That was a very nice event for me. After adapting from the completely different feeling of the MX5 Cup I felt pretty comfy with the good'ol Lotus (ah, those controlable wosh-wash every single corner
). I didn't bother with touching anything in the standard setup, so I just drove the little L lap after lap to get the feeling with and without fuel in the practice. My qualy wasn't going too well the first 20 mins, so I settled for a normal lap, which let me the 10th spot. Fortunately my last second effort improved my time almost half a second and I managed to start the race in 4th position!
The first lap was pretty clean up the front. Tense for me, but clean nonetheless. I lost a position to Raphael, who started was better than me, but I managed to stay close to watch his battle with Brian for the 3rd position. Brian made a mistake on the second to last corner and Raphael could take 3th with an easy pass on the main straight. I followed Brian on lap 2, being faster than him through the first corner sequence but almost losing it at Piratella. He made a mistake in Acque Minerali and I passed him. Now in 4th I pursued Raphael, who already was closing on Andy in 2nd place. Up at the front, David was already flexing muscles with a fantastic pace.
My move for 3rd place came after the pass Raphael made on Brian on lap 3. He came faster out of Acque Minerali and up to the chicane. Brian made things easy for him while breaking at the chicane, but from my perspective it was pretty close. Watching the replay I can say that it was a clean manover. Well done chaps! They stayed close on their way down the second to last corner, being almost side by side, but Raphael took a (sort of clumsy
) interior and stayed in 2nd. In the last corner, Brian had a wobble and I found myself enjoying his slipstream at the start of the main straight. We drove side by side on the finish line and I was on the fron while breaking in the interior for turn 1. I believe Brian sacrificed the battle in T1 to make a better approach to the corner and fight back on the next straight. He really took T1 way better than me, but I managed the sequence good enough to stay at front. Then I went wide at Villeneuve chicane, but saved it in the last second, staying in 3rd position until the end of the race. I settled for a normal pace, with a couple of fast laps when I felt comfortable enough, but I wanted to manage the tires making only minor errors and taking my first podium on my 4th race here at RD. I am very happy!
