Congrats Carlos and Tom! That was a good drive by Carlos. Tom kept pressure on him for several laps to start. I put some pressure on him at least twice. It was good to see Tom on the track again.
That's a shame Mark. I missed you. I was worried my screw up in the last SS race had driven you away.
I tested the the M8B a little bit. I knew it would be an big task to keep up with Mark in a M8F and it would be impossible to challenge for pole and fast lap. I took the T260 knowing it was likely the least I needed to challenge Mark.
I was getting away from Carlos and Tom early in the race until I got sideways exiting the turn before the pit entrance. I was hoping to build a large enough lead to stop and go without losing the lead. When the car decided it wanted to go towards pit lane, I went ahead and stopped early. I shouldn't have done that.
I had a lot of problems with my tires in Tom's slipstream. At one point, I was trying as hard as I could but I was still losing a little bit of time to the leaders.
Tom spun a little later in the same place I got sideways before my stop and go. It was a shame he lost Carlos's tow. That put me behind Carlos. I had learned to manage my tire temperatures by that time. Unfortunately I missed my braking point for the 90. Luckily I knew I needed to be careful not to get stuck in the fence. I reeled Carlos in after a while. I overheated my tires again. I cooled them again but it was too late by then. I was out of time. Carlos made one slight mistake near the end. He ran a little wide in the 90 on the last lap. I tried to get inside. I managed that but I put the throttle down a little too soon and spun. I thought I was going to cross the finish line backwards but the car stopped short of the line. It was almost a drag race to the finish line.
That was a lot of fun. Carlos drove so well I couldn't afford that early and somewhat minor mistake. The mistake at the 90 kept me from pressuring Carlos for several laps.
Thanks guys.
