Quali: Never really got to grips with the car in quali and was only able to improve by one tenth over my practice time. My 1:55 flat was still good for fifth on the grid though, which unfortunately turned out to be a bad place to be. lol
Race 1: After the lights went out both of the vettes to the right of me came over into my lane. I got hit and forced off the track into the fence to the left. Then I spun into traffic and got hit a couple more times before coming to a stop against the wall on the right side. Luckily no aero damage. Then coming around T2 flat out in 4th, I see Macpherson stranded diagonally in the middle of the track. There was nothing I could do and I T-boned him hard! Took on suspension damage and lost my front aero. Was very lucky to be able to continue on after that hit. I babied it back to the pits for repairs. Entered the pits behind Micheal and Larry in P19 and exited in P17. Nearly a lap down, I was pushing hard to stay on the lead lap, clocking in consistent mid to high 55's. Due to the misfortune of others I eventually found myself in P14. On the last lap I came up behind Larry who was a lap down and he slowed down a fair bit more than I had anticipated coming through T1, resulting in me hitting him and spinning him around. So sorry about that Larry! Bad driving on my part. I was glad to see you were able to carry on. Finished P14.
Race 2: Had pretty decent start and was on the inside of Yves coming into T1. About half way through T1 I get tapped from behind by Jeong Kim and get a little loose. I manage to keep it straight, but give William a bump from behind (sorry!). He bounces off the wall, but recovers quickly. Then coming through T2 there are a bunch of cars sideways and bouncing off one another. This was one of those days of thunder moments. I let off the throttle and tried to weave my way through. Almost clear of everyone, Jan Somers comes across in front of me. With no where to go, we hit and his car rolled. Sorry Jan, but there really was nothing I could have done. I am in P10 now with Micheal hot on my tail in the vette, when we come past the incident between Abdul and Yves gifting me P8. I manage to break away from Micheal and start chancing down Jarrod and rest of the field up a head. Due to a mistake by Jarrod, I got on his tail within about a lap and I got a good run on him into T2 having carried much more speed through T1. It's a good thing Jarrod saw me coming. I tried to hold it tight, but drifted a bit wide. If it hadn't been for Jarrods amazing driving, this could have ended both our races. Sorry for this move Jarrod, I should have waited. Somewhere along the way we must have lost somebody, as I now found myself in P6 closing on Dennis and Keith up a head. Dennis spins in T7 and I narrowly miss him. Jarrod wasn't so lucky - up to P5 now, chasing Keith. On Lap 4 Tyler makes a mistake. Keith slips through and I am closing on him fast. I managed to get within a second of him and start to apply some pressure. On lap 5 however I started to suffer from under steer, pushing the front quite heavily. Not sure if I took on some damage earlier in the race causing this behaviour, but this eventually lead me to run really wide in T2. I got loose and in trying to get the car under control I ran off in T3. I was lucky not to hit anything and rejoined just as Jeong Kim went by me. I clawed onto his rear bumper and was able to pass him at the end of the back straight. He tries to return the favor the following lap, but runs it deep and is forced to go straight on. At this point I just tried to keep the gap to Keith and Tyler steady at 8.5 - 9 seconds, figuring if I kept them within a reasonable distance I could captitalize on errors either of them made. The remainder of my race was pretty uneventful. Finished 5th.
While I did manage to rebound somewhat from a horrible race 1, I am kind of disappointed with my results tonight. I really felt I had the pace to play with the guys at the front. Still had fun in race 2 though.
