02-05-2018, 05:25 PM
This one started so well, during practice I was immediately comfortable in the car, driving smooth and confident in the brake zone. I even started to mess with the setup and extracted more pace and more confidence. I was going in the race feeling so good and mentally prepared not to fight for position or do dangerous stuff but instead just drive clean and smooth and collect the result.
Quali: I did not push too much but made a few mistakes and drifts but the low fuel load compensated for those and I managed to post a time equaling my PB, good enough for 3rd place. I already fell like a winner at that time.
Race 1: I went off the line in a very conservative manner, loosing a couple place and having to go back on the throttle after my initial braking for T1 because I was really too much conservative. Than even at low speed, my car did not turn-in at all (probably because I was too much on the throttle), I push wide a bit and interfered with Dave Coyne's line. I did not made contact, but I saw him spin in my mirror and assumed it was because he tried to avoid me or because I pushed him out of the track. I felt very bad and waited for him. After that I had a good few laps being patient before making a few easy pass on slower cars; until around lap 8 when coming out of bridge, JP Simard lost it, hit the wall and came back flying onto the track. I was followed by 2 other cars and did not made any crazy maneuver to avoid him, he was spinning and rolling in the air so he could not have done anything neither. The crash was brutal, wheels were lost, but I could limp to the pits, repair and finish last.
Race 2: Starting almost last, I went at walking pace trough the start/T1 train wreck. I quickly caught up to the back of JP Simard. I obviously had the better car and he was 2 sec off my pace , but still I could not get past him safely for 2 laps, after that Maciej caught up to me and we started to fight for the honors of passing JP first, this took 5 laps of intense side by side racing. My heart exploded a couple time but no contact was made. After that I had clean air, Maciej showing me the line and giving me tow in the straight, I was lapping as quick as in quali, in the deepest groove you can imagine. So deep of a groove that I forgot to pit; once I realized that, I tried to save fuel and coast to my box but I ended short by 10 meters and had to retire.
I had loads of fun and intense racing, unfortunately both races were too short and I screwed up Dave's first race. So still a lot of work to do on my side.
Quali: I did not push too much but made a few mistakes and drifts but the low fuel load compensated for those and I managed to post a time equaling my PB, good enough for 3rd place. I already fell like a winner at that time.
Race 1: I went off the line in a very conservative manner, loosing a couple place and having to go back on the throttle after my initial braking for T1 because I was really too much conservative. Than even at low speed, my car did not turn-in at all (probably because I was too much on the throttle), I push wide a bit and interfered with Dave Coyne's line. I did not made contact, but I saw him spin in my mirror and assumed it was because he tried to avoid me or because I pushed him out of the track. I felt very bad and waited for him. After that I had a good few laps being patient before making a few easy pass on slower cars; until around lap 8 when coming out of bridge, JP Simard lost it, hit the wall and came back flying onto the track. I was followed by 2 other cars and did not made any crazy maneuver to avoid him, he was spinning and rolling in the air so he could not have done anything neither. The crash was brutal, wheels were lost, but I could limp to the pits, repair and finish last.
Race 2: Starting almost last, I went at walking pace trough the start/T1 train wreck. I quickly caught up to the back of JP Simard. I obviously had the better car and he was 2 sec off my pace , but still I could not get past him safely for 2 laps, after that Maciej caught up to me and we started to fight for the honors of passing JP first, this took 5 laps of intense side by side racing. My heart exploded a couple time but no contact was made. After that I had clean air, Maciej showing me the line and giving me tow in the straight, I was lapping as quick as in quali, in the deepest groove you can imagine. So deep of a groove that I forgot to pit; once I realized that, I tried to save fuel and coast to my box but I ended short by 10 meters and had to retire.
I had loads of fun and intense racing, unfortunately both races were too short and I screwed up Dave's first race. So still a lot of work to do on my side.