Well that was a mad race!
As soon as I saw that the race would be wet, I made some set up changes which would compromise my qualifying pace but would (hopefully) help me in the race. I eventually qualified 7th with a fast lap at the end of qualifying, although I was held up by a slow car in the fast turns 11/12 and could have gone even faster.
The start and first two laps were just utter chaos. I managed to gain 1 or 2 places with one of my usual demon starts. Going into turn 1 with all the spray, it was impossible to see what really happened, but noticed a few cars ahead had gone off the track to the left. All of a sudden, as I put my foot down for turn 2, @strunk27 ‘s Ferrari was travelling across the track sideways hitting my front left and sending me in the wall with him. I was 12th when I got back on track but as I went around the first lap, every single gravel trap had multiple cars in it, especially through 9 and 10 where I managed to avoid a red bull I think facing the wrong way.
Was up to around 4th by the end of the lap and had a great fight with a few drivers. Looking at the map in the corner from then until around lap 10, the pack looked tightly packed together. I often went wide coming out of some of the corners due to the conditions. Lost a few places because of it but then I would gain a place when drivers ahead if me did the same.
I had trouble getting past @kvothe . I was stuck behind him for a few laps and was clearly the faster car. This might have been lag, but when I got alongside him he would aggressively cut me off. I dropped behind @powderfinger (kevin) because if it and he did the same to him after going slightly wide after turn 3. Kevin got caught out and I couldn’t slow down in time, so hit the side of Kevin going into turn 4. I think I came worse off as I spun, not sure if it ruined Kevin’s race mind. @kvothe nearly took out @lemon in a almost identical incident later in the race when he was lapping us.
Towards the end of the first stint, I was suffering with tyre wear. Made a few mistakes, resulting in spins. Me and @mcwoblin collided as we went into turn 1. That was my fault mate – I didn’t leave is enough room. That’s the first time we have ever collided I think. I was stuck in the wall while he managed to get ahead. I was really struggling with the tyres now and was going to pit but @mcwoblin got there first. I didn’t want to lose time queuing up so did another lap. Was so slow but managed to get back to the pits and pull on a fresh set of inters.
The rest of the race was a shambles to be honest. I pushed hard to make up ground but made far too many mistakes. Kept sliding into corners which didn’t help. Wasn’t sure if this was due to my set up as fuel burnt off or it was the tyres. My car was getting worse and I was all over the place. Lost positions to @dazzaarcher and @cscottyf195 but managed to get them back after Odin disconnected for some reason and @dazzaarcher pitted with 3 laps to go. Finished in 8th.
Disappointed it was wet as I would have been competing higher up if it was dry. My dry set up for this track was perfectly balanced. Perhaps I shouldn’t of changed it in anticipation for a wet race.
DOTD – @jonny705 2nd after the start he had was awesome!
