Judging by previous posts and the number of retirements, my opinion of this circuit was correct.
I struggled to get a fast setup for the Waza and was a good 3-4 secs off the pace with my best laps, but I was sure that this circuit was one of those that would punish any error,so decided from very early testing that survival was going to be my tactic.
I'm not sure if it is the long straight sections followed by corners that invite you to try and carry more speed than is prudent, or the slippery surface, but in testing I found it sooo easy to stuff the car into the bales at T2 or run wide onto the sand on the fast sweeps.
I set up deliberately high ratios in the gearbox and was careful to avoid stressing the Wazaturbine, in fact 1st gear was so high that I figured my riskiest moment would be getting off the line!! but it gave me a safe 1st gear for T2 on full race fuel ( later in the race when the huge fuel load had reduced I was taking that in 2nd).
At the start the "Wild Bunch" vanished into the heat haze and as I knew it would take a couple of laps to coax my tyres up to temp, I followed Mr Nauman (who had geared his non Waza Honda for some serious speed on the straights!!) for a few laps until he made a mistake and gave me the opportunity to get the inside line into T2.
Cars dropped out ahead and I slowly climbed the leader board. I spotted Al rejoining the circuit after a quick sand castle building break and held him at bay for a few laps. But, it was obvious that his Eagle was a few seconds a lap quicker that I was prepared to push for and eventually I screwed up the entry to the last hairpin and ran wide allowing him through.
It looked like the cars in front were settled into their places and 5th was as good as it was going to get
with about 6 laps to go. Then Al dropped off the radar and I was 4th, but Hristo and Tom were out of sight and Bart was too far in front to mount any sort of challenge. I was running last of the 4 cars still in it and almost quit, but pride in HER car made me look to finish the race and prove what superb machines her two Wazas were.
Last lap and I see what looks like a camel limping across the track in the distance, but it turned out to be a wounded Eagle with Tom on board just half a lap from the finish!! At first i thought he was recovering from a spin and that his pace would keep him in 3rd. But it seems he had more serious problems and he pulled over to let me pass and pick up the last podium spot, which made it 2 wazas on the podium
. far better result than I had hoped for and some valuable ponts for the team champs!!
Grats to Hristo and Bart, and hard luck Tom after a great race for the lead.