Was a bit late for qualifying as I had just gotten home, but 20 minutes were enough to get comfortable and I even took pole! But I knew that Uli wouldn't be easy to shake off...
Towards the end of qualifying I realized that my setups left front tyre pressure was too high by a decent amount... Did I change it? Yes. Did I forget to change it for the race setup that I had provisionally created when I initially joined the server so that I wouldn't forget it later? Yes.
So into the race I went, and the start was good. No complications or anything with Uli, and in the first five laps I was consistently able to pull out a little gap. Then I looked at Pribludas tyre temperature information widget, and... Orange left front? Well, now I had to try and drive as conservative as possible without dropping off pace. Because of that the gap between me and Uli stagnated at 2.5 to 3 seconds... No lapped cars changed anything about that.
As the race went on and the cars became lighter, Uli seemingly got stronger and it felt like it was harder to hold the gap. Then at Big Bend with 26 laps to go, I went a little wide (still on the road) and thought oof, now I've given Uli an invitation to push more. Looked into the mirror... where is he? Pribluda still showed him in second place, so something must have happened on that particular lap. Pribluda then showed me he was at the loop, but no car in sight... What a shame, it had been such a good battle, and you had kept me honest all race long.
Next up was Markus, 35 seconds behind, and soon he was the only car still on the same lap... then with 10 laps to go, the loop claimed another 2 victims, not just me, but also my suspension which decentered my steering wheel, and so I had to quickly learn how to drive this thing. Markus was 0.5 to 1 seconds quicker once I got the hang of it, but my error came too late for him, and so I somehow brought it home...
Thanks to everyone for participating. Congrats to all finishers, especially to the podium places Markus and Fulvio, and commiserations to all those who missed out on a finish, especially Uli who I have just heard had his engine say goodbye...