Congrats Tom, Axel, Doni! Nice job guys.
No real tow in qualifying.
I don't even try to get any, anymore. It's more often than not, a wasted effort. A good tow in qualifying would have had me challenging Doni's time.
I hoped I could get lucky and get in behind the lead pack early in the race. If I was driving well, I didn't think anybody could get away from me with my high top speed. I had a chance until lap 2. At Virage de Muizon, one of the leaders must have layed down some oil.
Andreas spun in 4th place, Piero ran wide in 5th, and I almost spun while in 6th. That was it. I knew any mistake would eliminate any chance to slipstream off the leaders. That's a shame. I wanted to see how fast the 49 would actually go. Within the first several laps my ideal lap was in the 58s with 3/4 of my fast sectors set in the first few laps of the race. After watching the replay though, I realize I had a second chance. The first time I tried to pass Andreas I was unsure if I could move left into Marco's tow. It was possible. That would have got me past Andreas with a chance to pass Marco at the end of the long straight. A good example of how ineffectively I could use the tow throughout the event was, I set my fast lap on lap 3.
Not too long after, I braked early at the end of the back straight but not as early as I needed to avoid locking my wheels. I bumped Andreas.
There seemed to be a little warp involved too which made his car explode. I apologize Andreas. I just wanted to be close exiting Thillois, a place I was relatively slow.
I battled with Marco for a while. I hoped he'd work with me when I first started following him, so we could see if it was possible to gain on the lead pack. He tried to keep me out of his tow instead. I couldn't get a good enough exit out of the final turn to pass him on the front straight. I needed to lead through the first 3 turns. Marco was slower there, especially in T1.
Once Marco ran wide and spun, around lap 12, I was alone then. I kept thinking as long as I keep the guys behind me out my slipstream, I'll be hard to catch. Clive moved into 5th with about 10 laps to go. I knew that could be trouble. First thing I did was make a mistake again. I dropped the left rear tire off the track at T2 and got sideways. I kept from spinning but it took two or three seconds to get the car under control and back on the track. I sure didn't need that. I knew Clive would come up fast if he could get in my tow. I drove the heck out of the car the last 11 laps. Clive still caught me but he had too much wing to complete a pass on the last lap. I got lucky he didn't have more time to work on me. Excellent job Clive staying off my pathetically slow cornering car the last lap or two.
Those last 11 or 12 laps, I needed a lower 5th gear. That plus the 4 gallons of fuel I had when I finished made it impossible to keep Clive from catching me.
I was a bit surprised Tim's BT24 was as fast as it was. The only reason I thought it had any chance staying close to my 49 was who was driving it.
The only plan I had, try to be patient and careful, worked. I'm sorry it failed once when trailing Andreas.
Thanks guys.