Well done Tris and Uli and congratulations to all finishers.
I did start at the rear of the grid, but for Nurby I don't see that as a big handicap unless I am in a very quick car and competing for fastest lap during qualifying. As it was I had the BRM and the only ambition was to finish the race, but even that was a long shot
.
When the flag dropped it was clear that some drivers were adopting the same tactic of survival vs speed and allowed me to pass them on the run to T1. Over the next laps other cars moved over to allow me to gain even more places. Other drivers chose to attack the scenery and ignore the racing, which moved me slowly up the leaderboard.
By half distance I was more than happy to still be motoring after a couple of hairy spins but no heavy impacts, The leading group of 5 or 6 cars was miles ahead and lapping quicker than me. But then they started dropping out and I moved to 5th...then 4th!! and then 3rd!!!!. With 3 laps to go I was running in 3rd and told myself that I only needed to keep things safe and simple. Well, that was almost the kiss of death!!
Mnsr Rainier had found some pace and was slowly closing the gap from 4th place, which was a distraction and I managed to make 3 or 4 mistakes inside 1 lap that dropped the gap from 0.6miles to 200 yds at one point
I had to strain my last 2 brain cells to focus on proper braking points and accurate gearchanges as most of my errors were caused by "wrong gear" selection. Slowly I stretched the gap and I think David had a mistake on the last lap that allowed me to relax and cruise to a totally unexpected 3rd spot.
That is champagne for the second time this week. I could be developing an addiction
