Barcelona 170k

Considering the differences in ranks (=talent) there's no way in hell for a mortal today to be competitive in any of the unrestricted series. :) But grats winners and finishers nevertheless.

Not my finest race - shoulder hurt like hell, one eye wouldn't stop watering, setup was last minute and less than good and finally, calculator screwed up with fuel mileage!

Oh yes, one other thing: the first lap is a FORMATION LAP and not a race lap. On a formation lap the speed is supposed to be lower than on a race lap. Let the G2 go and maintain around 100 km/h to keep the pack in some kind of a closeish formation.

Quali was close. I managed to get pole with less that 0,1 in front of Samuel. The whole first stint we were close together and a small mistake was enough for Sam to take the lead. We pitted the same lap and, probably because I started with a full tank, I got ahead again with a gap of around 4 secs. That stayed about the same until halfway second stint. Then Mr. D Evans, who wasn't in a fight in G2 at all, wanted to get by. Ok ... no problem, so I stayed on the left of the track on the back straight. But that wasn't enough for him to get by. So I got through La Caixa first. But instead of waiting for the s/f straight Mr. Evans tried to pass on the inside of the next turn and spun me around. Wtf were you thinking there? You were 20 secs behind in G2 at that moment ... why pass there and take out the leader in G3 at that moment? Very pissed off about that. But that will go away again. Grats to the winners and other podiumfinshers.

What was a pretty nice race left a bad taste in my mouth because of some stupidity near the end.
I missed qual because I got my timing totally wrong (thought qual was at 4:30 but that was actually when the race started), but coming through from the back was fun. I managed to take the lead on lap 10 and as Aaron and Barry battled I was able to pull out a nice lead. I hadn't practiced a pitstop and when I arrived in the pits I was suprised not to see a light stand next to the speed limit line so I very nearly sped in the pits, but managed to get it slowed down just barely in time. The second half was pretty dull, until with the last 10 minutes. On one lap I was following a Porsche through Campsa and popped out to pass him on the exit only to find Michael Virt rejoining the track at about 45 degrees and with a head of steam and shot straight out into the middle of the circuit. I had to dodge him with inches to spare, lucky I hadn't already started passing the other Porsche and that I was paying attention or that could have been all 3 of us out right there. I will be filing a protest.
Then while I was trying to get my heart rate down from that I had a stupid little spin in T4 which lost me 8 seconds but I got going without a problem. Then with a couple to go I was lapping Dwayne Evans who decided to try and race me through La Caixa and almost took me out a couple of times. I backed off and let him go ahead and flashed him to make sure he knew I was there, at which point he hit the brakes and let me passed. You could have done that before La Caixa where I was already ahead of you and saved us both a dodgey moment but whatever.
Not the finest race but fun none the less, cya next time.

Think i'm gonna blame the fuel usage for my 9th place. Got a slight knock on the 1st real lap which sent me into the gravel. I rejoined in around 18th and was just on a mission to get my position back. Got back to 9th, pitted in, waited for everyone else to pit then some how managed to be 4th????

Oh well wasn't gonna complain about that... Was gonna complain about the way I foofed up my fuel. Actually planned to do 2 stops cuz I didn't think I could do it in one (or at least thats how the computer worked it out!!!)

Only about 7 laps to go so I decided to stick some soft slicks on and go for it. 9th is where it ended (6th in class).

Good fun race. Congrats to podium.

A special congrats to Barry K for your great 3rd place! : )

That's showing those young whippersnappers!!!
I was very much tempted to enter this morning, thinking of some past laps with you, but I'm not in the best of health right now and these races really take it out of me.
Great job Barry.

And hey, Barry H, a great 4th place finish - what happend to Garry?

Dan

Just noticed, happy 100th win for me :D

Hey thks Dan,been a long time between podiums.Nowadays i need a hell of a lot of luck to even get close.The porka is starting to grow old,nothing i do lately seems to help with grip and turn in,pig of a car.

Just noticed, happy 100th win for me :D

Gee, G2 winner (rank 8,399) won over 2nd (5,810) and the 3rd (5,056) and started from back of grid. Slumming amongst us mortals is great pastime every now and then, innit?