I didn't really know what to expect, as this was my first GTC76 race.
Managed to improve enough in quali to get 5th place. The capri felt OK, if a little 'safe' on setup.
Another first - a rolling start! Got dropped a bit on the line, but held position. Over the first few laps, the leading 4 slowly drew a few seconds gap, and I drew away from the 6th place man. I didn't want to push any more and risk overheating the tyres or making a mistake, so I just tried to turn out consistent laps. The battle in front meant that I could occasionally close up the gap, but never enough to challenge for a position.
I grabbed 4th place when Mad-RIP spun, and later grabbed 3rd when Simon spun. For a while, Mad-RIP was closing me down - lucky for me he ran wide where the track comes off the GP track, leaving me clear again.
With the two leaders in a close battle, I could really close up. For a while I even entertained the idea of trying for a pass on Dan, but this just caused me to lose a bit of ground.
Over the closing laps, Simon was closing slowly but steadily. I thought I could hold him off, but I made a couple of mistakes on laps 20 and 21 allowing him to close right up.
He got a good run on the back straight, and out-braked me into the chicane - nice pass!
I pushed a bit for the last two laps, to see if I could force another Pantera spin, but no luck. On the last bend I had to bale out wide, or I'd have rear-ended him - very close racing!
Great fun all round - I'll be back! (Stu Foster in the race)