What an amazing couple of races, but Race 1 was the best GTL Race I have ever had. Simply brilliant and huge fun.
Race 1, Mini: Everyone knows my love for this nimble little trooper, and so it proved to be again. I managed to Qualify on pole, but I knew that would all be lost at the start. I just cannot get the Mini off the line without bogging down with wheelspin. So it was again, with the two Falcons blasting away like we were standing still, and to make it worse I dropped to P5 with Knut and David getting away better.
For the early running, Tom and Amir, in Falcons, had fresh rubber and could maintain a comfortable advantage over the three minis. As things progressed, Knut, David, and I would take turns at attacking the Falcons, but each time the leading Mini would get it's ears boxed and drop back. David copped a bad whack from Tom and dropped out of the battle ( for now at least). That left Knut and I to wage a huge scrap of our own, whilst trying to find a way past the Falcons, which were far too quick on the straight, and very wide in the turns. About lap 9, Amir tapped Tom and spun, but amazingly Knut and I avoided his prone car.
Now things really got interesting. Tom was getting more and more ragged as his tyres cried for mercy, but the more his tail slid around, the wider that tank became, making a pass very challenging. He was using all of the road, and then some. At one stage, both Knut and I made a successful pass on Tom, only to see him blast by down the straight again. Eventually Tom was backing Knut and I up to the point that David joined the fray, and Sam was lurking very close in his Abarth, hoping we'd all come to grief.
Like a pack of hyiena's around a carcass, we all attacked Tom relentlessly, but he just wouldn't yield. We all made one last lunge at him over the closing turn, but he held on to pip me by half a car length. I think the first 5 cars were all within a second or two.
Fantastic race of epic proportions. :woop:
Well done Tom, you earned that win the hard way. :highfive:
Race 2, the Jaaaaaag: This was going to be totally opposite to the nimble Mini. This thing is a cruiseing ocean liner :ballchain: . I expected to cruise around at the back on my own, but I was entertained by Glenn, showing how to destroy a Mini. Somehow he managed to create a cloud of smoke at every turn, making my visibility almost impossible at times. I even managed to plough the Jaaaaaag straight into his sideways Mini at one point, leaving Mini and Jag bodywork all over the track for Steven to avoid. Somehow, in the second last lap, I rolled the Jaaaaaag in the main straight, and went over the wall into pitlane. :doh:
Great racing, GTL always delivers top enjoyment. Thanks Stuart, great track choice too.
EDIT: A couple of screenshots of our mad dash to the finsh.
Approaching the last turn, we are all getting desperate to "sting" that fat Falcon
Nope, Tom still had just enough power and rubber left to scrape home (by a whisker).