Brands is a track I have a love/hate relationship with. Some corners can be quite rewarding if you get them right - especially the chicane, with the blind entry over the crest. Paddock Hill bend on the other hand, is prob. my most hated curve anywhere; so easy to get it wrong and spin. In general I find it narrow and very difficult to pass on, unless a driver in front makes a mistake.
Being so far behind in the Championship, I was blessed with free car choice. Not that there's much between them - went from Procar to GTO in offline praccy, and only shaved 0.3 sec off my lap time.
Geoffers on pole as expected. Didn't make an all bad start, but Clive apparently nailed it just right, getting ahead into Paddock Hill. Geoffers went off at the end of L1, letting both Clive & me past. Few corners into L2, I saw him spin off in my mirror, clouting the barrier. Looked like a hard hit, so wondered if he had damaged his car.
Pressured Clive for a few laps before he lost the rear and went lawn moving, letting me past. Gradually stretched the gap, and was sad to see the message that he had left. At this point the gap was around 20 secs, and the moment of truth had arrived: Would it start dropping ? It did in fact, so if Geoffers had damaged his car, it wasn't enough to make him slower than me. A couple of laps it held, but for the most, I lost a second a lap. If I could keep it at that, I would stay in front till the end. Required a very concentrated drive, with tyre wear making itself felt in the latter parts. May have been lonely, but intense nonetheless - I was racing the pit board each lap!
May have finished first, but the real winner must be Geoffers - that was a very impressive recovery drive from dead last
Grats to Geoffers & Matt on completing the podium.
Commiserations to those with misfortune or problems with the car. Really love them myself, but not really on Brands
Clive: Geoffers beat me to it, but you do get the pit board when serving a S/G; just can't select anything, but you have to hit 'Enter' to start serving the S/G