Thanks. I had the pole position with a 1:41.7xx. I left a few 10ths on the track but started hitting traffic during qualifying. Tires really have to warm up to hit decent times.
A quick race report from my run, from what I can remember. I think i'll record the video later and post it.
Start: I think my 1st gear was a bit too tall because agro got a pretty good jump on me. He ducked inside when I understeered a bit on the 2nd part of turn 2 and I gave him the lead into 3 rather than push hard early on. I followed for a lap and gave him a few bumps up the straight. It didn't help because everyone in toe was still close enough to draft. On turn 6 (the left before the steep uphill) I was too close to see the turn in point and I missed it and went off into the dirt. That put me in 5th place with a significant gap. I chased hard hoping to get a break with the draft. After a few laps I caught up and was running 4th when I saw Agro get a penalty at the cork screw. He did the same thing during our practice race. It was Spit, Nic, and me running nose to tail. Spit and Nic looked to be losing time in turn 2 and maybe a little in turn 5 but it was impossible to get by Nic when he was in Spit's draft. I tried to outbrake into 5 but there wasn't enough room for me to fit between the two. I tapped Spit and slowed enough for Nic to get back by. After that I decided I would just try to stay as close to Nic as possible and wait for a mistake. It came in the form of a double shot. Spit went wide on turn 10 and picked up some dirt. Nic sqeezed by on the inside. On turn 11, I knew Spit was going to run wide into the dirt (it happens every time you go into the dirt on 11 if you don't brake soon enough) so I stayed behind Nic. Sure enough, he went wide, but at the same time, Nic picked up a penalty for clipping the corner and I got the lead. Only problem, Yuri was close enough to draft. He tailed me for a while and got right on my bumper on the straight before turn 5. I moved to the inside to force him out but I went too deep and messed up my exit speed. He squeaked by and I jumped on his tail. I stayed close enough through turn 6 to get a boost of draft up the hill. I took the lead before the braking point of the corkscrew and nailed the turn. When I looked back, Yuri had ghosted with a penalty. That put me 4 or 5 seconds ahead with maybe 5 laps to go. I stretched the gap to about 6 seconds by the end of the race. It would have been nice to have a photo finish but I'll take the win.
This was a pretty fun race. I've never raced something so slow on racing tires before. It is really about momentum which makes following other cars extremely difficult. You can take turn 4 wide open when you are out front, but when you follow someone, the extra draft speed means you have to carefully modulate to keep from running wide. The same happens in turn 6. You can't see the apex when you are bumper to bumper so you have to turn in and hope it holds.
Edit, just recorded the video, its uploading now. My best non-draft lap was a 1:41.6xx which occurred when I was trying to pull away from Yuri. Prior to that, when I was chasing Nic and Spit, lap times were around 1:43. So despite being able to run over a second quicker, it is still very difficult to pass when you can't lose momentum. Several of my attempts resulted in me losing a position instead. I also had the fastest overall lap of the race with a 1:41.3xx (draft aided). No one else broke into the 1:41s.
