I'd like to thank all of the GTPSS stewards,
@AJ and the commentators for a great show this weekend.
So, my post-race speech.... here goes!
With everything that had happened both on and off the track, it was safe to say that as a team Swift Autosport didn't quite prepare as much as we should have done, and more importantly, thought we had done to put the car on track. There, saying that right now before anyone else has a chance to jump down our throats.
It became apparent quickly that we'd taken on a mammoth task, and with
@swiftsmith helping out TOR from a driving POV, I stepped up to be pseudo-TM to allow him more room to help that team. We had a plethora of constraints that effectively neutered any strategy that I wanted to deploy for the team, but the data gathered and end result was definitely a team effort. I was actually a very bad member of the team, playing more Dragon's Dogma than practicing, so I have to give the guys kudos for 90% of the preparation and intel gathering.
Going into this race and looking at the team's work ethic, and the findings they produced, had me thinking that maybe we could sneak in a surprise result. If we could produce what we were doing in our lobby during the race, I had every faith in a good finish! Sadly, race day came and every member of the team felt the punishing aura... pressure got to us, definitely. I don't need to say anything more, neither does anyone else, it speaks for itself. Unless you drove multiple stints without a single error on that track, it's safe to say that nobody has the right to speak ill of anyone else's drivers or team.
Anyways, I have to congratulate everyone in Swift Autosport for toughing it out until the end! I really do! None of you moaned, none of you gave up, you took every error to heart when you really didn't have to, but you decided to suck it up and persevered. Though I never said it, I'll admit that there was one moment in the race where the words "let's just pack it up here" crossed my tongue, I'm sorry for ever thinking it.
To
@GTP Ziggy, for pulling off that 3h 59m stint, and to jumping in at a moment's notice when I had my power outage. To
@Rob Ledwell, for conditioning himself to do the 4am stint we planned despite having a wife and kids to think about, and for all the information regarding stints and tyre/fuel analysis. To
@AhmedAl, for the sheer willingness to get stuck in, working hard and being so proactive about being a part of this team. To
@gillesthegt6, for your contributions to tuning, not being upset with the lack of driving time, and purely just having the pleasure to have been in a race with you finally.
Finally,
@swiftsmith... Thank you for allowing me to effectively have free rein over the team for this race while your attention was pulled elsewhere, it was made easier by every one of them being so co-operative. I wish I could have done more for them, and I wish the pieces fell in place like I wanted them to... alas, just wasn't to be.