Spending a little time creating a setup offline and laying down some practice laps (more than the 5 minutes worth I usually get) I was hoping to be somewhat competitive tonight.
Although it was my best ever Qualifying result it was a little disappointing as I knew I had some more pace to boot and was hoping to slip in at least a couple of high 1:33's,
Race 1: P6 on the starting grid. Launched well and passed Phil.8 up the straight. With Grat spinning in the penultimate corner, losing my rythm, I was a little cautious into the final turn. Phil.8 and Wally came together spinning relieving me of some pressure. Mael came up for a challenge on Lap 3 which was short lived as he soldiered on. I was pretty settled in 4th place after that and found myself just circulating for a while. Then Diehard started looming up behind me but I felt I was doing enough to retain the position. Then on lap 12 I noticed I was losing pace, my accelerator pedal was malfunctioning and would only allow up to 90-95% throttle (maximum). Lap 13 I watched Diehard drive off into the distance and knew consistency was key to mitigating any further loses. Three laps to go Seanus came up on me and mounted an attacked, which I retained the position by firing it down the inside into turn 2. The last three laps I was committed to holding back Seanus and engaged some defensive driving. The only safe area was around the bends but I managed to fend him off for 5th place.
Race 2: P5 on the grid. With a decent jump off the line again it looked like Phil.8, Grat, and I were going to go through turn 1 three wide. I thought better of it and pulled out. Approaching turn 3 I was side by side with Phil.8 and we both out-braked ourselves, but I came off better taking fourth position. I caught up to the lead pack quickly but realised I was unable to execute any passes as I did not possess the pace. Having two cut tracks already from turn 1 offs in consecutive laps I dialled it back and settled in a comfort zone, not to close to the cars in front, not to close to the cars behind.
Phil.8 and Diehard started closing the gap when Phil.8 pitted. Diehard entered the pits the following lap, then I entered lap after that. Trying to minimise time in the pit I approached pit lane flat out, only to be almost put into the guard rail when the pit limiter kicked in. I was full opposite lock and ended up losing some valuable time. During the pit I unplugged and plugged my pedals to ensure there was no repeat of the malfunction in race 1. I rejoined just behind Diehard and Phil.8 scrapping away. I new I would have the fresher tyres come end of the race so I was feeling optimistic. We jostled for position lap after lap until the fresher tyres showed their strength and I started to clear them. Crossed the line with a personal best 3rd place.
Thanks for the racing tonight it was good fun clean racing
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