The Monza race was great fun, if a little unexpectedly successful for me.
As per my usual routine I did no pre race practice except to check the server/track/car connection during the afternoon. But circumstances were such that I arrived on the server earlier than usual and had almost an hour to play with the setup/lines etc. TBH I almost never run with a qualifying fuel level, I much prefer to know what my race pace will be on full tanks and that way there are no surprises in the handling department when the hostilities start.
After 40 mins of practice and the beginning of quali, I thought that I had "found my level" and was sitting around 4th on the table. Somewhere during the final 1o mins of quali I slightly adjusted my braking point/line through some corners and uncovered a whole second
and briefly found myself on pole!! Daz immediately restored some normality lol.
With so many fast guys behind I was not expecting to stay in 2nd place for too long and sure enough, Dimitar immediately demoted me to 3rd
But, I was ahead of Geoffers, Matt and other fast cars entering T1. I was surprised that I was able to hang on to Dimitar ( but not Daz, who was setting an awesome pace ahead!) and I was still in 3rd after a few laps??! It was clear that if I could avoid mistakes I might be able to sneak onto the podium?
Then Dimitar ran slightly wide onto the back straight and lost just a little momentum, so I took the opportunity and eased past on the run to Parabolica with Geoff in my slipstream. I saw Geoffers fly off the track in my mirror and was worried that my slightly earlier braking had caught him out
. But in my defence, I was on the inside line and I could not see Dimitar, so he might have been alongside. Therefore I could not risk sliding wide and taking us both out of the race, so I was playing safe. By the time we were 50% around Parabolica I could see that I had actually completed the pass on DD.
The next 15 laps were a test of concentration as I struggled to keep DD behind, we both made minor errors that made the gap grow and shrink from 0.1 secs to 2.0 secs.
With 4 laps to go I was a fraction late braking for the chicane ( maybe tyres were getting tired?) and clipped the wall. That opened the door for DD to regain 2nd place.
It was on the last lap that I saw the cloud of dust/tyre smoke down at Parabolica as we entered the back straight and I wondered if Daz had taken a trip into the kitty litter? a bit unlikely and probably a backmarker?? As DD and myself rounded Parabolica there was Daz crawling out of the gravel !!!
With just the chicane to negotiate it could be a drag race to the line? So I slowed early to try and carry the best possible exit speed. I could not see if DD and Daz made contact but they were close and Daz hit the wall. DD was slightly compromised and I sniffed a chance to steal the win. I was closing on DD all the way to the line but was just too far back to get there first.
A great race and more than content to have been 3rd on the last lap, let alone to finish 2nd !!
I contrast, Hockenheim showed up my lack of practice and I was struggling form the very start. Eventually minor damage from abusing the kerbs and cones compromised the handling and was dripping with sweat from the effort of trying to control the car. Eventually I had to admit that I was rubbish and go for a drink in the paddock.
