Just for once I thought I would treat myself and spend some tokens for Mexico
.
I very rarely drive the Lotus, and to be quite honest, it took me about an hour of offline practice to re-learn and build a setup. This is a different challenge to the Honda or BRM that's for sure!!
Gradually I tweaked the setup, and more importantly my driving style, to make the Lotus work and shave time off the race setup.
Probably, with about another week of practice, I might have been knocking on WR lap times but once I could hit 1:46 on race fuel I figured that was as good as it was going to get.
I was still not expecting to walk away with this race, there is far too much talent running in Works 67 this season, and qually soon proved me correct as about 5 cars contesting that pole position. I actually used a low fuel setup for qually, instead of full race fuel which I prefer to do.
TBH when I was pushed back to about 4th on the grid I was tempted to accept that and do a last run on race fuel ready for the race itself. But, instead I thought I would give it one more qually run and totally messed up the first 2 laps. The next lap was clean, but actually I felt that it was just not fast enough as I approached the final turn and was resigned to starting 4th. When I popped up as pole, I thought how true it is that smooth and clean is always faster!!
I was hoping that the Lotus acceleration would get me off the grid and through T1 still in 1st place. But that group of Fezzas behind looked threatening, when I thought of who was driving them!!
Off line I had found that the Lotus needed about 2 laps to get the tyres warm, but more importantly I had to avoid sliding or spinning the rear wheels too much or the temps ( and grip) went stupid.
Pelle had his Fezza hooked up quickly and I had to push harder that I wanted to in the early laps to keep him away from my gearbox under braking. Slowly I eased out a little comfort gap and was able to concentrate on keeping it clean and tidy, using that Lotus grunt out of the corners to sneak away.
A quick glance at prib showed Iestyn close to Pelle and I was hoping that they might slow each other and allow me to get well away, but then Pelle dropped off the screen. I knew Iestyn was quick around Mexico from previous encounters and his pace in qually proved that he was a real threat.
I probably pushed a fraction too hard and slightly outbraked myself into the hairpin on a couple of laps which gave Iestyn the chance to close the gap.
Once on my tail, I watched to see where he was faster and where I could gain a few metres gap.
The Lotus definitely had the acceleration out of the slower corners and I was being very careful to keep the revs below 9k, even 8.5k where I could. Iestyn was later on the brakes and closed through T1 on every lap, but I was quicker off the Peralta and dragged enough of a gap to be safe.
I knew that I could push harder and deeper into T1 if I had to but that tended to super heat the rear left tyre and that compromised the rest of that lap as I tried to cool it again.
The pace was awesome as I defended against Iestyn's relentless pressure. I quickly realised that unless I made a mistake his Ferrari did not have the outright speed to make a pass ( that was a novel situation for me, usually I get mugged in the Honda lol).
Just as I had decided to drive a defensive race and fend off Iestyn for the next 20 laps, he made a small mistake and dropped back some 50 mtrs. I wondered if the pace was having an adverse affect on his tyres and I was suckered into trying to make a break.
I went into the Esses just a little too quickly and made a mess of my lines and as a result I was wrestling the Lotus through the corners which I suspect screwed my tyres, because on the run out of the Esses towards Peralta I got on the gas a little too soon and a little too hard.
The rear broke free and screwed the car around and Iestyn did not need a written invitation,.... he was gone.
That grass was very wet and slippery and I watched about 5 cars sweep past as I struggled to regain the tarmac. There was an element of "red mist" for the next few laps tempered with a need to cool the tyres and make no more mistakes.
Once everything was back under control I started closing on Tommi who conveniently ran wide, Ronnie who blew his engine, Robert who was having real probs with Peralta and I was able to easily pass him as he tested his paintwork against the armco.
That was 3rd place .............now for 2nd spot and another Fezza! Gismo put up quite a fight and I had to use all of the speed in the Lotus to close the gap as the laps were running out. One small mistake was all it took and I was on his tail with about 4 laps to go.
Iestyn was out of sight and had maintained a superb pace, so the best on offer for me was 2nd if I could pass this awkward Ferrari in front of me. There was no point in trying anything too stupid around the twisty bits, so I waited and lined him up off Peralta slotting into the slipstream which made the pass quite easy and I was comfortably ahead at T1. Much easier than I had expected, still not used to the sheer speed in that Lotus.
With no chance of catching Iestyn, unless he made a monumental mistake, I just had to ease it to the flag for 2nd place.
Grats to Iestyn and sorry for not sticking with you and making life a little more interesting
Quite enjoyed having a car with the perfomance of the Lotus for once, I could get addicted........................