That was really hard work on Wednesday, good job I do like an Escort....
Took pole, but blew my best lap. Thought Dimitar might get close, he did but not quite enough.
However, I made a total pigs ear of the start, dropping to 5th
, which became 4th coming off Copse . I then had a run on Dan into Becketts, but he moved across just slightly in the braking area to defend, and I was determined to not hit him and ruin both of our races on lap 1, which ended up with me hitting the kerb on the inside and spinning the car immediately, no chance to save it. I did miss Dan though, so all was OK on that front
.
On recovering to the track, I found myself in P9, 10 seconds off the lead. Honestly, I felt that was a tough ask, Dimitar makes few real errors, so I could count on him not gifting it. Plus, this track is not so easy to make big errors at, but little ones can be costly for laptime with lost momentum due to the high speed nature of the track. On the plus die, you can overtake.....
Caught up with the guys in front one by one, and the width of the track meant I was able to find a way past. As always, Erling threw everything at it to hold me off, great effort
, but the inside line was mine and off I went after Dimitar with 9 seconds or so between us with 22 laps or so left.
Kept chipping away, I was quicker than him nearly every lap, but not always by very much at all. The gap was gently decreasing, with 15 laps left it was 5.4 seconds. And eventually, with 4 laps left, it was less than a second, and I could start to try to move him offline for a pass. Not easy, he was fast, and defended well into some of the crucial corners for me, but after pestering
him for 3 laps I eventually had a run off Copse, and was alongside through Maggots into Becketts. Held him on the wide line there, making him turn tighter than me through Chapel and he was then slower than me onto Hangar Straight, which meant I could ease past before the braking zone for Stow. Then kept it tidy for the next half a lap, and saw in the mirrors Dimitar having the same spin as me, but on the final lap not the first. Unlucky DD, was a top drive, I pretty much expended all the speed I had to get that done, and by the end of the race was in need of a drink for many reasons...
I'm not sure I've driven better than that for a long time.....