Congrats to David, Dino, Marko and all finishers
Prolog:
This was the race where I was going to lift my game. The last 3 days I did 7X22 min stints with the same setup and logged my lap times in an excel spread sheet (each stint slightly stronger than the previous). I was very well prepared and had an exciting strategy that I hoped would serve me well.
Qualify:
I had planned to get a beer from the fridge at the start of the qualify, but when I saw how wet it was I was afraid I would be short on time, so I ran and got the beer, changed to wet tyres and got out on track... with 65 liters of fuel
I ended 12th
Race: (fuel: 65-53-53, wings 19/20)
I needed to be 1 second quicker than the 1 stoppers to finish ahead. Starting 12th was not part of the plan, but luckily with my low down force and light car it was relatively easy to make my way up the field. My pass on
Anthony didn't feel 100% though, as I didn't manage a tight enough apex, there was some contact, but this time I decided not to wait
After a few laps (4 or 5) I passed
Jim and was now in front of the mid-pack(6th or 7th place), with 8,5 sec up to
Dino representing the front-pack. Having a clear track ahead I started to pull away quickly, and at lap 10 I noticed the gap to
Jim was 11,5 seconds (the gap ahead was 7 sec). Looking at the map I could see that
Reik was on the same strategy as me, and I was very excited on his behalf.
I pitted at the end of lap 13, changed tyres and filled 53 liters of fuel, left the pits and could continue with my hotlapping. I lost some time behind
Kurt I remember, taking 2 laps or so before I managed to get past, but otherwise I was still flying. All the time I was hoping that the rain would not come before the 1 stoppers had to pit. However, the rain appeared "just in time" for many I expect, so I knew my battle with
Jim & Co was far from over.
I stayed out until the wetness passed 25% and decided it was time to pit, probably for the last time.
Eliezer, who was a bit ahead of me was thinking the same. He made several mistakes which allowed me to get close, but unexpectedly
Eliezer started braking too early before the pit entry and I rear ended him, sending my car into a spin. When it stopped I was facing the wrong way and started to reverse into the pits and work my way to my bay. I had lost many crucial seconds and was quite unhappy. I quickly chose my setup which I immediatly realised was the wrong one (slicks).
At this point I had 2 choices, pit the next lap for wets and lose 35 seconds or stay out and pray the rain will quickly end. I chose option 2 as I thought option 1 sucked. The rain never stopped and my race was over.
PS: I messed up the results, so it will take me a little time to fix it. Right now race 5 and 6 are merged
The strategy:
From practicing I had learned that I could keep up with Sean and Marko when they had 100 liters and I 65. I timed a 53 liters and tyre change pit stop to a total time loss of 37 seconds. Considering that the 1 stop the others had to make likely was slightly longer, I needed to gain around 35 seconds on the track, or about 1 second a lap.
It seems to me that the strategy that gives you the least traffic often will be the favourable one.
See you all at... the next race