Well I must say that I started the race none too happy. Between the constant chatting during qually and the aggressiveness of a few flying down the pit lane at full speed and hounding slower cars, i lost all concentration and blew what may have been pole (was -.310 on a few laps).
Qually : Started well off my pb set in 4th.
Race: Got a rough start and was 6th before the first corner, but I had a prime line and managed to dodge a sideways Ross and come out in 3rd on the exit. Pierre and Warren had a little gap on me, but I was able to keep up due to me starting with half fuel (which turned out to be a mistake). Over the next 5 or so laps I slowly closed the gap and began searching for potential places to pass. Pierre ran a bit wide in the long right-hander and Warren got by on the following stretch, rendering me even closer. Warren was off by himself putting some good laps down while I picked away at Pierre. Finally on the second to last corner of lap 7, he ran wide and I got by underneath. The next 8 laps were devoted to trying to catch Warren. He had a decent gap by the time I got by Pierre, but bit by bit I was able to reel him in, especially in the first corner, the long s curves, and the last few corners, but I was losing time in the chicane. Lap 15 came and I was right on Warren's bumper, sadly I hesitated before the race deciding whether or not to do a pit during the race and ran out of time..so i only started with 16 laps of fuel. After what seemed like an eternity in the pits, I came out about 15sec down from Bob M in 8th. With brand new tires and a yearning to get my positions back, I threw down incredibly fast laps and was making great time on Bob. At the end of lap 22 I got my biggest scare of the night. On the second to last corner I lost the rear end and my nose was headed directly into the left wall barrier. Somehow I caught the slide and the rear left quarter-panel came within inches of the wall. On the stretch before the chicane on lap 25 I got a real good run on Bob and was able to drive by most likely because of my low wing settings. Michel and Fernando were not too far ahead and they were my next targets, but not before I got loose in the last corner and nearly ran straight into the pit wall. Had a quick battle with Michel before getting by, then it was Matt vs Fernando time.
Because Philip pitted, we all moved up a spot, which meant Fernando and I were fighting over the prized 3rd position. Our battle started on lap 28 when we were behind John S. On the stretch before the second to last corner I was able to make a pass on Fernando and to be honest, I thought that was game over...then he comes diving into the corner and I realized it was on. I made a pass attempt going into the last corner and the stretch before the chicane, but Fernando always dove right back into the fight. Coming round the long right-hander we got bunched up behind John on the left side of the track. So John was leading, me right behind him, and Fernando side by side to my right. John moved right to let us pass, and I tried to hold the inside line going into the next left hand corner, but wouldn't you know it Fernando drove between John and I and screamed down into the corner ahead of me. That started lap 30. Coming down into the braking zone, Fernando started to slide a tiny bit, scaring me into a slide myself. I pulled off a pass going down the stretch before the chicane, but Fernando held his inside line and flew right by as I braked. Realizing we only had 3 turns left I got a massive draft and a huge run on Fernando and rocketed by on the outside of the stretch. After passing I tried to block the inside line, but Fernando found a door and blew it down with a rocket launcher. I was way heavy on brakes and started a slide with my nose pointing to the inside, Fernando locked up and was pointing to the outside. From that point we were two sliding cars and I was fortunate enough to be pointing the right way and corrected the slide to capture 3rd. Fantastic racing mate, video to follow!!!
