Might have been one of the toughest races for me.
Was surprised that the Vette could be quicker in one lap than the Elan, so pole was unexpected.
The Vette has so much power that I couldn't stop the rears from spinning at the start, so I almost lost it to Mike's E-Type. Luckily for me when the tires gripped I was off in 1st in T1.
The first 10 laps or so were pretty relaxed (compared to what was going to follow). Madd was attacking me, especially in the last corner, but I always had the poweradvantage on the straight.
But after 10 laps my tires were shot and it was starting get a fight against the maching. Mike had attacked Madd in the meantime as well, so there was a small gap at the start of my tires' demise
.
When we reached lap 15 I was really struggling and thought to myself: "I can't keep this up for an additional 17 laps." Madd was all over me and so was Mike. A few times they overtook me in the last corner, just for me to blast by on the straight
.
10 Laps before the end I was fighting mostly my car. I checked before the corner where Madd was to see if I needed to keep room, but once in the corner and the exit I was focussing completely on handling the car (briefly checking mirrors), as it needed all of my attention
.
Madd did well to not hitting me, as it had to be very difficult maintaining a close gap when the handling differences are so big.
Due to all the hard fighting we lost time and PRibeiro was closing up to us. And not much later Bara also showed up. So at that point we had a 5 car train (1 Vette, 1 E-Type, 3 Elans) heading towards the finish with 5 laps to go on the counter.
Very unlucky Madd downsifted to quick, as he deserved atleast 2nd place, as he was very quick and consistent.
The finish was fun with you PR. I saw it in the replay, that Ossie must have thought: "Ah cheers."
Ruskus: which backmarker was it?
Don't worry, it wasn't you, but I'm not telling in public who it was.