Qualified P8. Lap 1 is smooth almost all the way, until the exit from the Casio Triangle. A Spaniard who had gotten it a bit wrong and been pushed onto the kerbs was rejoining coming past the pit entry, so I ended up going a bit wider than I would have liked to get around and give space. The Austrian from attempt 4 then just barges straight through the middle. He definitely made contact with me and I think he made contact with the Spaniard as well.
The Spaniard gets turn 1 all sorts of wrong on lap 2 so back up to P8. I end up side-by-side with a South African who got a poor exit to turn 1 going into the S-bends and he almost sends me off, but thankfully not quite. Up to P7 by the Degners, where a Slovakian had made a mistake and was carrying a penalty. I sneak past through the tunnel and briefly move up to P6. I end up having to take the long way around the hairpin, and the Slovakian attempts to shove me off coming out of it.
I catch right up with the Austrian at the Casio Triangle as he makes a mess of it, and I'm now sandwiched between him and the South African. All hell is about to break loose. The South African almost pushes me off to pass at turn 1, and a Czech goes past me as well. The Czech gets a much better exit from the S-bends, ending up alongside the South African heading towards the Degners. The South African then almost shoves the Czech driver off and I take a position back. The Czech then goes from bad to worse, overshooting the second Degner behind me.
The South African gets a track limits penalty at the Casio Triangle on lap 3, and that sets up for my death march on lap 4. The Austrian had a very bad exit from Spoon, allowing the South African alongside as he served his penalty. I also got the slipstream from the South African, allowing me to edge in front heading into 130R where I make a slight mistake after touching the kerb and have to catch the car.
I'm doing everything I can at this point to stay out the way and regain control, but apparently the Austrian is having that racing line even if I'm swerving around on it. He nudges me left, sending me partially onto the gravel and unbalancing my car
again. I barely get it stopped in time and the other two go a bit haywire through the triangle. I get alongside the Austrian coming out of the triangle and at this point, I'm thinking he's going
left because of how he's positioned himself
. Instead, we end up with a chaotic pit lane entry with me unintentionally barging past him.
As we come out of the pit lane, we catch up with a Spaniard who pushes me wide at turn 1. The Austrian then decides to finish the job, deliberately shoving me off. With my dirty tyres, I fall all the way down to P11. When we get to the hairpin, the Pole I'm in front of almost sends me into the gravel.
And we're
still not done. On lap 8, I'm somehow back up to P9 after mistakes from others. After approaching the hairpin with a 0.5s gap behind, I get rammed by the Czech driver and then spun out by a Spaniard as I'm attempting to right myself. Honestly, what is wrong with people?! End result, yet another P14.