That turned out to be a fantastic race, one for the highlight reel in many ways
Massive kudos to Tony for the combo choice, that really did work out well across the three cars.
Was tempted to take the Porsche to get it out of the way, but then I saw the word kerbs in Hristos post and decided to avoid like the plague. So, ended up taking the little Opel, as my arm is still quite sore from the jab and I thought the Datsun might be heavier on the steering. Tweaked away at the setup, looking at the replay it was not perfect on the brake balance, but it drove ok and in quali found a little time to just pip Hristo and Geoff, but could not match Erling in the Datsun.
Thought I bogged the start, but the car launched great despite the low revs. It was both front rows away well, but then Geoff span to leave Hristo, Erling and myself to go forward. It remained that way, with the order changing here and there all race.....
The Opel felt nice, but still the kerbs carried danger, which I found to my cost losing time once or twice
. As Hristo said, we traded places a couple of times, I had to refocus and come back at him with all the car would give me. We were both staying with the Datsun, but for myself in the first 2/3rds of the race at least, it was very much on the limit to stay with the pace of Erling, and catching was difficult enough without even thinking of being able to pass. Being an annoying pest in the mirrors was all I could do at first, not until the latter stages could I say that I was a little quicker, and at that point was pressing a little more. The gap never went past a second for quite a few laps, but Erling was perfect on his lines despite my dummies in the mirrors, and there were very few chances to challenge. There was some contact in the chicane at one point, I was caught out by lack of acceleration that Erling could produce at that moment, but thankfully he gathered it all up with ease and we went on our way
.
The see-saw in the gaps continued, with Erling withstanding yet more pressure
. I did squeeze past eventually, but then Erling came back at me with a couple of laps to go, followed by me going past again on the penultimate lap. Hristo was now all over both of us, but went wide on the hairpin at the end of the penultimate lap, leaving Erling chasing me for the lead on the final lap. I made a small error at turn 1 (I think), and now Erling was back in front. Hristo was gaining, but we now had what looked like enough of a gap for it to be between Erling and myself because of the run wide from Hristo.....
But, Erling could see me lining him up for the hairpin, and decided to take the inside line for the first time in the race, and lost the rear on the brakes
. I was on the wide outside, and ended up slightly on the grass at the same time
, losing a lot of time and speed. I got back on track, and as I accelerated down the straight, Hristo was gaining, gaining, but the line arrived in time to save me
. Close finish to a close race, but more luck than judgement for sure!
Apologies for the contact at the chicane Erling, and also for a moment earlier in the race where it appeared I went for an optimistic lunge down the inside at the hairpin, that was actually avoiding action after I was just a touch too late on the brakes in comparison to you and I would have taken you straight off if I had not changed my line.
I'm sorry you were annoyed at the attacks Hristo. But, there was no way I was outbraking you anywhere on that track, and you were too fast to go past with any ease at all. The only tactic available was to try to move you around on the line and then hopefully off it. I'm pretty sure I spent a good number of laps behind you, and Erling in fact, in relatively close proximity to demonstrate reasonable patience, watching as you made very few errors to speak of, giving virtually no opportunity to just drive past. And, at no point did we have any real contact I am aware of, and I think if the roles were reversed you would have been more than happy to have done the same. For me, side by side racing in the way of last night is proof of good trust in the guy you are racing with, and I was happy that you were more than good enough to attempt to do that with
. There will be time lost, there usually is when someone is overtaken after all, but that is part of racing I feel.
Massive commiserations to Erling, you drove an outstanding race
and to lose on the very last corner is beyond frustrating. I have very genuinely been there, so know from experience. It pretty much was the only error all race, really very unlucky indeed.
And hats off to Hristo for the pace and ability to get that 914 to the end of the race with a miniscule amount of issues, totally outstanding
. I have no idea what has been done to that car but it feels worse than the GTL original from memory!