Hearty congratulations to Eddie for scoring a fine, well-deserved victory here in Austria. Fine pace and consistency throughout. Full marks, amigo.
Phil a great job in P2 hounding Eddie all the way and only coming up a handful of seconds short. Great job, PT.
Bob a good job for P3 after some early dramas that actually had him in my mirrors briefly. Nice recovery.
My race lasted about 850 metres. Starting P7, I was side-swiped off the road in T1 and into the guardrail sustaining damage reports with the culprit escaping scot-free and up to P4 before half a lap was run. Swell. By the time I got back onto the road, I was down six positions. Six. Of course, I regained some of that in the monster shunt at Tiroch. Tsk, tsk... Barely 2/3 of the lap under my belt and there's a Ferrari spinning in front of me. Trading paint again. That I finished the lap at all let alone back up to P9 was a marvel.
Picked up another spot to lie P8 on Lap03 as Bob had skidded off the road downstream of Bosch. Incredible to find that I wasn't even on the back straight of Lap04 when Eddie up on the point was off it. That didn't last long as Bob passed on the exit of T1 to put me back down to P9.
By Lap08, I'd caught up to Pepe but he was proving a tough nut to crack. His signal wasn't all it should have been as his image was bouncing a bit rather than more than was comfortable to follow. That would have grave consequences later on in the race. I gave chase for many a lap looking for a way by but he was holding fast. Bastian and Colin had retired to bump me up to P7 so a P6 would be on the cards if I could but pass Pepe. The end of Lap12 was my chance as Pepe overcooked it into Rindt and I slipped by on the inside cleanly to take the place. Pepe was having none of it, though, and counter-attacked along the front straight. Pulling to my right and making to pass, he hit my RR tyre sending me off into the outside barrier giving me quite a fright. Perhaps I should consider myself lucky as had he done so 10m further on, I would have missed the rail entirely and would have ended up heaven only knows where.
Charging back at Pepe with a fury, Lap14 was a disaster as in trying to get the best exit possible from Rindt, I gassed it too early and spun the BRM. MERDE! Lost a bunch of time and all seemed lost. As if that weren't bad enough, I bungled T1 starting Lap16 to spin wildly striking the outer barriers. I came to rest partially on the track and at least had the foresight to pull over onto the verge to make way knowing that Syd would be coming along directly. Indeed so as he swept by demoting me to P8.
Over the next laps, I was able to close on Syd til he ran too deep into Rindt on Lap21 striking the outer barriers and letting me through as happened with Pepe some laps earlier. This time, I was far enough ahead to prevail. Over the next laps, I was able to open a small but handy cushion over Syd til the end of Lap25 when we both came across a wayward Brabham doing his best imitation of Rene Arnoux(They shall not pass!). This couldn't possibly be for position as my pit board was showing Andreas next man up the road far ahead and in a Ferrari. Whomever this was, he was playing hardball for no apparent reason. Going into the last lap, Syd was but a half second down on me and a distinct threat. The Brabham was proving quite an impediment and down in Bosch for the last time, I almost ran into the back of the Brabham. Only exiting the complex downstream of Bosch did I get a bit of a run on the Brabham and passed going into Rindt. From there, I was home free. Syd lost control trying to get under the Brabham but did not lose a place.
Only later did I learn that the Brabham was Pepe who was not being scored by GPL from Lap22 onwards. He was, in fact, the next man up the road and fighting for position. I don't know if he let me by for P6 considering we were old teammates in another league but he certainly didn't make it easy. My mention of his signal being not fully up to scratch certainly figured into the mix.
Thanks for the words Doni.
As we said here in my city, when we know the way well,
"it is way of the farm!"
Zelweg, it’s the country path for me
And I have a good deal with Lotus over there!