my VW Micro Vans on the run into T3. Missed my braking point by, oh, say 100m. 'nuff said.
Thanks Doni, and yes I almost made that same mistake a couple of times during the race when my mind went AWOL. I was looking for the blue VW on the right as a warning point and OK for a safe braking marker and that the next green van was my limit and to be used ONLY if things were getting desperate. lol
grats to Tristan, Axel and Phil for making it to the finish on a track which I always see as a high speed Monaco, there is nowhere to make a mistake and not hit something hard. Even the haybales are sticky concrete!!!
A very strange evening for me, I was so tired after work that slumped in my armchair watching TV I contemplated a DNS for this one. Eventually I joined Igor with about 25mins left in qually, but which car to use? I had done zero practice for this race as I knew the track quite well. I could take my old favourite the Brabham BRM, but the history of this race suggested a lot of incidents that usually involve multiple innocent bystanders, so I figured why not try something else and run from the back of the grid hoping to pick up some places? So I chose the BRM V8 2 ltr when I noticed that most people had opted for the 2.7 Brabham, I was always a rebel at heart! lol
Fuelled the BRM for the race as I usually do, tweaked the default setup to more familiar values and went out for a couple of feeler laps. Posted a 5th place I think on my 1st flyer, which was very surprising although the car felt OK I had to make a couple of adjustments in the pits to corect some oversteer. Another few laps and I just hooked up a very smooth run that really did not feel fast, but posted a PB at this track......hmmmm pole position
I was amazed that Tristan did not do his usual last minute banzai lap and take the pole position, in fact I was hoping that he would because leading into the straight for the 1st lap meant I was a sitting duck for a slipstream pass
I'm not really sure how I stayed ahead of Tris for the 1st lap as he definitely had my slipstream, but perhaps he was just waiting
I remembered that there was more than one route through the haybales on the final turn and one of those allowed me to carry a few extra KPH onto the S/F straight, but it did require me to thread a needle with the BRM which was sliding on that cobbled surface at ridiculous speed. I used this on the first laps when the car was heavy because it opened up the corner and although risky was a softer line. I think it was on lap 2 or 3 that Tris suddenly vanished from my mirrors at this point and suddenly I was 500mtrs ahead
.
The rest of the race was a case of managing the gap back to Tristan. I could afford to play at 95% pace and avoid any risky moves and still hold the gap. I figured that it was Tris who would have to push hard if he wanted to catch me and just concentrated on getting my braking and apexes smooth. It was quite a lonely race after that and because so many DNF's I did not even see a backmarker.
So, after almost not turning up for this race, and choosing a car with no setup or practice it turned out to be quite profitable for points
One just never knows what will happen in GPL ......