Congrats Rob, Iestyn, Pelle! Excellent times in the Brabham, Rob. I thought Iestyn would get away from you.
That was a tough race. Iestyn passed Rob and I closed on Rob before the final turn on lap 3. I wasn't prepared for a little extra speed with no way to throw the car into the final turn without a collision. Luckily I kept the car on its wheels after hitting the banking. I wasn't so lucky that the car had been damaged. The next two laps were very tricky. After that I was able to run decent for a time, but the car was unpredictable. Around the middle of the race, without doing anything to hurt the car further, the handling changed drastically for some reason. From then on I spun regularly. I think I had a total of 8 spins. Yikes! When I spun again after the spin that gave Pelle 3rd, I wanted nothing more than the race to end.
With my car damage there was one positive note. I only had to worry about my tire temperatures for a short time after I spun the car. With an undamaged car I would have had to pace myself to keep the left side tires from overheating. I was also pleased that I had set two fast sectors early in the race. It was looking like I had a chance to keep up with Rob and Iestyn much longer than I had anticipated. The car was handling nicely.
Fourth isn't bad though. Only one place lower than the reasonable expectation of 3rd. Looking at the drivers and tokens, it's a shame I blew what was likely my last chance at a podium this season.
Your car was like kryptonite. Every time I got somewhat near it, I would spin. Sorry about getting so close when I finally lapped you for a brief moment. Pelle was on me by then and I was getting desperate.
Nice job keeping your cool with cars lapping you on both sides.
This did make it difficult to keep the car on the track. I used enough opposite steering wheel lock to last me for several races.
Leader of the race starts lap 3
4m43.160s
Gregory Taber - spotters reporting:
minor problems with left front tire.
medium problems with left front suspension.
minor problems with left rear suspension.
Thanks for the racing, guys. It's on to Silverstone! It's a track I'm rather weak but I look forward to trying to get a better understanding of it.