This was an evening where nothing went right
I had two Porsche drives and one Lotus drive left for this. Being just 2 points behind the leading Geoffers in the 2.0 class, the plan was to score at least 3 points, to claim the title win - he was out of Porsche drives and couldn't score more points in this class. That included not losing too many points to Roger & Matt, who were both 7 points behind me. I would use the Porsche in the first race and then switch to the Lotus for race two, if all went well. If not, I had a 2nd chance with the Porsche in race 2. The possibility that Paddler would return and do two races in the Porsche, to claim the title had not even crossed my mind..
Race 1 - exceptionally difficult:
Found the Porsche tricky to drive - to prevent it spinning under braking, I had to use a not very easy alien technique, graciously tought me by our old firend Ziu. As if this wasn't enough, in the pause from qual to race start, my steering wheel was oscillating left & right. Suspect it was related to exiting back to the pits while the 'cobblestone effect' was active, but not sure of this. When I joined the grid, my force feedback reversed!! I had no resistance in the wheel anymore - instead it turned by itself, if I moved it away from the center position, and I had to hold it back. Trying to adapt to this in a tricky car, in the midst of the close racing after the start was NOT easy!!
Almost quit, but decided to persevere, to see if I could get some points after all. Was in 4th early on when I spun under braking, despite my best efforts. Lost 3 places, but gradually made them up, as others suffered various mishaps. Passed a recovering Micha early on, to have him chase me for the rest of the race. Would have expected him to catch me, especially with my difficult situation, so maybe he damaged his car, as I managed to stay ahead and finish 3rd.
Race 2:
Believing - erroneously - that I had scored enough points in race 1 to claim the class Championship, I now went for the Elan. It was both easier & faster for me, and I wanted to increase my class points if possible. Race itself was a short affair however. With all the aliens present, I was far down the field at the start. At the end of L2, I was having a good battle with Fulvio when I entered the start/finish straight. Couldn't avoid a crashed Geoffers and hit him at full speed. Killed my car and possibly his too, if it wasn't already dead after the first shunt.
Grats to the race winners & podiums, and to the Championship winners & runners up
A Merry Christmas to you all !!
