Well,
that was an interesting 1st run with this league.
Race 1
The start, well done to Frederic Dubois for avoiding my crap start, i didn't see the lights go green,sorry :-(
was down to 5th by T3 but was back to 3rd when Jerome and Domink touched and both ran onto gravel at T6, then i just managed to grab 2nd when Helder Assuncao ran wide at T3 lap 2.
On lap 3 i totally messed up T6 and ran onto gravel,but,keeping momentum i rejoined in a gap but only after losing another 3 places,so i was back to 5th again.
i trailed Wido Rossen,Helder Felipe and Frederic Dubois for 4 laps then managed to get alongside Wido on the exit of T6 which mean't i had the inside line for T7 so long as Wido realised and never turned in too sharply, but i hoped he knew i was just in front and would leave room,he did
lap 9 Helder Felipe ran too deep into T7 and i was into 3rd,then on lap 11 Maurice Hurkmans' tyres were gone and i was gifted 2nd place just after the chicane, i hoped Frederic was suffering the same as Maurice so i kept pushing,but alas,no such luck,so i finished 2nd
very happy with that as it was my 1st time with you guys.
i thought i would be clever and tweak my set up a bit to see if i could make it bit faster towards end of race BIG MISTAKE!!!
Race 2
7th on the grid due to reverse grid,hoping to start better than race 1,not bad,bit too much wheel spin than i can usually do,which mean't Frederic stormed past me and Wido, at T1 i felt like a pinball as Julien Dufresness came hot on the inside,totally on the grass which mean't he couldn't stop, and he pushed me into Esa Kuusisto,sorry for that.
there was a bit of argey-bargey on the exit of T3 between Dominik Furmaniak and Helder Felipe, i had a hope of getting past Frederic at the chicane but he had a better run out of it and closed the door.
after my set up tweaking i found i couldn't brake as late for T1 and Esa Kuusisto made a daring late brake inside and got a superb run on me and Dominik who had run a bit wide, i also managed to get past him too.
i thought i would have a go at Esa into T3 and it paid off,just as we got half way round the corner we touched,which put me into 6th
lap 4 i ran wide into T6,again,and Esa got alongside but i had just enough traction to hold position for T7,so i thought,but he late braked and i had tno choice but let him take the line,great stuff.
then,lap 5 T3,again, Esa made the same mistake as lap 2 and i got inside,cleanly this time, but the BMW had better traction on exit and he pulled in front,but ran a bit widein T4 and i was through,NOT,bloody BMW traction is a *****.
Esa then made a slight mistake at the esses which gave me the chance to go through,yeah,5th
buggeration,on lap 7, T6 AGAIN, i ran onto the gravel and Esa and Jerome got past me
lap 9, Christian Deparis made a hasty move inside Jerome ands ran him off line, it wasn't intetional as i think he locked his front wheels and had nowhere to go,
but this put in 6th, i was tempted to let Jerome through as i felt bad about him losing a place like that,but the adrenalin got the better of me and i carried on,i didn't have to worry though as he somehow got alongside at T5 and even though he was on the outside at T6,Esa had overpowered and was on the grass on the inside,my side,so i backed off the power in case he bounced off the armco but in doing so let Jerome past.
Christian Deparis outbraked himself into T1 on lap 10 which left Jerome and myself 4th and 5th repectively,but i got a bit of tow down the straight to,you guessed it, T6 and when he braked i did too,but i didn't slow enough and pushed the back of Jerome's alfa round the wrong way, so sorry, i did say sorry at the time and waited to let him back past,but in doing so it let Helder Assuncao through too,and Christian too. so now, thanks to the bloody T6 i was down into 7th.
Jerome ran wide into T7 and i got alongside but couldn't hold him off into the chicane and Mathieu Folgavez got through too,by now my tyres were gone big time.
on lap 11,it seems as if T6 wasn't only causingtrouble for me,but Mathieu and Jerome both ran onto the gravel after Mathieu tagged Jerome,this put me back to 6th,with Jerome now on a charge,he was catching,if we had to do 13 and not 12 i think he would have got past as my tyres were like jelly.
in short
Race 1,
Great
Race 2
not so good
Dave