What a challenging and enjoyable track choice, well done Yves
.
Having never raced on it before it quickly become clear to me i can do some good lap times hire. The flowing nature of the track and lack of any hard braking points really suits my driving style ( still learning the black art of late and hard braking ).
All thru the practise i,m working on setup with mix results.
Quall: still making changes i decide on a setup and do the run. 1:23:83 puts me in 7th.
Happy with that
RACE.1
Final changes to the setup and i,m ready to go.
L.1 Have a slow start following William in the fast left hander tapping him very gently when he brakes , sry for that, when i got hit from behind by hurtling Brandon. Ignore ,, suspension damage ,, message and press on. Time loss minimal and i emerge from the usual 1st corner chaos in 5th with Eric and Keith respectively in front and behind. Things looking good. Very quickly become apparent to me that having damage to the left rear had made the car very unstable.
L.2 Still in 5th and trying hard to stay there. Loosing it in the fast downhill section i,m down to 9th at the end.
L.3 1st corner off again and down to 11th. Off again see me in 13th. 2 more laps to go before i can get repairs.
L.4 Loosing 2 sec. a lap i,m trying to stay on track.
L.5 Finally can pit and do the repairs with the tire change. Emerge in 15th.
L.6,7,8 Driving the wheels off making fastest time on lap 8th.
L.9,10 Picking up places as people pit. Now in 11th.
L.11 Off again and i,m down to 12th.
L.12,13 Fight with Daniel and Tony.
L.14 Emerged in 10th and thats where i finished.
RACE.2
L.1 Good start, straying immediately to the right and hitting Brendon in the process as he moves also to the right trying to avoid Nicolas who in turn is hold up by ,,sleeping,, Abdul lool . Just pipping, now well awake Abdul, before the right hander i,m in 7th, cars sliding all over in front. Picking carefully my way thru i emerge in 3rd with some gap to Eric and Kevin in front and hard pressing Keith right behind.
L.2 Still in 3rd fending off Chef Alien Keith
and closing on hard fighting Kevin and Eric in 1st and 2nd. Then famous downhill section claims another victim in form of Keith and i,m scott free to pursuit.
L.3,4 Keeping close to the guys in front i,m pacing myself having front seat row and waiting patiently for any mistakes from them i can capitalize on.
L.5 Kevin looses in the downhill ( another victim ) and i,m in 2nd.
L.6,7 Time to apply the pressure on Eric who pits at the end of lap 7th.
L.8 In 1st
, now the race is my to loose. Pushing very hard i,m pitting myself.
L.9 Emerge in 3rd but crucially in front of Eric with 2-3 sec gap and both guys in front still in for the pits.
L.10,11 A couple of backmarkers to pass ( one of whom not getting much notice of me ) and Eric closing fast behind.
L.12,13 Eric very close and undoubtedly sensing blood and possible win pressing hard. I respond with my fastest time on lap 13th and see Eric getting slowly smaller in my rear view mirror.
L.14 Eric makes mistake and i have 11 sec breathing space and can finally fully relax.
L.15 Make my 1st win. Hurrrra
Having won my 1st RD touring car event i,m hungry for more so watch out guys lool.
Realistically looking i know i,m missing 0.5-1.0 sec in this car but the fun factor of driving ,, on the ass ,, is still bigger then any win i might have had with the FWD cars.
Will practise more so DO hope i can be a contender for some podium finishes in the upcoming ATCC seasion.
Take care guys and see you all at the next adrenaline fueled friday night.
Thx again to Yves and the RD staff who makes this fun possible.
