Race #13, Belgium: Post-Race Discussion

[John-Eric Saxén]

Feel free to discuss the race in this thread, as long as it is within the forum rules.

 

[Dennis Hirrle]

Broadcast Replay is here.

Great race!

 

[Muhammed Patel]

Stupid net has to fail 2 laps before the end...
Great race up to then. P4 on the grid and was battling for a Top 5. Unfortunately I was hit in Turn 1 which ruined my chances. Was going to end of P8 until the net cut in..

But, what a race to drive in

 

[Mark Aalberts]

Was indeed a great race, watched it on the broadcast and hats off for Dimi for almost pulling off that one stopper.

 

[Stefan Kanitz]

Congrats Mattias and Dimitri. Great racing from both of you

 

[Pedro Rodrigues]

Very nice race indeed. Dimi almost did it. Still a nice 2nd.

Congrats to Mattias.

 

[Clayton Nelmes]

I was having a great weekend. qualified 7th only 0.3 off pole, lost 1 tenth in s2 and s3 so 3rd was possible. Race from 7th by turn 1 i was 4th. By the end of the lap i past Patel for 3rd. I kinda struggled with the tyres early on might of been a bit cold i dont know, but yeah kept in top 5. If it wasn't for my 2 small mistakes i think i would of finished 5th ahead of all them but i got stuck right in the middle of the fight which was great fun, but yeah engine went near the end.

 

[Muhammed Patel]

Qualifying: Went brilliant, hooked up all three sectors and got somewhere like 44.3. Just beat a load of guys by a couple of hundredths.

Race: Got off the line well and got up to third. I was already on the defensive and at Blanchimont i got passed by Clayton and many more. I was lucky I was with drivers at the start of the race, due to there toe I was able to get 340 down the straight but once the B2W or PM's got anywhere near me i was passed. I was able to stick to the back of Rietveld, and I knew tyres here wouldn't make a big difference. So I pitted on lap 15? - On the same lap as Clayton. Clayton got out infront of Karim while I just got out behind. Lost quite a bit in the 3/4 of a lap stuck behind Karim, who I passed around the outside at Fagnes [He had worn tyres]
I was like 2 seconds behind Clayton and Fred but them battling got it down to 1. Clayton went off and I made a few mistakes put Fred like 3 seconds in front. Rietveld after his stop passed me but I once again was able to tag along.
Unfortunately at La Source I was hit, and that put me around 3 seconds behind Rietveld and Clayton passed me. Later on in the race Clayton retired, and with Gosling/Cyril pitting I was up to 5th. Unfortunately with my lack of straight line speed I wasn't able to keep in front of them, didn't even try because I knew Conti was going to close me down - and he did. He also passed me at Blanchimont, i nearly got him at the Busstop but it failed. Knowing everybody in front of me was just too fast on the straights and I had the worse tyres out of all of them I just went into engine saving mode, I had like an 18 second gap to 9th but with like 2 laps to go the stupid net fails....and now it is sorted.....

Congrats to Stahre for the win, Dimi for second and Kanitz for third.
Great race guys, just a shame the net went. Lets hope for the same at Monza