28-09-2015, 01:02 AM
Nice to be back on track with you guys 8)
After a couple of days of getting used to the car (and rf2 again for that matters), the speed and the feel came back to me. I was quite sure I had lost a lot of speed during my 6 months break, but no. Of course I couldn't tell for sure before I had raced others, but at least I had a nice feeling when driving the car.
During the final minutes of practice and quali, the track improved considerably, and I did several new pb's. When I first got under 2:19 I thought it was pretty much the limit, but surprisingly I found myself in the 2:17s when the quali was over. I was not surprised it was enough for pole but I never thought I would have such big gap to the others.
The first race was quite uneventful for me. Gorka had a good pace and it was not easy to pull away from him. My pitcrew apparently had some "first race of the season-nerves" and gave me a 50 sec stop. I think Gorka earned some time on me because of this, and when lapping a car I lost some more time. He was not far behind, just waiting for a little mistake to me made by me, but luckily I could keep it togehter and at last it was a quite comfortable victory.
The second race was more fun, like it often is (if you can avoid damage first lap heh). I made a lot of good decisions during my first lap, always keeping an eye on the cars around me and I could avoid several crashes. I was 3rd already when we began lap 2. Coyne was pulling away in the lead while I was struggling with Dan Bayford for a couple of laps. Several times I was up beside him but it felt like he never saw me. Once he just turned into me even though I was already past him on the inside.. After that I was very careful but could finally overtake him somewhat safely when he made a mistake. The hunt for Coyne began, but he pitted the same lap. I continued several more laps, but after the difficult first laps my tires was not in very good shape. I made many mistakes and when I finally pitted, my pitcrew gave me a 55 second stop! When I exited pits, I could just BARELY hold Coyne behind me in the first corner. But after that I could slowly build up a gap and win the race.
Perfect start of the season for me. And I'm sure I'll need these points because I don't think I will attend to all races. Hopefully my brother will be back with Hedlund Racing next time and score some points for us..
After a couple of days of getting used to the car (and rf2 again for that matters), the speed and the feel came back to me. I was quite sure I had lost a lot of speed during my 6 months break, but no. Of course I couldn't tell for sure before I had raced others, but at least I had a nice feeling when driving the car.
During the final minutes of practice and quali, the track improved considerably, and I did several new pb's. When I first got under 2:19 I thought it was pretty much the limit, but surprisingly I found myself in the 2:17s when the quali was over. I was not surprised it was enough for pole but I never thought I would have such big gap to the others.
The first race was quite uneventful for me. Gorka had a good pace and it was not easy to pull away from him. My pitcrew apparently had some "first race of the season-nerves" and gave me a 50 sec stop. I think Gorka earned some time on me because of this, and when lapping a car I lost some more time. He was not far behind, just waiting for a little mistake to me made by me, but luckily I could keep it togehter and at last it was a quite comfortable victory.
The second race was more fun, like it often is (if you can avoid damage first lap heh). I made a lot of good decisions during my first lap, always keeping an eye on the cars around me and I could avoid several crashes. I was 3rd already when we began lap 2. Coyne was pulling away in the lead while I was struggling with Dan Bayford for a couple of laps. Several times I was up beside him but it felt like he never saw me. Once he just turned into me even though I was already past him on the inside.. After that I was very careful but could finally overtake him somewhat safely when he made a mistake. The hunt for Coyne began, but he pitted the same lap. I continued several more laps, but after the difficult first laps my tires was not in very good shape. I made many mistakes and when I finally pitted, my pitcrew gave me a 55 second stop! When I exited pits, I could just BARELY hold Coyne behind me in the first corner. But after that I could slowly build up a gap and win the race.
Perfect start of the season for me. And I'm sure I'll need these points because I don't think I will attend to all races. Hopefully my brother will be back with Hedlund Racing next time and score some points for us..