UKGPL Season 28 (2015) Works Trophy (67) - Brno - May 10

[Turkey Machine]

Getting no practice in and only knowing the basics of this circuit, I was always going to make it tough, and I made it about 2/3rds round the first lap.

On the plus side, Logitech Profiler now actually works!

[GregT]

Congrats Iestyn, Peter, and all finishers! Very good lap times by Iestyn, Peter, and Rob before it was over.

My first 3.0L win on Sunday! I've had a few chances, but I got lucky today that none of the fastest drivers chose a fast car. It made it much easier than I was expecting. It's pleasing to get the win.

I may have opted for a Honda or BRM had I known there would be so few Lotuses, Eagles, and Ferraris. I may have been able to challenge for the podium in either. I needed the experience with the Lotus though and planned from the beginning to drive it or the Honda.

I would have liked a better qualifying run. I went out with 4 laps of fuel. I wanted to get some good heat in the tires. My first timed lap I caught Ray at the end of S1 and as soon as I got into the slipstream the DFV went up in a huge fireball. It made me laugh thinking Ray's engine woes are contagious? Well that screwed up my plan so it was back to the pits to load two laps of fuel. Luckily I didn't need the 4:19 I thought I might.


My race was almost uneventful. I got a decent start and I was glad Peter put Iestyn a little further behind me for the start. Iestyn may have passed me had he started 2nd. My vastly superior car made it easy to baby the car and engine after several turns. After a couple laps I just tried to hit the same marks every lap. On lap 5 I made a mistake that could have been devastating. I barely dropped the LR wheel off the track exiting the 2nd turn of S3. I lightly clipped the brick pylon and was thrown into a spin. I came to rest at the top of the hill on the banking on the right. I didn't know at the time if you go past the first group of spectators you will be behind an invisible wall. After my experience at Albi, I only bumped it once and quickly reversed this time. My track reentry was shabby. Iestyn was closer than I realized. I'm glad I didn't cause either of us any trouble. I wasn't sure if the car was damaged but it seemed to lose some grip from the rear wheels. Within several turns I had adjusted. Once I had the car under control again it didn't take me long to catch Iestyn. He looked good in that BRM. First chance I had to get a tow I passed. That was some nice driving trying to keep up with me after the pass Iestyn. It looks my advantage from more practice may be disappearing. After the one mistake I didn't really miss another mark and rapidly cruised to the victory.

Great battle between Rob and Donnie. Once Rob was able to take the position and make it into sector 3 with the lead Donnie's DFV no longer had enough muscle to make up the difference. Nice recovery Rob to place 4th after a lackluster qualifying and having to work your way through traffic.

Thanks guys. I hope to see on track again soon.

[Gismo]

Congrats to you Greg, superior win! - Iestyn fast as always, what a start you made :-O

My qual went exactly to plan, 4L fuel, first get in a banker, did with a 4m27.2, then try to push for a good one, did with a 4m24.5 (never gotten below 4m26 in offline practise!) - thx to both P. Thornton and S. Blood for giving room when I met them during my first 2 runs.. From then on I did a little race-fuel practise..

Iestyn flew by me at the start and him and Greg took off down the straight - on L1 I had a major moment when I got my RL on the grass right before the semi-fast right-left with a dive onto the little straight before the slow left-right in S2 (if this makes any sense) - due to pure luck i skidded off the trees through the dive and ended up sliding right on to the tarmac in balance to get on the gas and continue as if nothing had happened :-O
Over the next couple of laps I got a 2-3 second gap down to S. Blood who was followed closely by R. Peterson in the Ferrari, but when Ronnie made a mistake and left Blood off the pressure, Blood started to gain on me and we were looking to have a go at it, but then it looks like he disco'ed :-/ Soon after Ronnie's engine apparently blew up and suddenly I found myself isolated..
During this, When Greg went off and I caugt up a bit I actually thought I had catched backmarkers, but then I realised that these backmarkers were going faster than me and when I crossed the line it dawned on me, but after trying to push a little diving in to the 26's and not gaining I decided to back off and just focus on getting a solid 3rd place, Rob was gaining from behind but with his time lost in traffic the gap was plenty..

Great fun this track, luring you to push only to bite your head off ;-)

[AnGex]

Had finished last, but I had finished. 
Congratulations to the other Finishers!

Some of you may know that I was recently 2 times in hospital. Tomorrow is the third time. I do not know if it is in English, too. But at least it is in German like: All good things are 3. Have a big operation on Wednesday, where they will get a cancer out of my body. So I do not know now what that and the future brings for me. Minimum I will not participate in the next upcoming Races. But I try to think positive and hope that it will all workout well for me.
So long
Andreas

   

[GregT]

Have a big operation on Wednesday, where they will get a cancer out of my body. So I do not know now what that and the future brings for me.    

Let's hope for a successful and speedy recovery. Good luck Andreas.

[Doni Yourth]

Cripes!  Andreas!  I'm shocked to learn this of you.  Yes, I did know that you've undergone some recent medical issues but had not been aware of their nature.  Here's hoping that you'll be fit again soon and be back to us in fighting form.

[EvilClive]

I hope that it all goes well for you Andreas. Best wishes for complete and speedy recovery my friend.

[Robert Fleurke]

We say in dutch "Derde keer scheepsrecht" (third time ships law). Crossing fingers here and wishing you will be cured permanently. Was very happy to see you finish yesterday, solid as always

Wir hoffen und glauben in das Bestes für dich, mein Freund!

Great battle between Rob and Donnie. Once Rob was able to take the position and make it into sector 3 with the lead Donnie's DFV no longer had enough muscle to make up the difference. Nice recovery Rob to place 4th after a lackluster qualifying and having to work your way through traffic.

That was interesting. Got stuck in the twisty parts, had a spin or two, but finally on Lap 8 or so could pass Doni permantly. Had a few goes earlier, also using the crowbar, but Doni didn't give an inch However lost a lot of time behind him, and when I had passed him, Doni suddenly went 5s a lap faster!

Character building drive for me   Didn't take enough fuel with me, had to manage last lap, only was aware of it halfway through last lap, so even with better trackposition early on -better quali, hit Clive at 300kmh on the straight, didn't see him until it was too late- would have had to settle for P4.

Grats Greg, Iestyn and Peter! Some great laptimes by the podium guys, also in quali! Only 5 finishers, commiserations to the retirements. Sorry to hear about the screenfreezes. This track was fully tested at 36FPS, but not at 60FPS TBH.

[Gismo]

Best of wishes for you Andreas! with todays technology/knowledge I would reckon you are in good hands :-)

[Ronniepeterson]

Like everyone else here Andreas, my thoughts and best wishes for Wednesday. See you on track soon!

[Phil Thornton]

Best wishes for Wednesday Andreas.  Hope everything goes well and you are back soon.

[Arf Arf Arf]

Very best of luck Andreas. Hope to see you back on track soon.

Arf

[bernie]

Good luck Andreas hope it all goes well and 3rd time lucky for sure , we will all be rooting for you mate 

[francesco]

Best wishes also from me Andreas.I think you can win this battle.

[AnGex]

Thanks all for your kind words and best wishes!
But today they could not make the operation in the hospital, because they had a big emergency case there. 
So because of the holiday tomorrow and a full  Operation-List on Friday and the weekend then I will have the operation on Monday. So more time and nerves lost.
But anyway looking forward to get it behind me...