Thanks! That may've been my best road-course run since I started iRacing despite the number of incidents. I ran in second for two stints...the guy who eventually finished there passed me, spun, then passed me again a few laps later. He was just a little faster than me.
The fellow who finished fifth passed me for third position and ran away from me. toward the last quarter of the race. I'd kept him more than ten seconds behind me forever, but the combination of some lapped traffic and me getting a little too skittish about the state of my tires let him overtake me. He spun out on the straight and I got it back...I'm not sure what caused it. He was catching up to #2, so it might've been some kind of passing drama, but I forgot to save the replay.
In any case, I actually got to take it easy the last few laps, as the fellow behind me was nearly half a lap behind, and the guy in front was too distant for a realistic hope of catching in the remaining time.
Are the D-level MX-5 races 40 minutes? I actually enjoyed the longer run.