As a season finale that was some race!!!
Arrived in quali late for various reasons and never managed to get a really good tow, but still managed 6th on the grid i think.
Then I bogged down at the start worried about over revving the engine and dropped another couple of place on the run down to Curve Grande.
I could hear Hristo's ruddy BT7 and I knew he was somewhere inside me from the Prib readout, but I could not see him in my mirrors and dare not risk a look sideways with all the traffic in front!! As a result I hooked a wheel into that very narrow strip of grass alongside the outer armco and dragged myself into the barrier....grats to all those who avoided a Honda with random direction control...Everyone passed me and I was some 7 secs behind the whole field and it was only L1!! Things were not looking good!!
The car was fortunately undamaged and after a steady 1st lap just to be sure I began my comeback lol.
A few drivers enjoyed playing in the sand pit at Parabolica more than racing ( I confess that I did dip my wheels in there at one point just to see what it was like!) and a few others gave me a tow and allowed an easy pass.
Gradually I climbed the leader board and with some notable names dropping out found myself in 3rd spot trying to get on terms/tow range of Hristo and Jethro. At this point in the race Tim was recovering from an off and his prolonged dice with Mr Rye, which had conveniently kept him away from me, and was closing the gap. I was reluctanct to push any harder and risk the engine and was content with some 25 laps still to go to be reeling in Jethro and H at about 0.1 secs a lap, but Tim was in more of a hurry.
I allowed Tim to pass and took advantage of his slipstream to drag us both up to the leaders. as Tim observed i think there was a close call somewhere because it suddenly became a 4 way dice.
Still some 20 laps to...not even half way!!... and the activity was frantic as Hristo's BT7 with its super smooth handling closed through every bend and the rest of us using the extra power to ease away on the straights. For several laps I sat behind and watched the action as cars went 2 or 3 abreast, into places where they really ought not to be LOL.
A couple of times I found that I picked up the tow and just cruised past one of them to gain a momentary advantage, but it was plain that barring mistakes or mechanical failures , no-one was going to escape from this "menage a quatre".
I think the strain eventually told on Hristo's little screamer and his engine expired leaving Tim and Jethro squabbling in front of me.
Once again exiting Parabolica I found I could carry just a fraction more speed than the other two and hooked up with Tim's slipstream to draught past Jethro into Curve Grande. Jethro went in late on the outside and suddenly vanished into the armco. I have looked at my replay iI think I kept my car on my 50% of the tarmac and there was no evidence of contact, but there was obviously some warp involved which ended Jethro's race..sry mate.
So now it was Tim and myself, both in Hondas with about 15 laps to go and a healthy gap back to King Hiro who appeared to have the pace to close , but then seemed to make an error and lose all his good work.
From here to the flag it was a game of wits as we both tried moves to pass or just possibly break away if a small gap opened. But with the tow effect neither of us was going to let the other slip away
I think we both had worked out that Parabolica on the final lap was where this race was going to be decided!!!
So I tried a couple of moves to suss out Tim's capability, and I am sure he was trying the same with me.
I was careful not to show my hand too soon, and give him the chance to counter what was going to have to be a ragged edge attack at Parabolica on the last lap.
Tim seemed to have decided that he needed to lead into Parabolica and hold the inside line to outdrag me to the line as he started defending that position with about 4 laps to go.
So..... it was going to have to be the long way around if I was going to get the win
I had been very conservative with my braking into parabolica, but last lap I was the "King of the Late Brakers" and although on the outside gained a few yards on Tim. I manged to settle the car perfectly into the corner and just nailed it in 3rd right around the outside line abandoning any rev limit..speed shift into 4th ( no lift) and as straight as I could for the line. Tim was alongside and Prib showed 0.1 behind... but that was no guarantee that he would not get back at me.
That finish line definitely gets further down the straight on the last lap!!!!
A great race and grats to all......I NOTICED THAT NO-ONE GOT LAPPED??? and big grats to Tim who had this championship nailed long before this race.