Got 4th in qually on pace, with top 3 untouchable.
So I guess all I had to do was get a good start and I got that best of the rest title, right?
I did get a good start, even got alongside Lorenzo through several corners after the start. Then getting out of the chicane the car inexplicably veered to the left into the barriers. No clue what happened. I hit the wall and fell to last place. I got by srw and Stefan, and just as I closed in on Tudor he made a small mistake, and I got that place too. After that I caught up with Kimi, but couldn't find a way past. We must have been driving like that for some 10 minutes when we went by Jari who had spun in turn 3 I think. So 6th now. Then Kimi went slightly wide on the right hander just before motogp section, but it was enough for me to slip past him. A couple of laps later Kimi made some other mistake I assume, as there was no car behind me. And Mark, who was some 12-13 seconds ahead, made some error somewhere, and suddenly I was back in 4th.
But it wasn't over, as Mark was a bit faster, and he eventually caught up with me. I soon realized I was vulnerable getting on the back straight, as Mark was closing there often. So I was closely watching my mirrors on every exit there, and with a couple of minutes left in the race, Mark got a good run on me. I went to defend the inside, but Mark stayed on the inside too, and we had a contact. No overlap between us, just a push from behind from Mark. Luckily didn't end badly for either of us, and Mark didn't get that close again in the remaining couple of laps.
So after all that I finished, where I started, in 4th
Congrats to the podium, who were way ahead of the rest of us.
And bad luck Bob, which seems to really follow you
