@Raresch
Good advice from John, watch how he races, you can see him thinking about his strategy as he drives, does not always come off, but that is part of the enjoyment of the whole racing thing.
I know what you mean, the first corner is a state of mind, to survive you have to be a 100% committed and be prepared to deal with the consequences, if not it is a disaster waiting to happen. So personally I take the view, that is I am far more concerned about hitting other drivers than one or two places gained.
And what is the logic behind me wizzing down the outside overtaking everyone, only to now have 5 or 6 faster drivers on my tail.
It is only the first 10 seconds of a race, with perhaps another 60 minutes left.
Very rarely does loosing three or four places in the first corner effect my race, to the contrary it leaves me some space to avoid the ensuing mess that usually occurs.
Have you not noticed, heated battles in the first 5 or 6 laps often lead to disaster, especially with other battles going on close by.
If I had the pace of Joel, and either needed to be in front of or at least a close second then I would have a different attitude. But then I would only have one or two drivers to worry about, not a whole pack?
Also the front drivers have just that bit more skill and the commitment to make judging their limit a more obvious.
Be patient let the race unfold around you, the race will give you all the hints you need, look at other people’s pace, see were they are slow compared to you, don’t impatiently overtake faster or same pace drivers as you, unless they have an off, it’s quite amazing that driver are so much quicker when on your tail, compared to a gap of 5 or 6 seconds.
Bit of a lecture, thought it may be of use to you as you definitely now have the pace.
The other reality is that unless to are in the front fast pack of cars in a full field you are going to loose a bucket load of time, I have seen sometimes 60 seconds go in the first two laps for various reasons to the front runners, it is just some thing you have to live with, and that is with me having no incidents.
Think about that, it means I have to be 2 seconds of a lap faster than the leaders to stand any chance of catching them, just not going to happen. Ironically it is usually the whole race time that is your friend, use it wisely.
So why all the rush for the first corner????