12-01-2014, 11:52 PM
RACE 1
Disaster, catastrophe. Started from 'pole' and of course Gorka was quicker off the line and had the inside. I thought my 2nd place was safe at least, but the invisable cone at pit exit caused me to loose control over the car for a second and loose speed, so dj was quick to take advantage of that and passed me on the inside. At T7 David ran wide of some reason, and I could take my 2nd place back. But I had the inside for next corner so I could not take it as fast as usual, however David was too far behind to try, I thought... Suddenly he hit my rear tire and we both spun off track into the grass. My car was turned 180° and I could not re-join track in a safe way, so I had to reverse further into the grass and turn around. I was already 18th, but somehow I stalled the engine so I lost even more time. Pissed off but at least I could continue with light rear suspension damage. It didn't take me too long to catch Vittorio and I was following him a while, until we reached the chicane on lap 3... Cosimo and Mel had crashed, and Mel joined the track in an unsafe way and Vittorio had to avoid him... I could take advantage and pass them both. I was in 13th place on lap 5 when I reached the chicane again. This time I had catched Ricky Keene who was really slow, and he ran wide in the long right hander just before the chicane, so I thought I could get past him on the inside. But he didn't realise I was beside him and he swerved back to the inside and we made contact, sending us both into the tire stacks... Probably his race was over because I saw a wheel flying. I suffered heavy damage on 3 wheels but the car was quite stable when I returned to pit for 271 sec repair. When repaired, I took off again but soon catched a slower driver Juraj Rimes. He was at least 1 lap ahead of me so I didn't know what to do... Drive 3 sec off pace for the rest of the race or try to overtake him in a safe way? I didn't have to think about this very long, because a lap later when we were racing down the start/finish straight, he choosed the inside and I choosed the outside, but just before braking zone he swerved back to the outside and braked early... I locked up instantly and had no choice other than avoid him to crash into the tire stack on the inside and lost a rear wheel - race over.
David's and mine incident was a pure racing incident. No bad feelings mate
RACE 2
We had a little discussion before the race concerning starting positions. Honestly, I was not sure I was going to start from front row to begin with, because I had retired from Race 1... But then I remembered that Robert started from front row at Snetterton when he had retired, and won that race. And I'm sure it has been done before... I was considering to start from the back, but I didn't want to go through Race 1 scenario again so... I took advantage of my right to start from front row and won the race.
I think that we could easily get rid of this issue by only reverse grid for those who finished Race 1. I have always said that I think we should reverse only top 10 anyway... I've had fun with reversed grid, and sometimes I've been lucky, BUT in all races so far, there's always crashes... Sometimes they do not result in damage and disaster, and that's when you still can finish in the top. But too much trouble lately. I'm always careful when grid is reversed, but it doesn't help. However, despite my Race 2 win, I'm loosing points to Marcel and Dj who finished top positions both races.
Disaster, catastrophe. Started from 'pole' and of course Gorka was quicker off the line and had the inside. I thought my 2nd place was safe at least, but the invisable cone at pit exit caused me to loose control over the car for a second and loose speed, so dj was quick to take advantage of that and passed me on the inside. At T7 David ran wide of some reason, and I could take my 2nd place back. But I had the inside for next corner so I could not take it as fast as usual, however David was too far behind to try, I thought... Suddenly he hit my rear tire and we both spun off track into the grass. My car was turned 180° and I could not re-join track in a safe way, so I had to reverse further into the grass and turn around. I was already 18th, but somehow I stalled the engine so I lost even more time. Pissed off but at least I could continue with light rear suspension damage. It didn't take me too long to catch Vittorio and I was following him a while, until we reached the chicane on lap 3... Cosimo and Mel had crashed, and Mel joined the track in an unsafe way and Vittorio had to avoid him... I could take advantage and pass them both. I was in 13th place on lap 5 when I reached the chicane again. This time I had catched Ricky Keene who was really slow, and he ran wide in the long right hander just before the chicane, so I thought I could get past him on the inside. But he didn't realise I was beside him and he swerved back to the inside and we made contact, sending us both into the tire stacks... Probably his race was over because I saw a wheel flying. I suffered heavy damage on 3 wheels but the car was quite stable when I returned to pit for 271 sec repair. When repaired, I took off again but soon catched a slower driver Juraj Rimes. He was at least 1 lap ahead of me so I didn't know what to do... Drive 3 sec off pace for the rest of the race or try to overtake him in a safe way? I didn't have to think about this very long, because a lap later when we were racing down the start/finish straight, he choosed the inside and I choosed the outside, but just before braking zone he swerved back to the outside and braked early... I locked up instantly and had no choice other than avoid him to crash into the tire stack on the inside and lost a rear wheel - race over.
David's and mine incident was a pure racing incident. No bad feelings mate
RACE 2
We had a little discussion before the race concerning starting positions. Honestly, I was not sure I was going to start from front row to begin with, because I had retired from Race 1... But then I remembered that Robert started from front row at Snetterton when he had retired, and won that race. And I'm sure it has been done before... I was considering to start from the back, but I didn't want to go through Race 1 scenario again so... I took advantage of my right to start from front row and won the race.
I think that we could easily get rid of this issue by only reverse grid for those who finished Race 1. I have always said that I think we should reverse only top 10 anyway... I've had fun with reversed grid, and sometimes I've been lucky, BUT in all races so far, there's always crashes... Sometimes they do not result in damage and disaster, and that's when you still can finish in the top. But too much trouble lately. I'm always careful when grid is reversed, but it doesn't help. However, despite my Race 2 win, I'm loosing points to Marcel and Dj who finished top positions both races.