I was also enjoying the Alfa on this track, Erling! The 5 speed gearbox and the neutral balance makes it so nice to just push to the limit without much worry.
After going 2 seconds quicker in practice than Daz in his Cortina, I thought it's pointless to stay with the Alfa, so I decided to switch to the Mustang, with which I had similar lap times as his. Unfortunately for me, he improved massively in qualifying and I realized there's probably no chance to fight with him in the race, especially considering the massive tyre wear I was having to deal with.
He even did a sub 35 during the race, which was what I had with the Alfa, so in hindsight I shouldn't have switched. Anyway, I thought perhaps if I make a good start and take the lead, it would be possible to keep him behind, but unfortunately the first sector doesn't suit the Mustang at all, so I was already down a second at the end of sector 1, and then the gap just kept growing steadily. I could catch up here and there because of the power advantage, but once we hit the twisty bits, I was losing almost 2 seconds in total.
I had also started on full tanks, planning to have a quicker pitstop just for fuel, but not stopping in the correct spot and having to reverse twice completely ruined that plan. As Erling described, I was out at about 5 seconds behind him and could initially begin to close up the gap, but the tyres were already almost gone and the grip just kept disappearing more and more.
By the time we entered the penultimate lap, it was almost impossible to drive and after getting two cut warnings in my desperate attempts to keep up the pressure, I went too close to one of those concrete poles, clipped it and it spun me around. Even just bringing the car home was a challenge, as I lost it again in the last sector on the final lap.
It was a lonely drive and a tough challenge, but chasing Erling after the pitstop made it a bit more enjoyable. Overall a race to forget for me though.
Congrats Daz for the victory, you were just untouchable in this race! Congrats Erling for making the best out of the situation despite the pressure!