I just had the most epic of races with Chorda. Me and him in 2nd and 3rd with JP far ahead.
The first 19 laps I decided to adapt my strategy since me and Denilson were able to break free of the pack around 6 laps in. I kept a steady shadow on him and the big draft on straight definitely helped me catch back up at times.
I decided I didn't want to really race him, but try to conserve my position a bit and, in the process, my tires while we raced on. When I qualified I heard him say that he was going to test an 18 lap strategy which would be a pretty gainy 1 stop method so I decided to follow him into that method and hope for the best.
Dennis is one of the most consistent drivers I've ever raced with so that made it a little simple for me to follow closely while I trusted he wouldn't make any erratic movement. If you watch the replay (which I'll record and upload to youtube soon) you'll see that there were times that we were bumper to bumper under braking. That's one of the funnest things to do in racing for me
Anyway, while all this was going on, JP was just getting farther away, we were a good 45 seconds behind.
So again, with the 18 lap stint I was sure Dennis was gonna make I set myself to enter the pits behind him so I could be as close as possible on entry. But things didn't exactly pan out like that... he kept going. Which was surprising a bit, but I played along and chased. After lap 17 went by, 18, 19 did too, so then I thought " IS he going to pit?"
On lap 19( at least I think it was 19, might've been a bit later) we had Joshua join us right out of the pits behind us with fresh tires which worried me. Just imagine me breaking one of those little Anime sweats " +" and Dennis giving a sly smirk when he saw that. We knew he'd be able to get through us on dead tires. But we pressed on and I hoped for the best (again).
I'd just like to commend Josh at this point in the story because he really played it clean and didn't dive bomb us when he could have, so thanks for that Josh, you really made the race great for us.
But he wasn't a pushover either so on the lap that Dennis finally decided to pit, he passed me on the small straight before the last turn.
We passed JP while he did his first stop of two during the last few laps before our pit.
I didn't know if Deni was gonna pit at that point yet so I hoped I wouldn't have to get around Josh to pit behind him. But I think he might've done some improvisation on his strategy when he saw me get passed (an opportunist - methinks) and jetted over to the pit lane. I, sticking to the little voices in my head, barked and dive bombed in after him.
This was a smart move on Dennis's part as it brought the pit drive gap more open between us so he could get a better launch on me off the pits.
JP passed us while we were in the pits and put himself in 1st again.
We got our new tires and took off again, I set off about a second behind his Motul GT-R but luckily with no traffic on-coming.
I put on my chase again and tried for my life to catch up so I could stay with Dennis to the end. He hit some traffic himself so I was able to scurry up and nestle myself comfortably in his draft cell.
I decided to put a little more pressure on him this time. On fresh tires and a strong mind I put it to him and went inside, outside, upside, everywhere to try and throw him off. But he's cold and calculating... like a autómata as the Swedish might say. He wasn't having it, so I pushed and overtook him a few times just to have him gain position over me yet again.
We passed JP when he was in the pits for his second stop somewhere there in.
This kept on for at least 12 laps till I settles a bit since my tires were wearing down and I decided to go back to my strategy from the first stint: follow closely - don't crash.
Then I could maybe, just maybe, stay behind him until the very end and overtake him right before the finish line for a glorious finale.
But no, nope no niet. Then came the monster, JP, the red faced Canadian awesomeness that came gunning for us two in front. Lap after lap he would be closing the gap down further and further. -20.000 . -18.000 . -17.000 .
'twas scary but I just kept scratching on, harassing Chorda's rear end as best as I could.
JP caught us up around lap 33 and with 4 laps to go, me and Dennis were absolutely on edge.
I passed up Chorda on the straight and put a little extra gusto into my turns (on the edge really, 'cause our tires were decimated again) to try my best to pull at least 1.5 seconds on him. Dennis got caught up battling with JP for a while so I was able to slightly pull away, then they'd slightly catch up over and over again. It was very tense, those few last laps.
Then came the time, JP passed Dennis and I was left all alone to face this menace. This Phantom Menace with a leaf tattoo.
Lap 35 + 1.200 seconds
Lap 36 + .800 seconds
Finish line .064 seconds
I won my home GP in a red car.
Thank's everyone, great race.