Oh my god, that was amazing. My best event ever, and it was in the wet.
In practice, I was doing 1:58s on average on low fuel, so looked like I was going to be in the middle of the pack.
Quali:
The lap felt good, had a few lock ups but only slight ones. And I come out with a lap time of 1:57.545 :eek: How on earth did I do that?
That got me ninth on the grid, and starting on the outside.
Race 1:
The revs just died on the start, but I get away well enough to stay in 9th. Braking really early for turn one making sure I didn't hit people. But that wasn't too easy because people had their lights on. Lights on for the start should be banned. I was following the Honda of Terry Harmer into turn one, and I just couldn't see if his brake lights were on or not, because the Honda's rear headlights, are the same ones used for the brake lights. So I had to be extra caustios. But I got through round the outside and came out clean.
Anibal Moreira gets past me, but tangles with Harmer, gifting me 8th.
By the end of the 2nd lap, Moreira is on my tail. I can tell he's faster overall, especially in the middle sector, but I kept him at bay until I run wide at the turn after flat out right hand jump (turn six I think) the next lap, dropping me down to 11th.
I keep going and the guys in front of me, stay in sight for a while, and the ones behind don't close up that much, so I knew I wasn't that much slower than the people around me. I stay out until lap 8, pitting from 8th. Coming out in 11th.
My in lap was just fast enough, because Simon Gardner, had pitted one lap earlier, and I come out just in time to take the inside line for turn one. Close mate.
The two of us have a great fight. Unfortunatly, I lose all concentration for the approach to turn one on lap 10, being thankfull I didn't hit Simon. Argh.
Then Simon goes off at turn six, but nothing too dramatic, just a rear left on the grass and the car slides off. He rejoins right behind me.
By now (lap 10), my rears aren't in great shape, and on some of the faster corners, it's sliding a little, but not too fast to snap it into a spin, and not too much that I'm having to apply alot of opposite lock.
On lap 11, Simon is still right on me, the two of us running withing a tenth or two between us. On the last corner, I do my normal microscopic lift on entry to get the car into the corner better, but the rear slides for a bit longer, and Simon has nowhere to go, and taps my rear. Thankfully it was just a slight tap, and I get the car back ina straight line very quickly.
NP mate.
By lap 12, the end of the pit stops, and the two of us are 9th and 10th, but our rears are almost giving up all together, and the two of us are sliding around, but all it did was make it more fun.
On lap 13, I run wide at turn nine, and on braking for the chicane, Simon goes on through. After that he runs away from me, and I'm happy for 10th.
For race two, I decided to pump the tyres up a bit, two KPA on the fronts and five on the rears, as well as put the brake bias back to 52:48 from it's 59:41 I had for race one. This really helped the wear rate, and I could keep the same pace each lap I was in clean air. Some might thinkt that also allied to a very stiff rear of every bump and rebound sitting at 14, with suspension at 110, and ARB at 100, Matt Clark called my setup "Shocking." But at least here in the wet, the car was doing exactly what I wanted it to, all I needed to do was not muck up my braking.
Race 2:
Starting in 10th, on the inside this time, the race looked promising. and oh boy, what a race it turned out to be for me.
I got an average start, and it dropped me to 11th. Right before the calamity up ahead in the braking zone for turn one. Benjamin Linstruiser moved left, being completely un aware that Eric Plimmer's Honda has his front wheels in line with the rear of his Vectra. He is then spun round, and hit by leonardo Tuma. Us lot behind braked to avoid joining in. Unfortunatly, I see in the replay that I tagged Simon's right rear, but my car isn't anywhere near him (a good meter apart in my replay), but I see paint fly in the replay, so something must have happened. Sorry mate, some people did say they were seeing lag, so I guess it was that maybe. My car looks completly un-damaged in the replay, not dent on it.
So after that, I'm up into 9th, with Terry Harmer right on me, who has Nathan Magrath right behind him.
Stefan Beemsterboer joins the three of un on the next lap. Then at turn nine, I brake early, and Harmer, with a little bit of a push, gets past me, but also allows Beemsterboer past both of us. I then brake early again for the chicane, and Nathan also gets through. From 9th to 12th in two corners.
We then pass an accident involving Linstruiser and Tuma at turn three. Me being the only one no to pass Linstruiser. Then later on in the lap, Gunthar Rowe (in his Alfa. Three strong this time, yippe) gets past me.
On the next lap, Linstruiser falls off at turn six, and I'm keeping up with Gunthar.
I stay in a solid 11th, with Gunthar not getting away. Then on lap seven, we catch up to Nathan whos struggling for grip, so pits that lap. I stay out until lap eight (where unfotunatly, Guthar retires after from his post, saying he lost all steering at turn three, bad luck mate) from 8th, and rejoin in 8th. Fantastic! Looks like Beemsterboer and Harmer took four tyres.
I then jump up to 7th after Caramidaru Andrei Bogdan and Peter Bartfai have contact at turn seven on lap nine.
After that, Bartfai (whos in the third Alfa,
) is able to jusr drive away from me, so I focus on keeping the pace and gap back to Linstruiser whos fighting with Sidonio Manuel. So by lap twelve, I'm up to sixth.
Unfortunatly, looks like Bartfai lost connection or something on lap twelve, unlucky mate, you deserved fifth.
So I come home in 5th, bettering my previous best of 6th.
Thanks all for the race, and I can't wait for the next race. Especially for the next wet one.
![Luca [OT]](https://overtake-data.community.forum/avatars/s/3235/3235113.jpg?1697196734){kind=avatar}
