Grats to the podiums in both races and to those who got to the flag.
It seems that there was a glitch with this circuit Erling, as I had the same experience with a DQ in race 1.
The early laps were great fun with 2 Falcons drawing away from the field until my visit to the pits.
I would probably hold my hand up to 2 "cut tracks" in the 1st race as I wrestled with cold tyres (and a need to get away from Erling), but I felt that the 3rd was a little dubious, however there is no arguing with the omnipotent GTL gods. So I cursed quietly and went to the pits and served my penalty.
On the out lap from the pits I was careful and was gobsmacked to get the "DQ for not serving penalty" as I passed the pits??!!!
As yet, I haven't watched a replay, so maybe my recollection of my lines is rather more fantasy than fiction and I had cut the track too many times
.
I do have a query as to how the cut track penalties are decided by GTL, and this in no way is attempting to penalise Erling. He was just driving the lines that worked for him and going as fast as he could. Others could have been using similar lines as well.
I watched the rest of race 1 from the pits and whilst not wishing to focus on Erling, I was watching his lines because he was also using the Falcon. The Falcon is a handful around this track and I found that I had to use the kerbs to carry any decent speed through some corners, which is what he was doing too.
I was especially interested in the chicane as he appeared to be way faster than me through there. Whilst I was on track I was trying to keep 2 wheels on the grey bit ( as is the general rule) and when I watched Erling's car from the overhead view his car went through the chicane with 4 wheels clear of the tarmac for both left and right flicks??? "Aha! he will have got a warning for that" I thought. Then he used the same line for the next lap??? and the next?
? "Next lap he should be going into the pits for a SnG, that will give Geoffers a sniff of the win"
But, Erling sailed through once again clipping the chicane??? without any problem. I did feel a little hard done by
lol.
In the second race I tried to copy his line in the much more nimble Alpha and got an immediate warning?? So I wondered what was different about the way that Erling did it? Whatever, I am not looking for any penalties for any other drivers, but hoping to discover where I was doing it wrong !!lol
The second race was immense fun for the first few laps as I chased Matt in the Falcon and was able to squeeze past a couple of times, but always the horsepower of the Falcon rescued him on the straight. Plus I discovered that the Donington gear ratios ran out of revs 75% up the long straight, which did not help my cause one little bit.
Geoffers and his Cortina were slowly gaining and I wanted to go quicker where Matt was fighting his car through the corners and quite legitimately blocking the racing line....the absolute cad!!!
It was as a result of this that I had to back off mid corner at T2 and lose momentum...Geoffers took full advantage of that and my under gearing to pass me at the end of the straight. Next lap I double downshifted into T2 and the rear gave up the fight for traction and the car swept around. I caught a glimpse of cars approaching and tried to force the Alpha to stay off the racing line, but succeeded only in knocking Erling into the gravel
Despite my woes I am greatly enjoying this mini series and the close racing between such different cars. Thanks Tony.