A classic!
After doing serious practise in the afternoon with Kristof I felt confident to do well today.
In the last seconds of qualy I got, under the watching eyes of Cobra and Kristof, from 4th to 3rd to 2nd spot and was well happy with that!
Milan's start was good and I could keep my spot and follow close without having Cobra attacking at that moment.
I expected Milan to try and get away soon but I tried to put the pressure on him.
Still on cold tyres he braked a bit to late after the back straight and we went by and I was in the lead! Oh dear, not what had expected.
Catching up I know but leading, that has been a while.
I was very happy to see that I got a bit away from Cobra in second and Milan in 3rd. Kristof was following but not gaining on me.
Milan didn't like the situation however and worked hard to pass Cobra. When he did the gap to me went down by a second a lap or so and I though I drove hard I wasn't going to try silly stuff and wreck while he was gaining anyway, the race was still long. Milan seldom goes off track these days but you never know....
OK, 3.8 seconds ahead, pitting time!
No mistakes sofar because I had practised.....but not the pit stop.
From GPL I knew very well that coming in too fast is stupid so that's what I did...
I think I hit the limiter too at too high speed and I spun into the pit lane....
Now my Serbian isn't what it used to be but I'm pretty sure I heard some high pitch laughter coming from that red car on the right....
Getting the car going again was hard , the engine wouldn't rev! (limiter
)
Oh go on Cas, things happen.
Well, they did.
In front of me there was Mac's David Piper 4-speed and he stood so still I wasn't sure he was still racing.
Then came Nescafe and pushed him right in the garage at 90 degrees!
First it looked funny but afterwards I heard what had happened and that is some very bad luck. Mac left the race and that's sad of course.
I came back on track in 6th or so and warmed up the tyres properly.
Dastardly and Gogs pitted and now I was behind ....Cobra!
Kristof had had a bad shunt coming onto the s/f straight earlier so he had an extra stop I think and was still behind me.
You've all heard me moan about Cobra beating me constantly nowadays while in the past, yadayadayada...
Well, today I felt strong!
With the fantastic help of lappees who made room at the right moment at the right spot on the right lane (that flow and luck is almost a cooler feeling than actually passing someone!) and my mate Cobra had the same good lines made available I believe.
Anywho's, I started bringing the gap down and also noticed that Milan was about 26 seconds ahead of me and that gap stayed the same...
he met some birds on the highway but never blinked.
When I finally could hear and even see Cobra (in my Dent design skin, sorry Den, just forgot to wear it in all excitement
) , I REALLY went for it, again, without getting crazy.
Closer and closer and the feeling in the car got better and better, I was in the zone.....it had been a while.
A very fast run onto the back straight led me in Cobra's wake and I got side by side. Mainly to see the groove which I use as brake marker but one never knows...
Still braking in safe distance I heard that Cobra just backed off a bit earlier and staying on the inside I made the turn well, had a great exit and immediately made a small gap, WOW!
I tried to stay cool and watch Cobra's moves. He stayed close but I felt I was faster today.
Now look forward , why not?
Second place is best finish this season so all is well, but I was still puzzling about why my bad pit stop, Milan does that amazingly well, had created such a big gap. It was 23 seconds now
Then it dawned on me, he didn't change tyres!
ALL ABOAAAAARD!
As if I was Steve bloody McQueen himself I couldn't help but dream a bit....if only....
Milan drove well though and the gap came down by just half a second a lap.
But then I gained more, and more , and more.
A second a lap, 1,5....2.......3seconds a lap!!!!
I DIDN'T want to crash, second place was too good, but I tried hard, very hard.
Entering the last lap the gap was 8 seconds and when I got to the hairpin I could see it was already less!
Milan must have been roboticaly precise by that moment not to mess up.
Alas boys and girls, my dream didn't come true and with 3.8 seconds difference we crossed the line as you can see here.
Now if I had practised my pit stop.........
Fantastic racing guys, thanks a LOT!
See you at the Mount!
Practise, practise hard!
(Rouen lap one was kinda messy guys. We got a copy from a French Newspaper asking us if we were a macho ballet group!)
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