Great event, one of my very rare podium finishes!
I’d practiced a bit last week with Alfa 1750 and different Escorts. For me, I could achieve mid 1:45’s in the Alfa and a high 1:44 in the Escort 16V. With the Alfa I managed to find a really sweet and stable set-up. But with the Escort, nothing was really perfect, running out of revs on the back-straight just before Knickerbrook (121mph @ 9000 rpm
) and holding back to save the engine being just one example. So I thought that if I could do a high 1:44, then others would surely manage a 1:42 or something, but things turned out differently when the normal frontrunners took a 8V Escort or Alfa instead (good move)!
Qualy didn’t go really well, but a 7th spot wasn’t that bad either. At the start I could out-accelerate John_W in the 8V Escort and soon found myself in 4th pos behind 2 screaming Alfa’s. After a lap or three I found out where I could take advantage and with a little help of other’s small mistakes I went to 2nd position, just in sight of fast Jos in another 16V Escort. After a couple of laps the gap between us was reduced to about 1.5 to 2 secs and together we pulled a big gap towards the Alfa’s and 8V Escorts. I wasn’t fast enough to really challenge Jos, but stayed close, just to wait for him to make a mistake… which he did about 8 laps before the finish! So, I took advantage and was race leader for about 2 laps with Jos on my rear bumper, before I had a big oversteering moment and Jos took the lead again
. I guess the intense close racing took its toll on the tires, both me and Jos made some small mistakes in the final laps, but we finished in the same order, me being 2nd with only 2.5 litres of fuel left
Thanks again for the close battles and thanks to the usual frontrunners to take a less swift car