So we got our wish for a GT40 race at Lemans. A severe test for most of us but John and Federico made light work of it.
I made a good start and passed Federico off the line and had the option of going for the lead into T1 but since that would probably have put John in the gravel I decided, in the interest of the team not to go for it.
I think that Federico fell over me in the early corners and so I was able to finish lap one in P2.
Having spent the best part of the last week chasing John's TT lap around here, these opening laps seemed very familiar.
It wasn't long before Federico was back on my tail, helped to some extent by my having messed up the entrance to the Porsche curves. He slip streamed me down the first section of the Mulsanne and nipped in front at the chicane. I though afterwards that I had been a bit too kind but a) at the speeds these things do you don't want to risk hitting anything and b) he had given me a nice setup for the GT40.
A lap or so later, he spun at the same spot and I was back into 2nd.
He was about nine seconds back to start with but then dropped to 48 seconds back and I was beginning to think that 2nd might be a possibility.
What I didn't realise was that the additional gap that I had pulled was down to his having done his pit stop. This was evident as he swept past whilst I fumbled my pit stop.
I had estimated the fuel just right so that I could do a splash-n-dash at the end of lap nine, not bothering to change tyres.
All went well, apart from the fact that the pit crew were so darn quick that I pressed the starter button before I had remembered to switch the ignition back on.
I sat there like a lemon before realising what had happened.
Federico went past as I sat there and I didn't get the chance to make it hard work for him.
You cannot imagine how wide my GT40 was going to be on that last lap!
Anyway, Congrats to both John and Federico. Thanks to Matt for a great series and am I safe to congratulate Federico and Team7 on their Series wins? Or is Matt sneaking another one in?