my car was horrid with 26 wear at the back and 2-1 wing
Holy carp, no wonder I was all over you! I was running 2-7!
Gradually homed in on a decent setup during qually, which I spent the whole of running on race fuel. That left me 6th on the grid, just behind API. Spent a few laps trying to pressure him into a mistake and eventually got one when he got sideways out of the last corner, which was enough to let me get alongside down the front straight and slip through into turn 1.
Started to pull away, and even more surprising started to catch the leaders! Was rapidly into the 1:02s, and then Ade and Michael fell off, leaving me 3rd behind Jeff, with good tyre wear (I seemed to be the only one not locking his brakes everywhere!). Started to mount a serious attack on JR, figuring all I really needed was a mistake out of the final corner, but that was his strongest corner and I couldn't find a way by.
As we started to lap people, I realised Ade was now catching us rapidly. I kept a close eye on the gap and realised that the only place he was really strong was the loop which links the two parts of the main circuit to form the B course. I figured it wouldn't be too hard to defend there, and with only 3 minutes remaining I was confident I could hang on to the podium I missed out on at Brands.
What I didn't reckon with was misjuding how much Jeff would have to check up in Shellkurve behind Matt Rowe's lapped car. I pinched the brakes a bit too hard and did a neat 360, avoiding the walls but losing a couple of seconds and allowing Ade past. I thought I blown muy podium spot... only to have Ade lose it in turn 1 and hand the place back!
A great race for me, with massively better pace than I've had before in the Exige (top few laps times all
very close). Congrats to Gazza for resisting Jeff's intense pressure for the whole race, and Jeff himself for squeezing more speed out of that Elise than is humanly possible.
