Was a great race. Re watched the replay (well highlights of it) and it was great watching the battle with Chris at the start. Essentially, if I was ahead, he'd be in my slipstream and I'd be knackering my tyres trying to get away... so I let him pass... then sat in his slipstream... then noticing MattieM was catching us, I got past again... once again, Chris was in my slipstream.
I knew I had to do something to break out of this cycle, so even though I didn't need to pit - I knew if I did, I had a chance in the outlap to break free of Chris (we were lapping at that time around 2 min 42's and on fresh tyres I could do a 2 min 38).
The problem was, I knew if he saw me pit - he'd just follow me in or wise up to it. So as we approached the chicane, I let him slip past, then I nipped into the pits behind him knowing he couldn't follow me in. Then when I got out of the pits I pushed maximum attack for a few laps... when Chris eventually came out of the pits himself he was 6.4 seconds behind me... it had worked - I was free of the slipstream on him and I could power away.
... well, although Chris was now matching my pace and had fresher tyres than me ... the battle was on.
I just pushed hard and chris matched ... a few laps I stretched up to 8 seconds ahead, but then disaster, around lap 16 my tyres were feeling tired again! I knew I had to get near to lap 18-20 before a pit, so I kept it out there while I watched chris catching ... 7 secs behind, 6.5... 5.8.... I had to throw in the towel and pit. Any more time on those tyres and he'd get close enough to use slipstream and it'd all be over.
So I chucked it into the pits, but Chris followed immediately (this may have been his biggest mistake as his tyres were still fresher). We both exited the pits and I got on it, for a while around 6 seconds apart... chris sometimes gaining a few tenths, then me gaining some... then I started pulling away (around lap 23) ... I assume Chris knew we would have to go a long time on these tyres and so was pacing himself, I was now thinking if it came to it, I could fit another stop in and maybe be ok? Plus I had figured out that the core wear to the tyres were under braking and the tighter corners... taking it easier through these and the tyres weren't wearing as bad.
... lead went up 7 seconds, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 seconds... I was now thinking either way I had it covered - even if my tyres fell off on last few laps I could absorb the loss in pace.
Around lap 28 the rain was falling hard, I still had over half my tyres left and surprisingly Chris pitted. I knew I had it in the bag, just drive round and take it easy - let a few back markers on wets like tuner307 go past and hold tight...
... however, disaster on the 29th lap - I went to over take leonardo and he must have thought I was racing for position and bumped me several times. The car was a wreck - I couldn't complete the race like this and so limped round to the pits and pitted in... about 40 seconds lost - and the final 30th lap on an un-needed fresh inter tyres - but I was home and dry with a 17 second lead over Chris.
- Great race!
.
Crashed a few times because a little knowledge of the track, tried to avoid you all when lapiing
