These two races had so much in them, so apologies in advance: this is a long one
What a pair of awesome races, so close, great racing all.
Race one - Yugo, Harry & I made a break from the start, with Mike close behind.
Coming out of the esses on lap 3, Yugo kicked his tail out & I was suddenly in a bad spot next to him. Despite slamming on the brakes we made light contact, which let Mike thru & allowed Harry a break. We never saw Harry again (despite Yugo’s effort incl. a 2:03 flat towards the end).
Yugo & I were all over each other & Mike, and once Yugo got past I was keen to follow and chase down Harry. In hindsight, a little too keen.
I had a move going into 130R, but misjudged my speed & had to chuck it sideways to make the corner. Didn’t realize Mike & I connected until I watched the replay, thought he’d just taken avoiding action. My bad Mike, I was too optimistic & should’ve let you back past.
Once I had clear track I found rhythm and put in a series of 2:03s to close Yugo to 1.5sec. But I never got closer - no matter what I threw at him (inc a 2:03.2), he had an answer. Beautiful driving Yugo. That 2:03.0 at the end was something special.
Race two - I bogged down at the start and found myself last by T1. What followed was the closest race I’ve ever been in.
End of L6 I thought my network had died when three cars ahead all went wide at 130R. First corner L7 we lost two more, and I was suddenly up to 8th - with Yugo on my tail & four more behind him.
I made the mistake of checking my rear view coming out of the hairpin, which threw me & I missed my braking point into Spoon by 50m.
Raul was the victim, and after slowing to let him past (& somehow not causing a massive pile up) I was back to 13th.
I took a deep breath and focused on consistent laps to catch up.
Two laps later I was back on his tail, and on L10 Moby went wide at T1 & slotted behind Raul, who was right behind Nova.
Nova got eaten by Degner 1/2 and a few laps later Moby went wide at 130R.
This left Raul, R4mrod & I racing for 5th on L12, a battle that went right to the end. R4mrod was the meat in the sandwich and did a great job of assertive defensive driving.
I had two good chances to get past him, and bottled both of them.
L16 on the back straight R4mrod had a run on Raul, but I cheekily gave Raul a bump draft & got alongside. I couldn’t complete the move cleanly, so took myself wide at 130R and tried to catch up again.
My favourite was into T1 lap 17(?). I’d gotten past on the outside, but braked too early out of fear of the T1/2 ripple strip. R4mrod held his ground, slid slightly into my tail - which spun me out - but then kindly tapped my front which brought me back in line rather than out in the weeds. Very gentlemanly of you, R4mrod.
Out of the hairpin L19, I lost the tail, then R4mrod ran off track and Raul was gifted a 1.5sec gap. I knew I had a chance, put my head down, and despite being in slip on the final lap I wasn’t close enough to make a move until the last chicane.
Raul went defensive as expected, so I tried an untested move around the outside. I somehow got it stopped in front of him and despite a little rubbing we made it thru side by side.
I was scared of contact on the run to the flag, so left Raul space & only just pipped him by the length of my hood.
What a finish to such an intense race.
Thanks heaps everyone I raced near, & thanks Nova for another great round & some awesome pics.
See most of you for the next Michelin round.
@Yugofan @Harry Rowley @MikeGrove @Noob01_lmdead @GTR4MROD @llNovall @Moby45