What an utterly epic race
I was hoping that any short-falls in my setup would be over-come by the slight practice advantage I probably had over the field (According to my odometer app, which had 0 miles on it for the Porsche before this season - I had done roughly 1500 miles while practising and setting my car up at Mugello as I was enjoying it so much
).
That combined with how the Rift seemed to be allowing me to plot my route through corners so much better, meant I had a legitimate front-of-grid pace as soon as the race got underway.
I actually thought I'd lost a spot off the line as I had too much wheelspin - Helicorsa showed the car next to me slowly coming level and moving up past me, confirmed by the Mk2 eyeball once it appeared around my door.
Then at T1 the pack moved in my favour (finally!) and I found myself not only taking my spot back but getting alongside the Marlbro car (Jeffery I think?).
The sensation while fighting side by side was awesome, and continued afterwards as I was instantly able to attack Manteos while also having to keep track of Jeffers - who was just far enough behind to be invisible on Helicorsa and required searches of the mirrors to find
Once past Manteos when he pulled off to make repairs I pressured Fabri as hard as I could as Jeffery was in turn pressuring me. This seemed to give me a boost into a 'higher gear' as my laptimes improved into the 1:43's regularly, which allowed me to get right onto Fabri's rear wing and also to drop Jeffery a bit - giving me a chance to breath again.
The fight with Fabri was more a war of attrition. One lap I'd get closer, the next he'd pull back ahead again - then I finally got into a position entering the S/F straight and got a run on him.
I knew from the race so far I could easily out brake him if I could get even slightly alongside so it was looking good for what was by then 3rd.
Then the one and only VR fail of the race struck. I knocked the car out of 5th just as I was starting to draft up behind Fabri because I momentarily thought my gearstick was where the Porsches' was!
I think that lost me nearly a second and took several laps to close again - I think Fabri had a wake-up-call of his own as he never allowed me to close in the critical areas again after that.
About 15 mins before the end of the race I ran wide onto the grass/gravel while pushing even harder in an attempt to close the gap again to a passing opportunity - I dropped 2 or 3 seconds as a result and suddenly found Jeffers appearing in my mirrors again.
I soldiered on for a bit with a few mistakes caused by my car balance shifting with the lowering fuel weight and as a result stayed pretty static - after a few laps of fiddling with settings (working by Braille as I obviously couldn't see my gear stick!) I found something that was - if anything - even nicer than my starting setup.
Another lap to get to grips and I decided it was solid enough to really push with - so I did
Instantly I dropped back into the 1:43's. I think I did my fastest lap in this state as I was suddenly able to feel the car so well I could 4 wheel drift almost everything (it felt like the Bellof video at Spa looks). I think this took Fabri completely by supprise, the first flying lap I did knocked a second out of his lead - the next lap was still over half a second as he started to respond.
I don't think I ever stopped closing until the flag dropped, but he had done enough to stop me from catching him in time
A fantastic fight, well done to Felix for taking it home, and Fabri for claiming 2nd.
Equally well done to all who made it to the finish. The replay's gonna be a looker from tonight
Bad luck to Maikel for hamming it up