It was really close in Qualifying and it was nail-biting watching Tim complete his last run at the end of the session, but he only improved by 2 tenths or so.
The start was semi-cautious, because with just a 6 laps race one couldn't afford to ease off too much. I was expecting a 9-10 laps race (which would've given us a ~50 mins race) and I think that would've made a big difference in terms of attrition, but it turned out to be just a sprint race.
Tim's Ferrari was on steroids and I couldn't do much to stop him from passing on the straights, but after the first village the slipstream pulled me in front, but only until we exited the slow right at the low part of the track.
Tim attacked hard on the straights that followed, but had to ease off when we hit those slight kinks downhill, probably as a precaution. That allowed Dave to pass him and slot behind while I tackled the tricky left-handers.
Surprisingly we all managed clean through there and Tim was back into 2nd again, but then we went into the twisty bits and although Tim seemed faster, he had no room to make a pass and I think he nearly lost it in one of those slow lefts after the forest section.
As we motored towards the end of the lap, it became clear that it won't be possible to escape Tim, despite taking some risks in some corners and pulling away slightly - his Ferrari would instantly recover the gap! I was wondering if leading him out of the last slow corner would be enough to cross the line before his beast would pass me, and that proved to be the case when we completed lap 1, but only just!
He took the lead into T1 on lap 2 and again, I had a run on him towards the slow right at the bottom of the track. This time he managed to repass me on the exit and I eased off a bit to avoid risks, and settled behind him. Then came the nasty moment when we both turned in too late for the 2nd of those 3 left-handers, went wide and had to combat the mighty trees.
While Tim seemed to have clipped a tree on the outside, I managed to slide my car towards the inside and avoid initial contact, but overdid it and went into the inside line of trees, clipped one of them and spun around. I managed to continue pretty quickly, but estimated a 5-6 seconds gap to Tim by that time.
Surprisingly Tim's car appeared just after the 2nd village and was going noticeably slower, then he just let me through in the forest section and soon disappeared from my mirrors. From there on I just had to avoid any mistakes and take it to the finish. Pushed for a fast lap near the end, but avoided taking too big risks.
BTW, there was a very funny moment during Qualifying - me and Dave spinning at one of those 3 fast left handers, then getting stuck to a haybale on the outside and struggling simultaneously to get detached from it.
