I literally only needed 1 more lap and I would have caught and probably been able to pass Clive
Well done Clive and Tris for the Podium, and to all finishers - that was enjoyable.
Grats to all finishers and to Tim and Tris.
I was well aware that you were catching me Tim, but from around 5 laps out I was cruising and dropped my laptimes by over a second a lap. I was watching the gap between us closing quickly, but I had done the mental arithmetic and knew that I was safe
Grats on that FL, which was impressive
Throughout the whole race I had not matched my offline PB. In the early laps I was behind Axel's big Ford and although it offered a good slipstream he was slower into, and through, the chicanes and corners. The net result was a slower lap than I felt I could do.
After your incident at Curve Grande, I carefully chased down Tris and his Lola, no rush and no drama, plenty of laps and I was steadily reeling him in until he made an error at one of the chicanes and I was on his tail.
By then there was a big gap back to 3rd place so I was happy to just follow for while...and watch. After a few laps I decided that I could go a little quicker than Tris, so I set up a draft pass and took the lead. Tris pulled off a great re-take around the outside of Curve Grande, so I though again.
The next time I made a pass, it worked and I was able to slowly get away and increase my lead without risking too much.
I think I made one mistake late in the race at Curve Grande when I tried to take it in 4th, instead of the usual 3rd, and clouted the barrier. I found the Ferrari deceptively fast and stable and for me the brake bug is a distant memory.