Had a foreboding about this race, which sadly became all too real
In offline praccy, I had done a 2:10.8 kamikaze lap, bouncing off the walls of Tony's alternate route at the hairpin, and a 2:10.9 clean lap. That looked good compared to the few published times in the forum, so a sobering experience to come online and find myself midfield, with several drivers in the 2:09s.
Went back to the regular route round the hairpin, as it was much easier braking on the tarmac in a straight line, rather than on the concrete (or whatever it is), having to change direction simultaneously. Some miracle clearly happened in qual, when after dumping a load of fuel, I managed a low 2:09 and ran away with pole
Made a dreadful start, losing 3 places. Was so easy to start the Jag at Grenzlandring, but not here. Reclaimed one place from Bill as he described, but then the close proximity of the other cars distracted me enough to miss my braking point, and I ploughed hard into the barrier. Rejoined in 9th.
Made up some places and was in 5th at the end of L2, but then happened upon the rejoining Clive, as I was coming out of the banked curve. Did not expect a stationary car there, and by the time I had realised what was happening in front of me, I couldn't do anything to avoid a collision; sorry Clive
Both our cars were catapulted over the wall. Amazingly mine was still running, and by driving along the wall, crossing a bridge and barging through a fence, I was able to rejoin; now very much in last place, except for poor Clive, apparently stuck in the grandstands.
Car wouldn't reach its top speed anymore, and I could only do 2:20 laps. Expected repairs to take a long time, but still went into the pits to check after a number of laps - not much to lose really. Amazed to see that it was only body damage and would take a mere 21 secs to fix. Cursing myself for not pitting right away, as that would have saved me 30-40 secs. Except it wouldn't have... Car was exactly as slow as before, so repairs didn't help.
Kept plugging on, to scrape a few points home, and did cash in on others misfortune, to finish 7th I believe - after a small battle with Matt in another damaged car.
Grats to the podium and thanks to Tony for an unusual track selection.
Cheers,
Erling