Fantastic night of racing
I enjoyed every minute of it, but it was very exhausting :tongue:
Quali 1: Smashed my PB to take Pole by around 4 tenths
Race 1: Made a great start and held the lead going into turns 1 and 2. Slowly opened the gap back to Andreas to around 2 seconds but he responded and started to claw me back in. With 5 laps to go he was on my tail again and pushing hard to get past but I could hold him at bay, until I made a mistake in the second to last corner and he pulled alongside down the home straight with 2 laps to go. He managed to get in front and I knew that it was going to be all over for me unless I could get him back quickly. Unfortunately I couldn't get positioned well enough for the majority of the lap but got an excellent exit out of the second to last corner and close right up on him. I out-dragged him on the straight and sneaked ahead around the top hairpin. I managed to hold onto the lead until the end by just 0.3 seconds.
Quali 2: Epic battle ensued with 4 of us all being in pole position at some point. I was down in about 4th a couple of tenths off pole but managed to get in a good lap to take pole by a mere 0.032 seconds ahead of Kelvin right at the end of quali.
Race 2: Nearly missed the start (joined track with red lights already on) and therefore I fluffed the start. Kelvin pulled alongside me on my right, Roy did the same on my left, leaving me with the mayonnaise in the middle. We managed to get through the opening couple of corners safely with Paul right on our tails as well. Going into turn 2 a couple of laps later, Kelvin outbraked himself in the lead where as Roy and I were alongside. Roy had the inside but went deep, allowing me to cut back up the inside and move into the lead. In the second to last corner, I went a bit deep and lost the position to Roy and was trying hard to keep Paul behind as he got alongside over the start/finish line. Paul was about a car length in front when we reached the braking point of turn 2 but he did the same as Roy did on the previous lap, allowing me to cut back and retake the position.
Lap 5 and Roy has a huge slide around turn 2 which allows both myself and Paul to close up, with me pulling alongside. We reached the chicane and somehow we all got through it without colliding and I was able to out-brake Roy into the following corner. Roy had a go at passing me at the start of lap 6, but I was able to defend that move before he made a mistake later in the lap to allow Paul through into second. Paul was able to pull alongside a few times whilst behind me which led to a tap between us going into the turn 2 hairpin, unfortunately leading to Paul having a small moment and losing the place to Roy. Paul and Roy have a good little scrap for a couple of laps but I was unable to make the most of it and couldn't pull away. This led to Roy having another attempt at me on the run down to turn 2 on lap 12 but he was unable to squeeze through. For the remainder of the lap, Roy was swarming all over my exhaust, and Paul was doing the same to Roy. As we crossed the line to start lap 13, Paul pulled alongside Roy but in the process of trying to get past, he overshot the corner, leaving it down to Roy and myself in the battle for the remaining 3 laps. The gap between us opened and closed as we both made mistakes during these final few laps. With 2 corners to go, Roy was about 3 tenths behind but got an excellent exit of of the corner and it lead to a drag race between the two of us through the final corner and down the home straight. I went right to defend the inside, especially as he had the speed. On the exit of the corner he nudged ahead but I was accelerating faster but there was just not enough track and Roy took a great victory by 0.053 seconds. You guys wanted a memorable 2nd race, and boy was it memorable.
2 races and I was in a tough battle for every lap of both of them for the lead. Very pleased about that although a little disappointed I couldn't hold on in the second race. So much happened that I don't think I remembered it all. I think I need to go have a lie down now :tongue:
Thanks guys for racing, and thanks to RD as well, as without it, we would not of had a truly memorable night