Basically an enjoyable race, but marred by too many mistakes.
Could only manage 6th on the grid, despite new pb - this crowd is really too fast...
Was trailing Matt on L1, as we approached the sharp, 1st gear right hander. Thought I erred on the side of caution by braking early, but Matt's car still shed speed at a much faster rate than mine. Panic mounting as I desperately tried to stop. Either I hit him or else I throw my car to the side. Picked the gentlemanly latter option, but putting two wheels on the grass under maximum braking resulted in a spin.
Rejoined last, but passed Tony when he ran wide. As we entered the long(est) straight, he was lining up an attack. After some slipstreaming, he managed to outbrake not only me, but himself too
. That allowed me to steal back the position, with a classic 'dive under' manoeuvre. Squeezed past Misnoimis at the start of the next lap and then had Doni in my sights. When I got close, I focused too much on his car and completely missed my braking point at the final turn. Had to go grass cutting on the inside, flew across track to cut some more grass on the outside. Didn't lose any places, but had to repeat the hard work of reeling him in again. Did a 'Tony' on him down the same straight, but managed not to take myself out at the corner.
With a wary eye on Doni in the mirrors, I now chased Steve for what seemed like an eternity. He finally made a small mistake at T3, losing enough momentum for me to get past at the start of the S-curves. Was chasing Bob after this. Much impressed by the speeds he extracted from the Challenger, so I couldn't really do anything.
Next Flash interfered, apparently working his way through the field after some delay. I was in 6th both before and after he passed me, which had me scratching my head. Wondered if he was a lap back (in retrospect very unlikely, on such a long track) Fumbled for my IFF button, to turn on player tags, with position. Accidentally hit 'forward' on my view hat, promptly losing my cockpit view
Desperately searched for the right keyboard button to reactivate it, and missed my braking point at T3, spinning off. Was probably lucky only to lose one position, to Doni, but still...
Chased Doni again, when he pulled into the pits, and I again had Bob up ahead. Wasn't successful in rattling his cage when I was right at his bumper, so doing it from 100 meters back, on the final lap was unlikely, and I thus had to settle for 6th. Grats to the podium and all who made it to the finish.
Sad to see Bill and later Kurt leave in frustration. The seemingly random cut track warnings were indeed a nuisance, but with care they could be negotiated.
Cheers,
Erling