...Grats to Erling, super drive in the BMW, just went calmly about his business and won. Excellent stuff.
Well, it may have looked calm, but I was pushing as hard as I could for most of the race. You & Ziu aren't exactly known for being slow, so to keep up with the latter, not to mention keeping you behind for most of a lap took all I could muster.
Race was hard. Had hoped the rest of the pack could delay the non-qualified Daz a little longer, but only a few corners into L1, he was up my tailpipes. No freebees, so kept him behind until around mid-lap, where he found a place to power past. On L2, on an uphill bit, I noticed some distinct tyre marks, suggesting problems for someone. Cresting the hill, I found Ziu back in the lead, and Daz right in front of me. Hmmm, maybe opportunities would present themselves?
Daz soon back in the lead, me still chasing Ziu, when one or two laps later, we found Daz seemingly hoplessly stuck behind a barrier. So now Ziu & I were battling for the win. To my great surprise, Daz reappeared behind me, having gotten free. Then on the same lap, I rounded a corner, finding Ziu recovering after a moment, allowing me to snatch the lead. When we reached the long straight, Daz powered past Ziu, but couldn't catch me in time. On the following lap, he had a few passing attempts, but late(r) braking kept me in front - until the straight, when he once more powered past.
Looked like his tyres were suffering, as he wasn't pulling away quite so fast anymore, once we got to the twistier bits. A puff of dust suggested he had gone off, and sure enough I found him recovering with a damaged car, with flat right front tyre. Went past and with Ziu having dropped back due to tyre issues, I could take the final lap a little easier and pick up an unexpected win.
Grats/commiserations to Ziu & Daz, and to the finishers and victims of track, coughing fits, Windows updates etc.