Quali: As usual not a perfect lap but good enough for pole so I was happy after quali of course.
Race: Me and Rami got away nicely and slowly started to pull away from everybody else. Like Rami said I was quicker in the start but then later in the stint the gap came back to pretty much nothing so we pitted with only about 1.5s between us. After the 1st pit I went flat out and started to make gap to Rami again. It was about 6s when I caught up with some traffic and that gave Rami the opportunity to close the gap right down. I decided to pit a bit earlier than I had thought, to avoid another traffic jam. Too bad I made a little mistake in the pits losing ~5s and also since the decision to pit was made quickly I didn't have time to check what tires to put on....Anyway I passed Rami back when he pitted on the next lap. And again I was quicker in the beginning but getting close to the end of the race Rami started to catch me again. He tapped me a bit but waited me to regain my pos so thanks for that. Then on the second to last lap after the left hand hairpin I lost acceleration (according to motec my throttle only went to 85%) and Rami was able to geet side by side with me. He outbraked himself and I could still hold to my lead. But 2 corners later still being confused about my throttle prob, I made a teeny weeny mistake and went wide leaving the door open for Rami to take advantage. I tried to get the slipstream but couldn't do anything. So I cruised the last lap to P2.
I have to admit that it is slightly disappointing to lose the because of some hw issues but at the same time I'm really happy for Rami. And to add it's the first Finnish 1-2 in STC so my that pretty much takes care of my disappointment.
Onneksi olkoon Rami, mahtava ajo ja mahtava kisa!!
Congrats to my teamie Iain for a brilliant 3rd place. Also congrats to our new STC driver for FO Club, Risto. A very nice first race mate. And a race would not be complete without a bit of bad luck and the unlucky driver for us this time was Ken. Cheer up, you'll get 'em next time!
Race: Me and Rami got away nicely and slowly started to pull away from everybody else. Like Rami said I was quicker in the start but then later in the stint the gap came back to pretty much nothing so we pitted with only about 1.5s between us. After the 1st pit I went flat out and started to make gap to Rami again. It was about 6s when I caught up with some traffic and that gave Rami the opportunity to close the gap right down. I decided to pit a bit earlier than I had thought, to avoid another traffic jam. Too bad I made a little mistake in the pits losing ~5s and also since the decision to pit was made quickly I didn't have time to check what tires to put on....Anyway I passed Rami back when he pitted on the next lap. And again I was quicker in the beginning but getting close to the end of the race Rami started to catch me again. He tapped me a bit but waited me to regain my pos so thanks for that. Then on the second to last lap after the left hand hairpin I lost acceleration (according to motec my throttle only went to 85%) and Rami was able to geet side by side with me. He outbraked himself and I could still hold to my lead. But 2 corners later still being confused about my throttle prob, I made a teeny weeny mistake and went wide leaving the door open for Rami to take advantage. I tried to get the slipstream but couldn't do anything. So I cruised the last lap to P2.
I have to admit that it is slightly disappointing to lose the because of some hw issues but at the same time I'm really happy for Rami. And to add it's the first Finnish 1-2 in STC so my that pretty much takes care of my disappointment.
Onneksi olkoon Rami, mahtava ajo ja mahtava kisa!!
Congrats to my teamie Iain for a brilliant 3rd place. Also congrats to our new STC driver for FO Club, Risto. A very nice first race mate. And a race would not be complete without a bit of bad luck and the unlucky driver for us this time was Ken. Cheer up, you'll get 'em next time!
