What can I say for my own races last night? Finally I beat the Alfiosi in a round
I made the age old mistake of changing my qualifying setup - the result is clear in the results, I went faster on mediums halfway into the race than I managed on the Softs from Qualifying
Starting 4th had me worried as that put me in reach of more of the Alfas for the start - luckily I was to the inside so didn't only hold position, but gained a spot thanks to Mindaugas scuttling his own race in T1.
I'd actually forgotten how much of a fight I then had with Kai - I think this is because of the epic battle we later had in Race 2 - but after he made a mistake in the final turn I was clear and free to go after Matteo.
At first we were running very similar pace, but I knew from his comments in previous rounds that his tires would go off before mine. Add to that my happiness when running with 'less' grip and I knew I should catch up to him before the end of the race.
Shortly after half way this prediction came true and I started to slowly gain on him. After another 5 laps the speed difference was enough that I was on his tail.
Now the hard part - passing someone with 4WD on a course with a 40KPH hairpin...
Luckily Matteo didn't cover me on my first dive down the inside as we passed the S/F line, I also managed to nail my braking and run him into the leaves on the outside of the corner - that was just enough to get in front for the crazy fast 2nd sector.
I covered him into the right hander as I thought he looked pacey enough to consider going inside, this forced me to tap my brakes and slow in order to make the corner - Matteo didn't expect that and absolutely hammered my rear end (ohh err). I must admit I had been concentrating so hard on making the corner that I didn't realise just how hard he hit me until watching the replay. Sorry about that
Once clear I managed to make my slightly better handling and greater agility pull me clear of any counter-attacks and could concentrate on clean laps to the end.
Well done to Matteo and Mindaugas on the Podium - bad luck to Kai, I'm guessing that you suffered from a sudden change in handling when your tires reached the yellow stage? For some reason that didn't get me here but I had major issues with it at Nogaro when practicing.
Race 2 looked to be going well, I'd held onto 2nd at the start (I was never going to out drag an Alfa
) and had big pace and grip advantages in the final sector.
The trouble was that Matteo knew full well that covering T1 was key to holding position. In the Alfa you can compromise T1 as much as you need to because the extra grip will always get you out of the corner faster than your attacker.
As a result I moved my attacks to T3 as my crazy Asymetrical setup allowed for a much tighter and faster line, the problem was that the racing line forced me to brake behind the car I wished to pass in order to then get inside them in the first 3rd of the corner.
Doing that meant initiating a 4 wheel drift in order to carry the speed and make the turn - this made my tires hate me and resulted in my having to maintain that drift for the remaining 3/4s of the turn to match Matteo's wider line
I managed to stay clean and not collect Matteo, but never quite managed to still be to his inside as we entered the S/F straight - had I managed that there would be a very real chance of my taking the win again.
Favourite moments for me in race 2 have to be the point where Kai decided to fight absolutely tooth and nail for 2nd and went through the chicane next to me - we both gave each other room but also stayed within the track limits as much as possible - great driving
2nd was went I went full Initial D in my biggest attack on Matteo through T3, it was my most successful attack and felt wonderful as I simply stood on the throttle and drifted my nose up inside his car - his lines had shifted by this point as I think he had worked out my tactic, so I could almost hear his voice saying 'oh no you can't' just before I did
Anyway, some absolutely great racing last night - most of what went on elsewhere seems pretty clean and fair too from what I saw while randomly hopping around the field in the replay.
