A great circuit, which I have always liked.
For me the biggest success was completing a pit stop without penalties and screw-ups!!
I still had the setup from the last race to use on that insane Maserati 5.7, and although I now had a target time from my last race I also remembered that the setup was right on the edge of controllable.
So I spent 30 minutes on Sunday adjusting a few things and sacrificing outright speed for a more comfortable ride
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Even so, I fully expected the resident aliens to be quicker and was just hoping to get a grid slot maybe row 3?? When I saw the practice times I figured that people were sandbagging a little. When we got to qualifying. it got quicker..but I was still in the hunt. So I tried dumping race fuel and going for a banzai lap..........it did not work and I was slower. So back to race fuel and just tried to get a clear, clean lap without ripping the rear tyres to shreds!
Amazingly that pipped Jose's pole time and now I was seriously under pressure for the start!! T1 was going to be crucial because the power of the Mazzer would probably drag me clear of the pack ( with maybe a couple of Maseratis in close attendance down to T2).
I think I got an almost perfect start and a short shift into 2nd to keep wheelspin under control launched me down to T1. Tippy toed around T1 and very carefully squeezed the gas to get the beast moving. A quick glance in the mirror gave me a shock..............no-one there???!!
Reading the posts, it seems that a couple of cars tangled and allowed me to escape...well what can I say except "Thankyou"
After being gifted that lead I was determined not to throw it all away and so I drove carefully for 2-3 laps as the tyres warmed before actually pushing hard.
Once I had found my pace I very gradually eased away, although John was staying annoyingly consistent, and close enough, to take advantage of any mistakes.
The next major problem was going to be The Pitstop!!!!
Given my record this was where it was likely to go wrong. I had fuelled the car to the max, and that offered me approx 15 laps, so I planned to pit at around 14 laps and then fully fill the tanks again ( maybe I could have worked out that a little less would do the job, but I wasn't taking any chances!). I kept looking at the gaps behind and knew that I had approx 25 secs in hand over Ati, but only about 16 over Jeep. If they did not take tyres this could get very interesting.
At 14 laps my tyres were definitely past their best and I was having to back off over the crests on the main straight, just to keep the car under control!
OK pitstop time so don't panic. Very slow approach, get into the pitlane cleanly, tickover in 1st gear and very gently to my mechanic. New tyres and full tank of fuel seemed to take about a month!! as cars zoomed past.
Pit stop over and very slowly crawled along the pitlane, being sure to go right to the end
and then a cautious out lap on cold tyres.
Once the tyres came up to temp it was great. 10 laps to go, plenty of fuel and loads of rubber. I was shown back in 3rd spot and for a couple of laps I wondered if I had been just a little too careful in the pits and had been jumped by cunning drivers not changing tyres. Even so, I figured that with the pace of that monster I could certainly close up and maybe regain the lead. In fact the other cars had simply delayed their stops and I was handed back 1st spot within 2 laps.
From here, it was just a case of bringing it home and maintaining concentration but I still managed a couple of dumb mistakes which could have ruined my day.
Grats to all the finishers and I suspect Jose is right about it being a lot closer if he had avoided the T1 delay. I was able to manage the gap back to Jose because I had the benefit of that cushion, and I could put in a fast lap if I needed to without any pressure.
Thanks to all for making the lapping easy, I did try to announce my approach with my headlights, it was not an attempt to intimidate anyone.
