SR4L F1 League Race Reports Rnd 8 Snetterton

[Lecram]

Little report:

Lot's of grip at the end of practice. I was surprised by Gorka's speed in qualify but even more by Rikards best lap.

Engine bogged down a little at start of race 1 so I didn't make most of the clean side. After a couple of laps chasing, Rikards mistake made me lead for a while but when I saw him pit, I knew I made a mistake by driving another lap. I had some traffic that lap and when I pitted, someone was pitting just before my spot so I either had to turn in slow and tight to park it as neatly as I could, saving stop time, or just slam it in there, losing time at the stop itself. I chose slow and neat and stop took 47 secs so that worked but I probably suffered from the slow entry and came out couple of secs behind Rikard.
So I pushed and gained a little at the cost of tirewear but I never got up close enough. Then someone I was about to lap pulled to the right to let me pass but I was already commited to that line so I had to go over the grass, just touched his wheels and spun back on track, in opposite direction. I panicked a little as I stood there in the middle of the track but I quickly slammed it in reverse, drove off track and rejoined.
Gorka had passed me in meantime but he overshot the next corner so I passed him again. One lap to go with a little damage and G on my tail but I managed to keep second position.

Race 2 I was lucky to be on right side so I was able to avoid the mess. I was a little puzzled seeing Dj flying by at t1 as I thought I just saw him crash some seconds ago...
Then I saw cars going off track at the hairpin, immediately knew what was going on (sebring f2 anybody?) and I thought; that ain't going to happen to me.
And for quite some time I managed, trying to reel in Robert H who was in first. Then at the second hairpin I lost my braking point tho I knew the signs were gone... : I was going Grrr while I rejoined but didn't see John Cook coming. I'm so sorry mate... :-\ We touched and hit the barrier at the right. Then our wheels tangled and while trying to unhook ourselves, we waltzed across the track and finally got loose at the other side. A friendly thanks-for-dancing-honk to John and on my way again. I decided to pit and repair cuz I didn't want to lose more time for another lap to decide if damage was big enough. Pit stop again was 47 secs, damage must have been very little, maybe I shouldve waited a little longer.
Then I had a very sloppy outlap, immediately hurting my tires. Dj came out of pit in front and I was 3rd. Tried to chase him up a little but 3rd place it was and stayed.

Cheers,

Marcel.