20-12-2015, 11:50 PM
After my trip to Australia I've been fighting with some serious jet lag. Had no energy to start practicing before friday. Still I've got no energy. So just 2 days of practice this time, but got up to speed really quick during Saturday evening. I noticed Robert and I were really close in laptime, and I realised I might have a chance after all.
QUALI
My first attempt failed but I might have helped DJ with draft because his first lap was excellent. It took a couple of more tries before I finally got a clean lap and did 1:36:9 something. I later improved 1 tenth but I still had 1 tenth up to Robert. I managed to improve time after time but only with some tiny thousandths and it was not enough. For my final try, I turned HUD and timing off and tried to relax, and it helped. Improved 0.25 seconds and stole pole 8)
RACE 1
Not a very good race for me. Got a good start though, and kept the lead until lap two when I misjudged Robert a bit.. I thought he was going to overtake me in T1 but I left the door unnecessarily wide open and we were side by side in T2 were I had no grip at all and slipped out on the grass. Both Rob and DJ managed to overtake me. Then something happened (can't remember) that caused both Dave and Marcel to get past me too. I had a great fight with Marcel for a couple of laps and finally managed to get past by diving on the inside in T3. But my tires were dead and I decided to pit the same lap. It actually turned out to be a perfect undercut because when everyone had done their stops, I was 2nd behind Rob. Of course he was out of reach but after my bad first laps I was really satisfied with finishing in front of DJ who is chasing me in the overall standings.
RACE 2
I was following Marcel and the other guys down to T1 but accidently braked a bit too late and touched Marcel's rear right wheel. It didn't feel like a bad hit and it did not result in a crasch, but some annoying suspension damage for me. Had a big moment exiting final corner and lost all speed on the main straight. Dave and Gorka overtook me and just before braking Gorka took the inside, in front of me. I decided to brake a little earlier but I didn't brake as hard as usual which resulted in a little touch with Gorka because he was hard on his brakes. Unfortunately he spun.. Really sorry about that
After that I was chasing Marcel again, and 3 other guys, with Rob right behind me. Next lap it was the guys in front of me who had a bad exit in final corner and I managed to overtake all 4 of them! Now it was only Cookie between me and the leader, DJ. I couldn't overtake him on the straight so I decided to do the same maneuver to him as I did to Marcel in Race 1, and dived on the inside in T3. Cookie obviously didn't see me and turned into me. Our cars got stuck in each other and somehow I managed to make him spin too :-[ Oh well.. All I could do was to continue, now behind DJ and Rob. I decided to try an undercut again, and once again I was mighty successful. Before my pitstop I could barely see DJ in the distance, and after he pitted a couple of laps later, both he and Rob was behind me 8) With fresher tires, Rob slowly closed the gap but not enough to overtake me. With a couple of laps to go I think I might have scared Nikos to death by almost loosing control of the car when lapping him, sorry about that :
Had great fun today, thanks everyone. And thank you Paul for hosting. Sorry to the guys I caused to spin, my concentration was not on top today..
QUALI
My first attempt failed but I might have helped DJ with draft because his first lap was excellent. It took a couple of more tries before I finally got a clean lap and did 1:36:9 something. I later improved 1 tenth but I still had 1 tenth up to Robert. I managed to improve time after time but only with some tiny thousandths and it was not enough. For my final try, I turned HUD and timing off and tried to relax, and it helped. Improved 0.25 seconds and stole pole 8)
RACE 1
Not a very good race for me. Got a good start though, and kept the lead until lap two when I misjudged Robert a bit.. I thought he was going to overtake me in T1 but I left the door unnecessarily wide open and we were side by side in T2 were I had no grip at all and slipped out on the grass. Both Rob and DJ managed to overtake me. Then something happened (can't remember) that caused both Dave and Marcel to get past me too. I had a great fight with Marcel for a couple of laps and finally managed to get past by diving on the inside in T3. But my tires were dead and I decided to pit the same lap. It actually turned out to be a perfect undercut because when everyone had done their stops, I was 2nd behind Rob. Of course he was out of reach but after my bad first laps I was really satisfied with finishing in front of DJ who is chasing me in the overall standings.
RACE 2
I was following Marcel and the other guys down to T1 but accidently braked a bit too late and touched Marcel's rear right wheel. It didn't feel like a bad hit and it did not result in a crasch, but some annoying suspension damage for me. Had a big moment exiting final corner and lost all speed on the main straight. Dave and Gorka overtook me and just before braking Gorka took the inside, in front of me. I decided to brake a little earlier but I didn't brake as hard as usual which resulted in a little touch with Gorka because he was hard on his brakes. Unfortunately he spun.. Really sorry about that
After that I was chasing Marcel again, and 3 other guys, with Rob right behind me. Next lap it was the guys in front of me who had a bad exit in final corner and I managed to overtake all 4 of them! Now it was only Cookie between me and the leader, DJ. I couldn't overtake him on the straight so I decided to do the same maneuver to him as I did to Marcel in Race 1, and dived on the inside in T3. Cookie obviously didn't see me and turned into me. Our cars got stuck in each other and somehow I managed to make him spin too :-[ Oh well.. All I could do was to continue, now behind DJ and Rob. I decided to try an undercut again, and once again I was mighty successful. Before my pitstop I could barely see DJ in the distance, and after he pitted a couple of laps later, both he and Rob was behind me 8) With fresher tires, Rob slowly closed the gap but not enough to overtake me. With a couple of laps to go I think I might have scared Nikos to death by almost loosing control of the car when lapping him, sorry about that : Had great fun today, thanks everyone. And thank you Paul for hosting. Sorry to the guys I caused to spin, my concentration was not on top today..