Terrible quali perrfpormance, dropped it through Porsche Curves to find myself head on with Chris at high speed, tried to go around him but it was too late. No time for another lap.
As such, started 13th on the grid. A little confusion on the formation lap as Wayne ended up in front of me somehow, didnt want to risk trying a move but managed to get back past him just after T4 which left us both about 1 second behind the rest of the pack as we headed off down Mulsanne. Anyway, got going and managed to close on a few of the cars in front just simply due to the power of the M1.
Up to 11th as we approached Indianaoplis with a whole gaggle of cars in front of me, decided discression here as any contact would likley be terminal so held back as we made our way through that section. Lukasz went wide coming off the porsche curves and was able to pass on the inside. Saw Anders on the left as we came out of the last chicane, thought he had just spun until i checked the replay. Seems he pulled a proper Eggbeer but almost saved it and would have had it not been for the catch fences.
Lap 2 and up to 8th, Dave looses it into T1 and spins to the inside, this left me free to chase the 2 Capri's as we headed down Mulsanne. Able to pass easily due to the power advantage. Now up to 5th chasing Brian in his M1. Spun it into The tight right hander after Indianapolis. Waited while David and Adam went through, took my moment to get back on track but it was a little unsafe so apologies to William there as I probably gave him a bit of a scare. Back to 9th with it all to do again.
Lap 4 and back up to 5th, Caught Brian and Erik having a buit of a battle, got past Brian just after Indianapolis after he ran onto the dirt and then got better drive onto the straight to take Erik. Heading into T1 and hit my normal braking spot then just before starting to turn in, get what felt like a substantial shunt which turns my car towards the barrier on the outside, I honestly thought that was the end of my race but managed to keep it going around the outside of the catch fences. Having looked at the replay it wasnt so hard and the shunt itself didnt do much damage but the contact with the wall did. It left me with both suspension damage and Aero damage. lost about 9 KPH on the straight and the car was very loose on left turns. Considered pitting to get it fixed but thought I would loose too much time so carried on.
Now in 2nd with Lee about 15 seconds up the road. Entered the Esses to find Lee on the left of the road stopped. Then it dawned on me...I'm in the lead, whats going on???? tried to keep it on the road until I pitted at lap 10. Changed all 4 tyres but decided not to fix the damage as it would cost me too much time. Should have just changed the rears but was concerned about the handling if I had done that.
Spun it on the outlap trying too hard which lost me some time to William. After he made his stop, he had a 20 second lead on me so had to push a little if I wanted the place back, it was a good battle as i would gain on the straight but he would claw it back the the twisty bits. I was still gaining 1.5 to 2 seconds / lap though and knew if i kept it on the road I would catch him in time.
Finally caught up with him on lap 15 and as we came out of the Indianapolis section he got on the power too quickly and lost the rear leaving me free to re-take the lead. Kept it consistent from there running in the 3.30's to take the win after 17 laps.
This wasnt one if my best drives to be honest and only took the win due to a superior car on the day. However there were many other M1's in the field today so I must have done something right. Only my 2nd win here at RD but what a place to do it
Good race, thx to all who participated and Thx RD / Adam for organising, enjoyed it.