Grats David and Dino for completing the podium.
From my very few stint tests I knew I would never be able to handle a heavy car well. So I hoped for a good qualy result to go for a 2 stop challenge.
Qualy (1st):
I went out when most drivers had left the pits already and it looked like having a small gap between them and those still in pits. It worked well. I had a free first run and tryed to do a safe and smooth lap. It worked so well that I drove my third best lap ever with a 1:29:5xx giving me provisional pole.
With only 3 minutes and some seconds left I went out again in a very good mood. The first atempt was better than expected so I had nothing to lose and went full attack. When crossing the line for the second timed lap I had dropped to 3rd position, because David and Sean had put in even lower 1:29:5's in the meantime. My delta time was green all the lap and I did my best ever lap with a 1:29:320 in a clean and smooth way. That made me very optimistic for the race.
Race (1st):
strategy: 14 laps 59 liters / 13 laps 56 liters / 13 laps 56 liters
I had an average good start but benefitted from my lighter car. So I was able to cover David by crossign the road to the inside and defend through T1. I could hold P1 and calm down during the next laps.
At this moment I didn't think a victory would be possible, because my gap to David was increasing very slowly and I knew he's always good on a heavy car and the fastest driver at all.
But I tryed to be as quick and as clean as possible.
When I pitted after 14 laps I think my gap to David wasnot more then 8 seconds or so. Stop went well and I entered behind a few 1-stoppers.
With fresh tyres and an improved feeling for the car I quickly closed up on Tim, Nicolai and others (I hope I remember well enough). Overtaking wasn't hard, because their tyres were done and mine were new. So losing no time when overtaking helped my strategy very much.
I was quicker now compared to the first stint and the 1-stoppers pitted for the only time which brought me back into the lead. I attacked all time in a safe way and pitted for the second time.
David took the lead again and when I rejoined the track I was still in P2 in front of Sean (I think), which made me satisfied already. But the gap to David was about 10 seconds so I wasn't optimistic to get him within the last 13 laps.
Due to some lapping in the last stint I had laps when I gained more than a second on David and other laps when I gained nothing, so I was unsure about the real difference lap by lap. However I went on pushing and when lapping seemed to be done I did laps ~ 1:31:5xx whilest David drove high 1:32's and low 1:33's, so the gap decreased quickly now.
4 laps before finish I caugth up on David and had a few atempts on his outside but couldn't make it through. I had to calm me down very much not to make a silly move, because I felt quicker but locations to pass were rare.
With 2 laps to go I had a good exit at the last turn and got well into Davids slip stream. He covered the inside and we braked for T1 side by side. David gently held a tight inside line so I was able to drive around the outside and cover my position on the inside now into T2.
The short rest of the race was just pushing it to the finish line to avoid making mistakes when taking it too easy. So I finally finished first, which felt more satisfying than winning a championship with the MMG F1.
I like to add here that overtaking and lapping was very smooth and fair at this tricky, twisty track.
Thanky Nico, RD and everyone here for another very nice event.
C U all for a breath taking finish in Austria.