Quick review and my own POV video
As I said yesterday one can't afford the luxury of not practising when entering a competition within this group. So yesterday I came in very cold. Practised both cars for about 5 minutes each before
@IfAndOr sent the event invite and I knew I had decent one-lap speed (59 seconds with the Seven, and around 1.18 with the 300) but even in the few laps I managed I kept making mistakes so I wasn't feeling at ease with the upcoming races.
Anyway ...
A) The "SEVEN" races
Quali - I didn't get a clean quali lap. be it because of mistakes or traffic the best I got was over the 1 minute mark. In any case I guess we all had similar problems because pole went to
@AndreasR with a 59,9xx and we all know he can do better (in fact, 5 drivers, him included, had personal FLs during the race that were better than the pole time).
Race 1- In this race I had all sorts of problems. Firstly I had a connection/lag issue that made cars around me very jumpy (and mine around them as I was told later). Secondly, I made mistake after mistake. Including an ill-judged incident with
@Oldbass47 under braking for last corner. Terrible race, probably my worst since the beginning of this cup.
Race 2 - The Gods of Random Grid Making decided I needed punishment for all my racing sins so I was placed at the back of the grid (13th): I can't really say what happened with this race, I have a muddled recollection of many mistakes again. I think I got as far as 5th at some point but another last lap mistake demoted me to 7th, and that was it.
B) The "300" races
Quali - Another fine mess. After the outlap my first flying lap was bad (1'21) and then on my second and last flying lap I met ... unexpected circumstances
(you can check that if you want, it's right after 0:49:50 into the video below) and aborted that try. So I qualified with that 1'21, almost 4 full seconds slower than pole.
"This is turning into my racing horribilus day" was all I was thinking then.
Race 3 - Careful start, followed the front pack and on lap one, at the hairpin, there was some mess up front that had
@richroo and
@Saltyjoe90 as the main casualties. So I got from 7th to 5th there. Immediatly after I tried to take 4th from
@Pantheons and we traded paint in a short scrap but he got the better of me. From that moment on I settled with 5th place, following Simon and hoping for a mistake up front (and no more mistakes from me) to gain any other spot. Closing to the end of the race nothing had changed (
@Napalm_LT and
@AndreasR up front,
@xeronima 3rd in no man's land,
@Pantheons 4th with me following him close in 5th). Then ... (0:59:25 into the video)
@AndreasR crashed or spun and blocked the track.
@xeronima somehow squeezed through but
@Pantheons was not as lucky and crashed into him, opening up the track for me in the process. So I inherited 3rd and that's where I ended.
Race 4 - This time the Gods of Random Grid Making, probably due to some offerings and prayers, bestowed me pole position. I got away cleanly but for almost the entire race I had
@Saltyjoe90 up close and keeping me worried. It was probably for the best because although I had no traffic ahead for the first time in the entire evening, I had to keep focused and be precise as possible or else ... Luckily all ended well so I won the race, and did FL as a bonus. It was good to end the night with a good result, after the disastrous first couple of races.
Cheers! See you all at Brands Hatch for the grand finale!