Qualify didn't go to well, I'd just spent an hour on stint practice and didn't adapt to the qualify setup and style very quickly. In the end I managed a 1:43:4xx and that gave me 12th place, which I was quite happy with.
I had a very careful and nervous start, and in Eau Rouge I got two wheels on the outside of the track after letting off the accelerator slightly not to hit the guy in front. In my mirrors I could see some cars going sideways and I was afraid I had caused it. Watching my local replay it is a bit hard to determine what happened. I had two Aussies behind me which can create some lag or misplacing of the car. Anyways, it could look like Anthony very lightly touches my rear left (lots of air on the replay though), causing me to go off with two wheels to the right and him drifting rather sharply to the left in the middle of Eau Rouge. Behind comes Tim from a far left position and start moving to the right to kind of cross behind Anthony. Again, although with lots of air between them on my replay, it does seem they make contact. Strange situation, need to see the server replay.
A little later that lap I make a huge error of judgment. I brake at my usual braking spot at the bus stop with two cars ahead of me in the braking sone. I quickly realise I have to move to the left not to hit the guy ahead of me, and then I see I will not manage to stop in time for the hairpin and try to control the car straight across and between two cars. It would probably never have worked and Jakob hit me on his way through the corner as I crossed in front og him. He spun 90 degrees and got passed by his team mate. I do not know if he received any damage, I didn't at least. Sorry for that Jakob, I hope this is the last time this season I make such a stupid mistake.
I let the rest of the cars pass me and continued last and saw a couple of cars drop off and I was 13 and following Cor. I did manage to come close a couple of times, but never close enough to make an attempt, and soon I struggled to close a 2-3 second gap. I think this lasted for a long while, until I at lap 13 get to eager and overstear my car into the wall, somewhere half way along the track. i manage to drive it to the pits without losing too much extra time, decide to make my only stop, change tyres to soft(!) and fill up for the rest of the race.
For the first time in the race I am starting to drive well, doing laps around 1:46-47 withou any mistakes for many laps. I am suddenly 8th without really passing any cars, must have something to do with the pitting or something. After a good handfull of laps my tyres are starting to get worn and I crash and receive damage. jakob passes me and Cor is a couple of seconds behind. I keep on driving relativly well, a couple of seconds behind Jakob and the same in front of Cor. in the end I receive worn tyre warning, and I see they are down to 50% with 6 laps left. I did not want to get DNF because of blown tyre so I make a pit stop, change to soft tyres again and make some fast laps in the end. I came 11th, just out of the points, but I did have a lot of fun, exept my huge mistake at lap 1 of course!
Btw, I am not trying to set a standard for race reviews, I just felt like writing detailed tonight, probably because I had a bad first lap
And of course, congrats to the winner Reik, outstanding preformance, hopefully somebody will be able to give you a better challenge next time (although I saw Mark had your tail in the start of the race). Grats to Dan and Andy as well for their podium finish, and grats to all point takers!
race result will be a bit delayed, i'll get back to this tomorrow.
I had a very careful and nervous start, and in Eau Rouge I got two wheels on the outside of the track after letting off the accelerator slightly not to hit the guy in front. In my mirrors I could see some cars going sideways and I was afraid I had caused it. Watching my local replay it is a bit hard to determine what happened. I had two Aussies behind me which can create some lag or misplacing of the car. Anyways, it could look like Anthony very lightly touches my rear left (lots of air on the replay though), causing me to go off with two wheels to the right and him drifting rather sharply to the left in the middle of Eau Rouge. Behind comes Tim from a far left position and start moving to the right to kind of cross behind Anthony. Again, although with lots of air between them on my replay, it does seem they make contact. Strange situation, need to see the server replay.
A little later that lap I make a huge error of judgment. I brake at my usual braking spot at the bus stop with two cars ahead of me in the braking sone. I quickly realise I have to move to the left not to hit the guy ahead of me, and then I see I will not manage to stop in time for the hairpin and try to control the car straight across and between two cars. It would probably never have worked and Jakob hit me on his way through the corner as I crossed in front og him. He spun 90 degrees and got passed by his team mate. I do not know if he received any damage, I didn't at least. Sorry for that Jakob, I hope this is the last time this season I make such a stupid mistake.
I let the rest of the cars pass me and continued last and saw a couple of cars drop off and I was 13 and following Cor. I did manage to come close a couple of times, but never close enough to make an attempt, and soon I struggled to close a 2-3 second gap. I think this lasted for a long while, until I at lap 13 get to eager and overstear my car into the wall, somewhere half way along the track. i manage to drive it to the pits without losing too much extra time, decide to make my only stop, change tyres to soft(!) and fill up for the rest of the race.
For the first time in the race I am starting to drive well, doing laps around 1:46-47 withou any mistakes for many laps. I am suddenly 8th without really passing any cars, must have something to do with the pitting or something. After a good handfull of laps my tyres are starting to get worn and I crash and receive damage. jakob passes me and Cor is a couple of seconds behind. I keep on driving relativly well, a couple of seconds behind Jakob and the same in front of Cor. in the end I receive worn tyre warning, and I see they are down to 50% with 6 laps left. I did not want to get DNF because of blown tyre so I make a pit stop, change to soft tyres again and make some fast laps in the end. I came 11th, just out of the points, but I did have a lot of fun, exept my huge mistake at lap 1 of course!
Btw, I am not trying to set a standard for race reviews, I just felt like writing detailed tonight, probably because I had a bad first lap
And of course, congrats to the winner Reik, outstanding preformance, hopefully somebody will be able to give you a better challenge next time (although I saw Mark had your tail in the start of the race). Grats to Dan and Andy as well for their podium finish, and grats to all point takers!
race result will be a bit delayed, i'll get back to this tomorrow.
