Lots of practice for this one - wanted to improve on my performance back in 2016. Quite like the track for the M1; negotiating the chicanes felt somewhat like threading a needle, but quite rewarding if you got your line and speed just right.
Matt: Ran with wing setting 5, which I believe is the standard, non-advanced setting. Have tried 'low-drag' settings before, but always found that the more loose rear offsets any straightline gains (or increases the risk of spinning)
Very happy with qual; first time I got a sub 2:05 time - and even enough to pipp Ziu's old record from 2016; did not expect that
Ok start, retaining the lead. Few laps into the race, I had the beginnings of a small gap to Geoffers, but then missed a downshift at the 2nd chicane, bumping over curb & grass both left & right. That invited Geoffers back in, and he proved very difficult to get rid of again the following laps
Believe I - very reluctantly - gave him a tow on the straights, or perhaps it was his lower wing setting having effect. Maybe he got distracted by a dustplume up ahead when Anton went off, but no matter, a mistake at the 2nd chicane gave me a breather. Next lap, the gap was 8 secs, so he must have lost more time. Later in the race, it jumped from 10 to 20 secs, probably because of the spin he mentioned.
When the immediate threat from Geoffers was averted, the rest of the race was a bit of a dilemma with my own vanity. SO wanted to clench fastest lap and beat Ziu's old record. Had done it several times offline under simulated race conditions, with best being a 2:05.5, so theoretically possible. Online however, I just couldn't get things to click - kept ruining it for myself whenever I had a promising early split. Priority #1 still was to win the race, so couldn't let it all hang out just to try and score a needless record.
Grats to Geoffers & Clive, and all who made it. Commiserations to the early retirements.