GT1 Class - High A - 2pm UK Time
Qualifying went worse than expected, was aiming for a 1.32.8 (best in practice was a 32.5) but ended up with a 1.33.5, qualifying only in 6th for the first race of the season...
Started on medium tyres due to my grid slot.
The start of the race was lovely and clean for the most part. I slowly made my way upto 4th after lap 3, with a couple of spinners at the kink ahead of me helping up the order. No contact, clean racing, just mistakes from those two.
The top 4 were neck and neck, less than a second between us at times. At the end of lap lap 5, the 3rd placed driver pit, however this was the scene at the start of lap 6 down the front straight:
I ceded this corner because I knew I could keep up and didn't want to cause unnecessary damage to me or others.... Thankfully, I managed to make my way upto 2nd at the end of the lap, pouncing on the car ahead running wide at the tight left hander and I was now chasing the leader. 3rd place pitted end of lap 6 having started on softs - good news for me having kept up on mediums.
I kid you not, from lap 7 onwards, 1st and 2nd were never seperated by more than 8/10ths of a second, including when we both boxed for softs on lap 12. I was quite happy sitting behind him waiting for them to make a mistake. This was the view of the top 2, more than 5 seconds ahead of third, at the start of lap 18....
The crowd were on their feet. One managed to capture some drone footage of the pair heading down the start/finish straight and into turn 1 for the 18th and final time, as ElectricNaz made his move on his German rival....
And with that, the pressure had paid off, the German driver couldn't catch his slide after putting a wheel off the track with heavily worn tyres, and I had the lead!
5 seconds ahead or so of 2nd now, I didn't do anything categorically stupid (doing a Naz) and I took the flag for 227 points!
And that is my first ever GT1 victory! I am delighted, amazed I didn't get a clean race bonus because I don't think I had any contact with anyone /any wall at all during the race, and certainly no damage. But over the moon!
Let's gooooooo!