Congratulations, Robert! There's no such thing as an 'undeserved' victory!
Super job by Tim to claim P2 in the Cooper(as per RF). Shame we couldn't dice again.
A podium position for Pelle but, oh my!, what a disappointment that must be. A terrific drive in the Red Ball Special to lead nicely for so long. Sympathies.
A P8 was the best I could do on the day and perhaps I should consider myself lucky to score that. I got a sniff of P7 at the S/F line at the checker as Ray ran short of fuel and spluttered over the line just a few feet in front of me. If the S/F line were a hundred or so more metres down the road...
I figured this race to be a trial as my eyes were smarting the moment I awoke in the morning. I had limited computer time during the day catching the Moto action from Brno. Shortly before the start, I took eye drops which seemed to help slightly. Off the grid, I had to feather the throttle for Dean who was a little out of sorts and Iestyn slipped ahead of me. Down in to the Old Hairpin on Lap01, I have to wonder if Izzy collected the bollards at the apex as he seemed to lose a lot of speed and I had to check up to miss him. Felt like I'd come to a full stop! LOL! This left me floundering well off the cam of the Maser and Martin slipped by for position. Only moments later, I caught sight of Dean slipping off the road. I managed to re-pass Martin coming off Coppice and then Clive had his NET glitch to promote me one more spot.
So far...so good. Ended Lap03 in P10 not far behind Arf in the Brabham who'd slipped off at Hollywood and fell back to me. The next laps were fraught with danger and confusion. Arf's BT24 kept winking in and out all over the place. My NET bars looked OK so I can only assume that his connection was playing up. He would disappear for upwards of 3-5 seconds at a time. It was impossible to judge exactly where he really was and a couple of times, in getting close, I voluntarily checked my speed to allow for his reappearance only to see that he was well down the road. Completing Lap10, Arf vanished on the run into Redgate and this almost certainly lead to my brief spin. I didn't lose much time but fell right back into the clutches of the Sinister One. Over the next lap and a bit, I fought hard to keep Clive behind which, in hindsight, was foolish since my vision had next to collapsed by this time. Everything was pretty fuzzy and some corners I bungled badly. I couldn't see the kerb on the outfield under the Blue Bird until I was passed it! Getting slightly out of phase for the run down the Craner Curves, I stubbornly held the inside line approaching the Old Hairpin and, sadly, short-changed Clive for room. He skated off. Sorry, CG. My bad.
Rocket than took up the challenge to pass me and for a number of laps, we circulated in close company. On Lap17, we came across Arf recovering from an off in McLeans and we both managed a pass as he overshot Coppice. Allowing for this pass, I was slightly down on exit speed to start the run down Starkeys and Ray used the power of the Ferrari to gun me down. I ran in high hoping to force the issue through Goddards but it was a done deal. Back to P9. For the balance of the race, I gave chase with little chance of a re-pass til the last lap when Ray was definitely off pace coming onto the pit straight for the final time. He had just enough petrol to stay ahead and claim P7.
It was somewhat of a surprise in the last couple of laps to have my vision recover slightly but overall, it was hellish. With this as the primary reason, I shan't be registering for S19 as a full-timer but rather as PT. This will allow me to pick and choose which events appeal to me on the day provided I'm up for it. I will, however, finish off this tribute season for Joe.
