I guess the server's chugging away happily in the background with noone connected to it.
Almost - I was in there wondering if there was some mistake in the server settings and everyone was in another one.
Let nobody ever complain about Sebring's bumps ever again.
Drove a lot of laps in practice and improved the setup a bit more, but it was still very uncomfortable and I knew the race would be "drive to survive" more than anything else. Was quite surprised to be second on the grid ahead of Paul R but after seeing the horrendous front right tyre wear I was getting in qualifying I decided I had to change tyres at my stop which I guessed Paul wouldn't. I built up enough of a gap over Paul to make that work, especially after he had a half spin of some sort (no incident points, can't have been much of a spin!) and then squandered most of that with a half spin of my own braking for turn 6.
Did do a great stop either, getting stuck in neutral in the pit lane for a few sceonds and losing valuable time coasting towards my box. Gary stopped around the same time and I guess he took tyres too, but was miles up the road. Paul stayed out for a lot longer and I took that as a sure sign he wouldn't take tyres, so I was a little surprised when he came out of the pits only a couple of seonds ahead.
By this time I was really getting mentally fatigued and Paul pulled away quite quickly; after another half spin in T6 almost identical to the first I backed off quite a lot, my run of podiums being more important than trying to put pressure on Paul.
Well done to Gary for an emphatic (and incident free) win, and to Paul for a much more convincing display of race pace than I could muster.
And thanks to Shark for wiping out virtually of the cars I was worried about having to lap.
Results posted, BTW.
p.s. Can't say I'm disappointed to be missing VIR North, but I
am disappointed that I won't be around for Mid-Ohio.