Yet another really tough race! Such a demanding car/track combo, but rewarding as well!
Again as in recent races, the rear tyres were the limiting factor, to the point where I got actually worried that it won't be possible to reach the end without a pitstop.
I had to figure out the car tendencies, learn the details of this track version (have only driven this layout in GPL, but it's not a convert from that) and come up with a setup in just 20-25 mins, but somehow managed to put it on pole with a banzai lap.
Daz made a better getaway but let me have first after T1. After that he was quite fast on cold tyres, but once I felt comfortable I managed to pull away. That was until I messed up the downhill section after Corkscrew, spinning off to the right (that water drain/canal there is nasty!) and dropping some 5 seconds behind Daz.
Initially I began to catch him up, but then he found his mojo and put in a string of quicker lap times, which had me worried. While pushing hard, I had a another off in the same place as before, though this time without spinning, so the time loss was not as big. Fortunately for me he lost a bit of time going through traffic and eventually the gap was down to just 2 seconds.
Sadly he had an off at T1 after touching the dirt on the outside and that dropped him to around 11 seconds behind. At first I thought I should use this opportunity to ease off a little and save tyres, which reduced the gap between us to just under 10 seconds, but then I realized that we're just past half distance and my rear tyres were already down to about 25%, so I decided to pit for fresh rubber.
The pitstop felt like it took forever and by the time I was out in 4th, Daz was about 35 seconds in front! The lower fuel load and new tyres allowed me to go much much quicker though, and I was now taking massive chunks out of everyone in front. I was quickly up to second and was now going about 3 seconds faster than Daz on each lap, so it seemed to be a matter of time, as long as I didn't make any major mistakes.
Caught up to him with 3 laps to go and he made it easier by going wide in the last corner (or maybe he was letting me through).
It would have been much closer had Daz not gone off at T1, so I was somewhat lucky as I don't think I could have afforded to pit and that means I had to struggle with my rear tyres almost gone.
Congrats to all for making it to the end! If anyone wants to watch my driving exploits in this, here's the link -
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1079606059
