(div 2)
Here's my race report :
Qual :
Qualified 13th, 0.2 sec slower than my PB. I wasn't expecting very much here
Race :
Very careful start. Nearly ran into Alfonso that was just in front of me, since he was very slow to start. I tried to stay on my line and it went well at T1, but I've already lost 5 positions since I was P18 in T1 entry. That allowed me to see most of the action in the first turns. I then made my first moves, trying no to go too fast since my tyres were cold, and quickly began to pass the other pilots that were make mistakes : P17 after T2, P16 after T4, P15 after T7. I nearly ran into Anthony and Alfonso in T8, since they were having serious problems there. P13 at the end of the first lap, my qualification position.
At the beginning of the second lap, in T1, Alfonso passed me on the inside but went too fast and was in the grass, nearly being hit by Tom that spun there. Francesco was also in trouble there, and I managed to pass all them with a bit of luck, I admit. So P11 after T3, then P10 at the end of my second lap.
Then a long run where I was spectator on the battle between Bob and Romain that lasted 3 laps. In lap 6, I was gaining on Bob but keep my distance because he was sometimes locking his tyres. In lap 7, I passed Romain, and was surprised to see Bob braking very early in T13. I blocked my tyres, spun and Romain passed me again, but crashed shortly after. I was, at the moment, then very nervous, and made lots of mistakes in lap 8, and lost 4 positions. Fortunately, no one was hit during my bad moves. I then put myself together, and tried not to push too hard.
I passed Tom in lap 12, and gaining on Alessio. He had a different pace than me, especially in the double apex T6&T7. In lap 16, he turned too late there, and as I was close to him at that moment, turned too late too, and hit him. I have no excuse here (sorry again Alessio !), and watching the replay showed that I was too close, and my move was too risky. Anyway, I wasn't damaged, but I kept my distance behind Alessio, letting him to recover his pace. After a few laps, I pushed again and passed him after T13, since he had some wheelspin there.
P5 in lap 20 after overtaking Olli and pit stops from other pilots, I finished my first run in a nearly empty track, and pitted P2 at the end of lap 25 (was P1 during a few moment in that lap). My pit crew was as slow as the others to refuel and change tyres, so I won't blame them :wink:
Exited P6 on an empty track, until the end of lap 31 where I joined some other pilots. In the same move, Rob let me pass since I lapped him (thanks), and also Coen that was P1 and close behind me. I let Coen pass me at the end of the finish lane two laps later, and tried to follow his pace to close Phil, not very far from me. In lap 36, as I was battling with Phil, I saw Alfonso in T8 that was recovering from a spin and frightened me a bit. One lap later, I saw the famous helicopter crash of Werner on my right in T6. I was gaining on Phil again, but he seemed to crash in the pit lane entry in lap 39.
Entering lap 40, I saw that I was P5, and decided that it should be a nice result to end like that, so I concentrated on making clean laps, but in lap 43, I nearly ran into Coen that had crashed into Alfonso.
In the final laps, I noticed that my tyres were still fine, I was 4 second after Joe and closing him, so I decided to push harder to see what will happen. I wasn't risking much, since P6 was 30 seconds or more after me. In the final turn of the final lap, Joe made a mistake and I was able to pass him to finish 4th. I wasn't expecting that !
So, to summarize, my first race went very fine. My objectives were to finish this one, but I think I was very lucky to finish that good.
Thanks to the PrestoGP and RaceDepartment staff for the organization.
See you at Abu.