It's funny; I quite liked Daytona, but couldn't get to grips with this version at all.
Improved my pb in qual, but that still didn't get me any further than midfield. Gained a place at the start, but lost it again at the start of L2. From then and until midrace, I had Bill G as my very close and exceptionally noisy shadow. He did his best to slipstream me down the oval, and initially I did my best to foil his attempts. After some laps, when the noise just got too much, I pretty much just held my line, so he could slipstream past me all he liked. Except he couldn't: like Bill described, as soon as he pulled out from the slipstream, the Mazda ran out of puff, so he didn't get past.
Made up some places when others fell off, but eventually Bill found a way past, in a very clean move through the twisties. He soon pulled away, so clearly was faster. Have to commend you for your patience Bill - a more hotheaded driver would probably have muscled through, or pushed me out of the way much sooner..
Thanks for a great race, despite the noise..
Faster too was Steve, who caught me. Had a moment out of the chicane, where I ended up grazing the wall and making a pass easy for him. Few laps later I wondered what had happened to Bill, as we both passed his stationary car. Was running 5th towards the end, when on the last lap, I passed a stationary Steve, to take a not fully deserved 4th.
Grats to the podium and commiserations to those who fell out - especially Steve, who had 4th in the bag, but ran out of fuel. Strange if you put in extra fuel Steve. I only tried the Beemer and it would go longer than setup suggested. Thus I started the race with 21 laps worth of fuel, but it was in fact enough for 25-26 laps.
Cheers,
Erling