Grats to Tris Axel and Andreas, plus all finishers.
Debated with myself if I should race last night as I was suffering with man flu, but decided to at least start the race and see how things progressed.
It might have been more fun than I was expecting as the first lap looked like it could be a 4-way battle. When Tris got things a bit too sideways on the final corner of the first lap I just managed to avoid hitting his Lotus ,but it sent me onto the grass and sand and I clipped the fence as I struggled to control the car.
Within a couple of laps it was clear that the contact with the fence had re-arranged something on the rear suspension and the rear left tyre was overheating dramatically. Axel's "off" brought me back up to 3rd spot behind Andreas and I was eventually able to outbrake him into Tarzan to regain 2nd place after a couple of laps.
I tried to close the gap to Tris but any attempt to force some serious laptimes simply sent the rear left tyre into meltdown. I could only do one fast lap( low 1:28's ) followed by 2 or 3 laps in 1:30's to cool the tyre again, and that was never going to catch Tris !!
I had resigned myself to simply accepting 2nd place and just survive the race, when Axel re-appeared on PRIB and was closing the gap. I tried to up my speed but all I upped was the temperature in that rear tyre until the handling became very, very unpredictable especially under acceleration.
Eventually I lost control and Axel was able to pass as I went off...only a lap later and with the same tyre still smoking I did the same to allow Andreas to go past.
By now the coughing, sneezing and sore throat + the dodgy handling were too much and I quit the race and went to bed!!
