That was good fun them two races. Car felt great (apart from coming out of Clark Curve). I think I prefer racing on the Indy circuit to be honest, harder to build a gap on this one, for cars are all kept close.
Qualifying: I could do a 50:8 in practice with a fast lap, but my lap didn't go to plan. Messy out of padock, then I fall off at Graham. Starting 19th.
Race 1:
I get a slow start, and follow everyone into paddock. When I get to paddock, I see Nathan Magrath pointing the wrong way, but manage to avoid him. By the end of the lap, I'm up to 17th, after Paul Herman went wide off the track at Clarks. On lap two, I get past Mike Bell after getting a better run out of Graham, then at Clark, I see alot of dust and dirt. When I get there, I see Chris Sykes on the grass, and Matt Clark who was just back on the ground. I see that Chris lost it on a downshift, and Matt was an unfortunate victim. Philip Antonia, had just rejoined after a tap with Tom Blackett, which sent him across the grass, and ending up back on track just in front of Matt. This then made the front of Matt's car jump up, then Mihai Dumitrescu who was following Matt, had nowhere to go, luckly somehow drives under Matt's car. Now in 14th.
On lap 5, after following Dumitrescu, we fly past Blackett after he had a moment out of Paddock, and I out brake Dumitrescu into Druids. I knew I could, as I was always better on the brakes into Druids then him. I get along side him, I don't try to push him wide, and after a little tap from him turning into me, I'm up into 12th. Lap 6, and after running a little deep into Druids, I get a poor exit, and I also have Matt now up behind me after passing Dumitrescu into Druids. I can't go through Graham as fast, not being able to hit the apex properly all day. Matt then draws up alongside me, and I decide to let him through, to make sure nothing silly happens into Clearways. On lap 7, I get a bad exit of of Clark's and Dumitrescu, is able to get along side me. I stay with him, deciding to go round the outside at Paddock. Nope, too far to the left, and I have to collect a small sidways moment. But fortunatly, noting overly dramatic, and I hold onto 14th.
I stay with Dumitrescu for the next few laps, the two of us being faster in different sections. Then on lap 12, (pit window is now open) he goes wide into Clearways, dipps a wheel onto the grass and spins it. Allowing me to get by, and for Nathan to now be on the back of him. I then gain another two places as David Zafiu gets turned round by Adrian Vidrighin up at Druids. But Zafiu gets back up to speed quickly in his E46, and does me on the exit of Graham Hill. Then he takes too much inside curb on the next left hander, and loses the rear. Slides off to the right, comes back on the track and I do my best not to have a huge accident. I give him a tap just before Clearways where he rejoined, so nothing big. Bad luck mate. Now I'm in 10th.
I pit on lap 19, with Vidrighin pitting behind me, I rejoin in 11th, just in front of one and only fellow Alfa driver Atio Airo. Unfortunatly, he pitted earlier, and has his tyres up to tempature, so on lap 21, he gets a better drive out of Druids, and passes me up the inside into Graham Hill. Then on the lap 22, Airo and I (him not getting away from me as his Alfa looks to be struggling a bit with rear end grip) drive past Terry Harmer, as he moves over on the pit straight. On the replay, his car just slows to 60KPH, but it's not a limiter thing, so I have no idea. He is also passed by Caramidaru Andrei Bogdan. So by the end of the pit stop phase, I'm up to 9th on lap 24, but Bogdan is closing myself and Airo down very quickly.
