Congrats Clive and Andreas! What a shame for Pelle and Axel. I knew you guys were both out at the same time. I thought it might have been an accident, but I had my doubts about that since there had been a gap of a few seconds between you two.
I tried to put you guys to bed as early as possible. My first stint was very good. At the beginning of the race I struggled a bit for a lap or two waiting for the tires to build pressure. I slowed a bit at the end of the first stint wondering if I might run a little short on fuel. The second stint was good too but trying to save some fuel affected my rhythm more than I like. I got a little drowsy around the midpoint of the race. The repetition got a bit hypnotic. I wasn't that solid on the third stint. By then I was getting tired and somewhat uncomfortable. I began moving around a lot in my seat. It got so bad I ran up on the wall at Zagaria once in my 3rd stint. That was the only time I came close to wrecking.
My stops went well. With more practice I could have done them a little quicker. Both times I was disappointed I didn't thrill the crowd more with a nice burnout leaving the pits.
I almost overshot my pit on the 2nd stop. I had 12.8 gallons of fuel to start. That was cutting it closer than I liked. The car began losing power the last 1/2 lap of each stint. 13.0 gallons would have been better. That would have eliminated my feeling I needed to save fuel on each stint.
That was interesting. Enna and PIR67 are my favorite "ovals". Plus I love Targa Florio and driving at Enna always makes me think Targa is not far away.
I'd have liked it more if my glass of tea wasn't empty when the race started, but it was a good drive. I'm very pleased that my average race speed wasn't far off my average fast lap speed.
I got a lot of practice with lapping cars. I got a bit closer to Billy than I liked but fortunately neither of us suffered much. I was also a little sad I got Marco to hit the guard rail at Curva del Cancello. I went inside hoping he would brake a little early, easily letting me pass. Instead he was a little late braking and I knew he was in trouble. There was no way I could have actually passed for position then but I was trying to save us both a little time by lapping as quickly as possible.
Andreas had informed me prior to the race that it might be crowded in the pits when stopped at the end of lap 25. By lap 15 I had enough of a lead that I knew there would be little drama during my first stop.
With Pelle and Axel's troubles, I began wishing I had driven a slower car. Plus Clive driving the Honda made it too easy for me. If I could have foreseen Pelle's troubles and his disco, I would have loaded fuel for 19 laps and made 3 stops to make things more interesting.
I didn't have much trouble with my tires once they achieved the proper tire pressures. I was overheating my front tires for some reason when I tried to save fuel. I never really pushed hard enough to overheat the rear tires.
If we are going to use this refuel patch more often I think we should try a GT race on a well known circuit.
I'd be interested in doing that. I'm sure Axel would too. He may like the GTs more than I do. Unfortunately many others may not care much for the GTs.
Also unfortunate, is that the two tracks from the 1967 GT season I'd most like to drive are Targa Florio and Nurburgring. I still have so much to learn at those two tracks in the GTs. Those two tracks combined with the GTs would likely draw few drivers.
Daytona road course would be interesting to me too. It's the 1967 GT track I have the least experience. I also like the challenge of exiting the oval. To me, entering the road course section is one of the most difficult turns in GPL. I've never seen Andreas or Marco drive the GTs and Pelle only drives the 67 F1s, so that's likely 3 less drivers.
Thanks for the fun guys.
