Ah, race reports. I've missed these.
Started off with a decent jump off the starting line and tried to squeak by Eric E. but ended up running basically alongside him for a second or three before I realized it wasn't happening and backed off before turn 1. Early laps had me up in fifth place thanks to some spin outs and off-track adventures, but it didn't last, as Martin eats into my lead and I end up going defensive for a few turns. He was quite a bit quicker than me, and a couple of close calls made me nervous enough to let him by without further fuss.
Unfortunately, this let Eric E. by too, and I'd get very used to the sight of the back of his car over the rest of the run. I spend a couple of laps hanging close to them, as they're now engaged in a fight, and I decide to employ the 'Way of the Stalking Vulture' and hope one of them makes a mistake. I make a few oopsies, though, and they gain some time on me, and while I seem to be faster in certain sectors, they're faster in more.
Eventually, though, Martin gets caught up in something not far ahead of me and I get by him. As with Eric E's report, fourth is a gift from whatever evil spirits cursed William, but the gift seems to be headed for the service desk as, after I pass him in the pits, he starts eating away at the gap a couple seconds at a time. A half-spin on my part doesn't even bring my car to a complete halt, but it lets him catch up further, and while the minutes are counting down, I doubt I'll be able to keep him behind me.
Then something I don't see happens to him, and the gap widens to 10 seconds. With five minutes left in the race, I'm fairly sure I can keep hold of that, and I do. Unfortunately, I can't catch up to Eric, who apparently saved his good tricks for close to the end, because while I'd kept pace with him earlier, he stretches out his lead to 6-7 seconds (or more) and there's no way I can catch him...especially since my car's acting a little funny, probably due to wasted tires and a much lighter fuel load.
I cross the finish line in fourth, which was, honestly, much better than I expected with this crowd. I believe that's my best RD finish.
![Luca [OT]](https://overtake-data.community.forum/avatars/s/3235/3235113.jpg?1697196734){kind=avatar}
