The pace lap went a lot better than I had expected, as I have seen some absolutely terrible warm up laps in the past. I lost sight of
@JakeKing39 in the transition to the race so I kept some space between me and
@Pubs16 to try and ensure there was no contact but I couldn't be 100% sure, I did my best to keep in my position and I got a great start, almost jumping
@Pubs16 in front at the first corner to take second but I left some space for
@JakeKing39 presuming he was there.
Coming up to turn 2 I felt really confident with the car until I had a touch of oversteer which sent me back across the track into
@PJTierney, which I sincerely apologise for. I carefully pulled away after bouncing off of the inside wall and limped my way back around the circuit to the pits.
I entered the pits and put on a brand new set of RM, knowing I wasn't going to make any headway on
@PJTierney on RH.
I found the car really comfortable on RM and as I got used to them I started putting in some (to my expectations) quick laps, consistent low 2:04's. I then started to aim for beating
@Ramalhinho91's time.
I was on my own for a long time before I started seeing a blue marker on the map and I figured it might be
@PJTierney so I started pushing the car and clocking in the fast laps before I eventually got within sight of him, before I spun.
I recovered and had another attempt at catching him, using the same technique, keep on rolling the laps in, keeping the car on the track and as the fuel level got lower, my car felt much faster and I felt much more confident going into and coming out of the sharp corners.
It was about halfway into the race I got within sight on
@PJTierney again but this time I got closer and closer (this must have been the time he had a little run in with the leader and attained damage). I saw him pit so I decided to keep going, even with tyres showing 8/7 on the front and 9/8 on the rear, I was confident I could still drive the car as fast.
I then pitted for a fresh set of tyres and a load of fuel and managed to get out in front of
@PJTierney!
On my out lap, I then saw
@-vinc'- disappear from the standings on the right of the screen.
I kept pushing and pushing and then saw that
@Pubs16 put in a great lap of 2:02.886, of which a couple of laps later I managed an almost perfect lap and achieved a 2:02.891, sooo close!
Doing consistent 2:03's I then started to see another blue marker on the map so I started pushing the car again, this time beyond it's limit but I kept it stuck on the circuit until I got close to him, then I spun coming out of The Chase so I pitted for a fresh set of RM and had another go.
I started pulling
@Pubs16 in and he made a mistake at Hell's Corner which allowed me to get close enough to smell his exhaust but then coming over the mountain I got a little too confident and slammed the wall just before Skyline and attained front-right damage, so I tried to bring the car home before I spun again at the same place and picking up rear-right damage, making the car un-driveable on Conrod Straight, I touched the grass going into The Chase and went off backwards.
I rejoined the circuit to find
@Ramalhinho91 closing in fast and on his last lap so I moved over to the right and let him through and just coasted to the finish line.
4th
I definitely enjoyed the race and it was a big challenge, and like I said earlier, well done to
on his podium. The Nissan's were definitely suited well to this circuit and I felt I really struggled in the Honda but tried to make as much of it as I could. 👍