Got a huge hangover this morning after the Shark team partied the night away to celebrate my first ever class win outside of friendly races or ones that got dropped (Sugo anybody)
What a contrast to Donington, having been out all weekend watching the historic car races at Combe, I arrived at the start of qual never having driven the M3 around here and it was raining
No setup either so I adopted my trick of getting the TVR boys in to do me a setup
Worked pretty well I reckon except too long a first gear (may have been an advantage in the wet though) and dry tyres not having enough pressure.
Qually was ok, managed to get a 4th in class (3rd after PB's unfortunate non start) and was surprised how competitive I still was in the dry. After a few laps I managed to get second in class with Andy almost 5 secs in front, was surprised to find I was slowly closing the gap and got it down to 2 secs (quite a few laps to do this mind) until my first minor cockup. Bit too much gas while on the curbs in that first chicane. Didn't spin but that was all the hard work undone
Still then Andy pitted on about 40 mins, I thought "a-ha 2 stopping me old fruit". Now I know it was a S&G it explains why after I had done my stop at half way Andy was over a minute in front again!
Trouble is there was at certain SbG hunting me down. It took him a lot longer to clear the Gizmo/Jan/Evert battle but he relentlessly closed the gap before my half way bit stop. From 14 down to 3 secs. However the Shark crew did a great job of filling the M3 up to the brim and changing tyres and after SbG pitted the gap was back up to 11 secs.
Then the rain came. Every since Brazil I've taken the attitude if it rains pit ASAP, which I duly did. But for what? Decided it should be full wets but softs or drys? I gambled on softs but the rest of the race was a real struggle to manage the temperatures. The left side running well into the 120s and only the outside returning to green while splashing through the puddles offline. Sadly Gizmo came on the radio a couple of times to report SbG having moments. So it was Gizmo chasing me down, that was until Andy got him. 30 mins to go and 15 sec advantage, oh and I was busting for a leak!
I should point out that the fuelling guys were not invited to last night's party as they still insisted on refueling the car at this second stop regardless of the fact I left written instructions that only the first stop would be for fuel. I hope they've learnt their lesson
The majority of the remaining time it was drive sensibly in the wet and unlike Donington the car was pretty drivable with care. However the early change, and possibly the choice of softs, meant come the last 5 mins I was battling tyre wear well in to the 20s. And I was really struggling for any sort cornering grip, what with the extra caution of not wanting to throw away a class win, I was not concerned about losing a bit of time to Andy.
Well chuffed, but I don't expect the same joy next time out but we'll keep trying