Big Congrats to Marko for his first victory at PrestoGP!
Also congrats to Sean in 3rd! It's really cool to have such a close ranking in such a late phase of the championship.
And of course congrats to all of us, because such a high finishing rate is the best prove of our high standards. Top work guys!
Practice (13th or so...):
Again a practice session where I joined late to find completely wet conditions. I managed to drive a 1:39:4xx with intermediates, which was really fun to drive. Others had put in quicker laps before in different conditions, so for me it was a big challenge to head to the practice starts in the middle of the pack.
Qualify (1st):
Besides the practice starts I had no "quick" dry laps in qualy mode for the last few days. So it was a big challenge to put in a decent lap. To get used to this conditions I pushed hard in the out lap. I tryed to be clean and not too agressive which seems to be good at such tricky laps. But finally I was surprised myself to end up with a 1:29:7xx only 0,2 seconds slower than my PB.
Race (2nd):
1st stint: 14 laps / mediums / 60 liters
2nd stint: 14 laps / mediums / 60 liters
3rd stint: 13 laps / mediums / 45 liters
I carried some extra fuel in the first two stints to have an option to drive two 15 laps stints and the third stint for 11 laps on soft tyres...
I had a good start and saw Sean in the mirror falling back a little bit. So I had each turn for my own to drive them as clean as possible on cold tyres. Immediately I could open a small gap (~2-3 seconds) to Marko who had take 2nd position behind me.
I tryed to drive as good as possible but without too much risk. To my surprise I couldn't increase the gap to Marko but I didn't worry much at this stage of the race. In the last laps of the first stint the car was tricky to handle and I was very surprised to see Marko closing up on me. I was wondering if he was able to make the stint on softs. Finally we pitted together in the end of lap 14 (I think).
I remember doing a very good stop but nevertheless Marko overtook me in the pits!
Now I know he made a tighter fuel calculation and only took 45 liters at this moment. So our positions where reversed now and I followed him be some seconds. After other driver's stops he was in the lead now and I in 2nd tryed to stay close to him. The gap was ~ 5 seconds and I really tryed hard to stay in touch with him. I honestly didn't want to believe that he could be that little bit quicker on the same strategy but he was.
For the second time I stoped one lap earlier to eventually gain on him by doing a good outlap on fresh tyres. I was pushing hard and touch the grass on the outside of the fast middle sector left-right-combination. I was close to fly off but catched it by smashing into the brakes and shifting down 2 gears. That was thrilling an the lap time only was average then, so when Marko left the pit after his second stop, I still was 5-6 seconds behind him.
Through the whole 3rd stint I pushed hard to make him eventually feel some pressure. I thought if he would make a small mistake I could be there - at least close to his tail to make him feel even more pressure.
A few laps before the end of race Marko made such a mistake but it wasn't a big one and the gap still was ~ 2 seconds and he slightly pulled away again.
Finally Marko finished ~ 3 seconds infront of me and I'm really impressed about his speed and his strong nerves to bring it home this way. Very well deserved mate!
I honestly give in that I couldn't have driven a better race, so I'm also satisfied with my 2nd position.
I was thinking about doing the 3rd stint on softs but I was afraid of the tyre temps and to loose more than I could gain so I decided to stay with my standard strategy to finish infront of Sean and to close the gap in the championship ranking a little bit again. I'm very curious what the last races will bring...
One more time I like to thank our admin Nicolai sooooo much for putting in so much work into this great league. The great performance from all of us is also a result of his work.
C U all in the desert!