Was a bit disappointed with qualifying only 19th after knocking half a second off my PB, but was pretty happy that I had a good race car underneath me and was looking forward to the race.
Start went well but at the end of the first lap I was so excited about being right up behind Madd and Adam that I totally forgot about picking out the braking point for Copse and had to take to the runoff to avoid spinning or ramming Madd from behind. That let Jan past and I had ChOnG behind; like Anderstorp the latter couldn't match my pace but this time I was ahead and set off in
hot purrrrsuit of Jan's 550.
Couldn't see how I was going to pass Jan without a mistake; I was all over him like the proverbial bad suit in the twisty bits but the 550 was just walking away on the straights. Concentrated on being smooth and looking after the tyres - especially the left rear which was falshing red occaisonally. Finally a third of the way into the race he made the critical mistake, running too deep into Abbey and allowing me to force the issue and stick a pass on him.
That released me to start hacking my way through a field of cars which were obviously starting to struggle on worn tyres. Picnic allowed me past into Stowe (thanks, teamie
), next up was Bernie in the Legends' Saleen. I must apologise to him for the rather hasty stab up the inside of Priory; he was desperately slow in the preceeding corners but I was a bit too keen to get on after Madd again and should probably have waited a a few corners and done you on the front straight.
(Note to self: 1230s in the replay.) Luckily for him the contact was fairly minor and he kept it on track as I now set off after Madd-RIPP in the Lambo.
I was amazed by the number of people who don't get anywhere near the apex of the first (left handed) part of the Abbey chicane - it's a critical corner as it leads into a number of overtaking spots at the end of the lap. Luckily for me I read the Circuit Driver guide to Silverstone again yesterday in preparation which helped enourmously during the race to find spots to claw back time from the faster cars.
The battle with Madd lasted for what felt like a considerable time; once again I was much faster in the wiggly bits but struggled to get close enough on the straights to get into the tow and slingshot past. Finally I got the mistake I needed as Madd wobbled through the exit of Chapel and I got a solid tow into Stowe, only to see him spin off behind trying to cut back on the exit.
That left me in 13th and chasing Colin for Team Shark/Junior honours, but just as I was starting to make an impression on him I had one of the strange laps where the car seems to have no grip at all. After that I had to slow down a bit as the grip returned but the tyres were past their prime, especially as I had a brief off coming out of Priory, and had to settle for 13th.
It's a real shame I'm going to miss the Endurance Clubmen because my race pace was much better than I expected and the car felt really solid for 90% of the race.
