Now recoverd from what was an epic enduro.
Q: managed to get third in the GTS class behind Martijn so pleased with that.
Race: After the parade lap, which went clean, started the race well, but having some GTS cars behind me I thought they would pass me on the mulsane straight but they didn't. Heading off towards indie I had Fredde behind in his GTS and thinking he was getting closer and would be making a move I missed my braking piont and wasn't able to haul it up before the turn. As I went through the catch fencing I managed to miss the barrier and having done this many times in practice I drove along the inside to get back on the track. This lost me several postions but I knew there was still a long way to go so didn't panic. As the laps counted down to my first pitstop, lap 14, as much as the tank could hold, I started to pick up some of the places I had lost earlier. I now had Martin & Nige infront, both in GTS cars, & I knew when Nige was going to pit, same as me, but Martin pitted a lap earlier. Pushed hard, pitted & got infront of Martin. Following Nige I was slowly catching him, by 10ths per lap, & after 6 laps had him in my sights. It was lap 20 & the gap was down to around 4 secs when a GTS car came out of the pits inbetween us & Nige managed to get a nice draft from him down mulsane. This added around a second to the gap but as I was making note of this again missed my braking for indie & this time just clipped the fencing. Not much damage but I did lose a couple of mph of top speed which only affected me on the long mulsanne straight. Shortly after this incident I was being overtaken by a GTP car down the mulsanne, which I gave him all the room needed as he was a faster car, but as we approached the hairpin at the end he was on the inside and when he braked he then moved over to the left and hit me which sent up both spining. I carried on after recovering but again on the approach to indie I messed up or due to some car damage & with the incident still on my mind, I hit the fencing again but this time the front spliter came off. As I was only half way through my second stint I had no option but to pit so decided to change my pit strategy and got new tyres, topped up with fuel and did the repairs. I was now I found that down the mulsanne straight I was losing 6 mph of the top end speed which lost me 3 seconds a lap. I knew now there was no way I was going to make up any time so settled in just to finish the race where I could. As the laps went by I could maintain my position by being as fast through the slow part of the lap to make up for the time I was losing on the straight. With the pit strategy now changed I knew I had to do a splash & dash to make it to the end so did this a few laps before I was going too, I also put on new tyres & when I came out I noticed that Martin was about 15 secs up the road. So as I had nothing to lose I pushed like hell trying to close the gap which I did in the slow section but always lost it back down the long straight. 3 laps from the finish & again in indie I pushed a little to hard and spun on exit & into the barrier & lost my front spliter & did some suspension damage. As I had a big gap to the car behind I pitted again knowing I would retain my postion & fixed the damage. To my horror I now found I had regained all the speed I had lost, shame the pit crew hadn't spotted the earlier suspension damage, & managed to do my fastest lap on my last lap 2:45.xx.
The main thing is I managed to finish the race which was an enduro in it's self as my arms, hands & back took a pounding.
Thanks Remoc for setting this up, shame you couldn't race yourself. Grats to the winners in both classes & wd to all that finished the race, & podium in it's self I think. Hope to be there for the next one & also hope to see most of you there.
P.s. congratulation on your birthday Dennis.