By lap 25, Bogdan is right on my bumper, knowing he has the faster car due to better tyres at this stage, seen as he pitted on lap 20, and was just that bit faster outright. Up into Druids, he is closing in om me, but too far back for a move, so I do Druids like I normally. Then on the exit, he gives me a little nudge (as I don't know why, but I struggled to put power down properly all day to get a really go exit out of slow corners), Alfa straightens up with a bit of throttle and all is fine. Then through Clark Curve, I get another big hit, but I plant the throtle and avoid spinning. Now with Bogdan along side me up to Paddock with me on the inside, I'll be able to hold him off here. Unfortunatly for me, all of this has let Airo get away, along with 8th, and letting Harmer and Zafiu catch us up. Lap 26, taking my normal line into Paddock, and getting a decent exit, I'm hit from behind again (at this point I'm thinking, "Thank god I'm driving a FWD car") from Bogdan braking early and trying to get a cut back on me. I then get my usual slow exit out of Clark's, Bogdan doesn't hit me this time, but now Zafiu has caught up to us, and is able to drive around the outside of Bogdan, and with his extra speed, gets along side me going through Paddock. He ends up sliding a bit, but holding it. Unfortunatly for me, I'm now on the outside for Druids, and Bogdan is right with us, and gets along side beforebraking for Druids. I decide to brake early to avoid going off, and watch as Bogdan pass Zafiu as well. So by the end of lap 27, I've dropped back to 11th. Those two have a little fight for a few laps, but by lap 30, I'm back on Bogdan's bumper. On lap 31, we incounter Blackett again, getting back up to speed after dropping it at Paddock letting someone lap him. Zafiu gets past Airo for the important 8th place after Airo has a bit of a sidways moment at Paddock. Bogdan runs wide through Paddock and narrowly avoids hitting Blcakett. Then cuts back across me, and I can't slow down fast enough and give him a tap, but nothing big so he doesn't fall off the track at Druids. I can now see the leaders (Emil Sallberg and Dan Allinson) in my mirrors. Then later on in the lap, Bogdan runs wide onto the grass at Clearways again, but collects it up and avoids a major trip into the barrier. Airo also loses the back end of his car on a downshift, and I go "Thankyou very much" as I pass him out of Clark's, now up into 9th again. Now I have Sallberg giving me blue flags, so I let him by into Paddock. Airo tries to go up the inside, but nothing comes from it, apart from him getting a bad exit. Then up at Druids, I unfortunatly see lots of smoke, as Airo and Dan coming together, after Airo ran wide on the exit of Paddock, trying to get back on track, obviously not wating to lose too much time to Bogdan behind, but gets pas through Druids. Dan wasn't too impressed on TS. I couldn't stay with Sallberg, and had Bogdan closing on me, but I manage to keep 9th.
Good race from me, but I obviously still need to get alot faster in order to be fighting for podiums.
Race2:
Starting 9th was definitly an improvement from 19th. I get a decent start off the line, and decide to be nice and cautious through Paddock and Druids. I drop to 11th before Druids, but okay. Then there is a coming together with Vidrighin running into the back of Bogdan, which unfortunatly made him hit Dan. This made Dan spin, and drop him back to 19th on the exit of Druids. Again, not impressed, especiallydue to Vidrighin not stopping to let him pass. I'm back up to 10th after that, and behind Harmer, in front of Paul Herman.
After a few laps of Herman closing me down, he goes up the inside into Druids and I give him room to pass. Lap 5, trying to stay with Herman, I get a bad exit, and let Dan through into Druids. On lap 10 now, and I have small train of three cars behind me as I am now back on Herman's tail, and we start having a nice little battle. Herman struggling through Clark curve, I get under is wing, and staying near him through Paddock as we start lap 11. Up into Druids, and he leaves me plenty of room, but I'm too fat back for a fair and clean lunge. Then at Clark curve, he falls off the track into the gravel, allowing me and Vidrighin pass. Back into 11th, but with a big gap to Dan in 10th. Now by lap 14, Vidrighin is all over me. He passes me into Clearways, but runs wide on entry to Clark, but gets a good enough exit to keep in front of me.
Lap 15, and the first of the pit stops happen. Vidrighin pitson lap 18, so I stay out a lap longer to see if I can jump him. When I leave the pits, I narrowly avoid running into the back of Oancea Gabrial as he slowed down as to not get in anyone's way, seen as he was 19th. I rejoin in 9th, just in front of Zafiu's fast moving E46. I try my best to stay in front, but move to the outside on exit of Clark Curve, and Zafiu doesn't need to do anything tricky to pass me down the main straight. Now in 10th with a fast moving Simon Gardner closing. So by lap 23, he's past me, as I just can't get any speed out of Graham Hill bend, or Clark's Curve, or Druids, it was so annoying. Good on the brakes, but nothing out of the corner, and I had to lower my Lock diff setting to avoid spinning the left front up. Argh!
After a quite period, I catch up to the back of Carl Middleton's Vectra on lap 30, after he fell off at Clearways the previous lap. But I can't keep up, and he drives away from me. So I settle for 11th, as Nathan isn't going fast enough to catch me.
That was fun, and a good bit of people were on TS for a good laugh. Definitly two of the better races in recent weeks. 9th and 11th may not seem that great, but I'm getting there. Me and my Alfa will be troubling the front runners soon enough.
But I don think I need some sort of coach in order to help me get the best out of my car, to better understand how a track flows, and how to setup a car so that it's very settled and confident inspiring.
Cya all next event.
