I qualified 11th with a P.B. so I was very happy with that.
I started right on the grid (inside) and got a good start. I arrived on the inside of t1 and it was therefore simple for me to push as I had a clear line to follow (inside curb). Exiting t2 I was 6th! Edit: Seems it wasn't all due to my great racing, there was some guys coming together ahead. Then I had 3 very nasty and unusual lags that relegated me to 8th. I got to 7th because of somebodys misfortune, and I think I managed to pass Vince to get to 6th and hunt for Sean again (who I had been chasing until the lags). Sean was 4-5 sec or so ahead of me and was fighting David McC, so I managed to close up within a few laps. However, Sean made it past David before I managed to get close enough, and now I was "stuck" behind David while Sean was able to grow a gap.
It was great chasing David. We were fast at different places, but all in all not too much difference. I was suspecting he might be on a heavier fuel load and/or harder tyres than me. Anyhoo, my weak spot on this track was turn 09 and 10, which made it very hard for me to get close enough before the long straight. After a few laps I decided to not make an attempt at the end of the straight but rather try to get even closer and do it going into t1. I cannot really remember where it happened, but I do remember David did not put up a fight at all (something that strengthens my suspicion that he was on a differen strategy, he is a smart man).
Somewhere along the way we passed two unfortunate guys, so when I passed David McC he was 4th and I was 3rd, and David T seemed to have had a small misshap, because he was only 3 sec ahead or so.
I wasn't able to shake David McC, he stayed within the second, and I wasn't able to close in David T, he acctually pulled away abit. But now I was waiting for my tyres to "kick in" as I had focused on saving them, and hoped to gain a second or so on David in the last two laps in my stint. Also, I was going to fuel 57 liters at my pitstop and was hoping that in combination with a practiced "perfect pit" might get me very close to making a pass (then again, maybe David T needed even less fuel than me).
Either way, I was having one of my most enjoyable evenings on the track when the disaster happened (the LCs).
Thanks all for the great fun I had up until the LC's
And for the record, I did not LC, I escaped out of the race. It seems that 12 people LC at the very same point in time. Also the same people that LC'ed seemed to have a big lag a bit less than a minute before. (1750 at the server replay)