That was a great track; really enjoyed 'driving' here
Sobering though, if not downright humiliating to come online and see the laptimes posted by more than half the field. How could you guys go that fast ?
Made a decent start, from 10th and gained a couple of places, one when Clive spun in front of me. Promptly lost 3, when I was punted off at the next corner, but regained 2 of them when Kurt ran wide and Tony lost momentum.
First had Bob ahead, but he soon made it past Gregman and disappeared. That was the start of an almost race long duel with Gregman for me. We each had places where we were faster than the other, so Gregman would extend the gap in one part, and I would shorten it in another. He didn't make any mistakes - none big enough for me to exploit at least.
In early laps Clive was close behind, until he fell off. After 6-7 laps, we caught Bob rejoining after an off. When he went off again, both Gregman and I got past. In both Bob's moments, I almost lost it too - seems like when a Challenger spots one of its brethren in trouble, it wants to join in sympathy..
Bob replaced Clive as my close shadow for many laps, until he dropped back some 5 secs. Gregman then finally made a mistake that allowed me to pass, and with Ati's exit, I was now in 6th. 5th place car was 15 secs ahead, so no chance of catching it, unless the driver made a major mistake. Caught Hayman on lap 18. He was all over the place, and in no mood to let me past. Made the last 1½ laps more exiting than needed, as it allowed Bob to get right up and personal again, but fortunately, I could hang on to 6th to the finish line.
Grats to the podium and commiserations to Ati, Kurt, Michel and any other who suffered problems.
Thanks to Tony for a great choice of track.
Cheers,
Erling