Well I enjoyed racing these cars around the excellent Lime Rock track. Only thing that would have made it better was if we'd had a few more people with us last night.
This was one of the few occassions I felt totally confident with my car on a track and it meant that I could drive with patience, which proved pretty important to my results in the end!!
Qual 1. Had not been able to head Neil in practice, but I managed to dip into the 57's for qual and managed to grab pole by 0.041s!!
Race 1: Got away fine, but miss timed my shift to 2nd gear which gave Kelvin the chance to get inside into T1. Carl also managed to pass me as I was airing on the side of caution early on. Got past Carl when he made a mistake b4 T2 and chased Kelvin down. Took the lead when Kelvin had a moment entering the 2nd to last turn and placed myself on the inside of the final corner. I backed off prepared to side by side without forcing him off track, but I think he may of had an off anyway :frown:. Pulled away as Carl, Neil and Adam battled behind me. Once Neil got into 2nd I just tried to keep the gap steady. Ran wide twice at T1-T2, but managed to limit the time lost and came home for my first rFactor win :good:.
Qual 2: Missed first few minutes as I got my bag for work packed as I would be making a hasty retreat at the end of race 2
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Managed a better time in the 57'7s and took pole by 0.258s.
Race 2: Well managed to make harder work of this one!!! Got away not so well this time. Two cars got the jump on me into T1 and I lost 3rd place when backing out to avoid hitting the car infront. Now in 4th with Adam, Kelvin and Carl ahead (Can't remember which order at the time) I relaxed and concentrated on biding my time. I felt confident that in time the positions would come to me (this is a rare situation for me!!) so I just shadowed the car ahead and waited for opportunities to come. I got by Carl and he got embroiled in a battle behind allowing me to concentrate on the fight ahead of me between Adam and Kelvin. A mistake from Adam allowed Kelvin past and I then sat right on Adam's tail waiting for my chance. It came coming out of the final turn where he got a little wide and had a run on him down into T1. Now Kelvin was in my sights, but he wasn't making many errors and those he did he covered well. As Neil said this track was difficult to pass safely on with so many quick corners. I had a couple of half chances that I wasn't willing to risk an accident for. Lap 15 and Kelvin got a bit ragged through the last half of the lap. This gave me the sense of opportunity and I think Kelvin was aware of that too!! He got a wiggle into the 2nd to last turn and again like Adam got a bit wide through the last corner. I got alongside, but he'd managed to carry good speed on to the straight and we were headed for a outbraking battle into T1. I had the inside and managed to make the pass stick and I then pushed on to pull a gap to safety. I really enjoyed these battles as I found the rare chance to have good enough confidence to drive fast without fear of making a silly mistake. This allowed me to stalk my opponents rather than chase them. It's a feeling I hope I don't have to wait a long time for again
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Anyway, a big thank you to Ivo (you were missed on track by the way) and RD. And a bigger thank you to the guys racing last night. Some excellent, clean & competitive racing and a nice friendly atmosphere to:good:.
Looking forward to more racing with you guys in future
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