This is a tough track, I must say, and one that punishes mistakes immediately. Mistakes I did a plenty...
I qualify in 4th position. This suggests that my pace is decent, but obscures the fact that I've only had one clean lap amidst many spins and off track moments. I just don't have consistency at Snetterton, especially when I push for faster lap times.
At the start, I have good acceleration and try to position my car next to
@AndreasR's for the braking zone at the Montreal hairpin. I never quite get there, though, and fail to spot the proper braking point. I somehow manage to slow the car down but am unsure if
@AndreasR has seen my mad dive. Judging from the replay I think he did, because he gives me enough room, but at the time I didn't realize. As a result, I stay as much to the inside as I possibly can to avoid contact, so much, in fact, that I hit the sausage curb at the corner's exit. Not being able to continue to steer while on two wheels, I hit the left rear of
@AndreasR car and spin him around. I'm very sorry for that, and glad to see that he recovered to a podium position. I park my car off the track to let him back through, but naturally most of the others use that opportunity, as well. From 4th to 9th in one corner is not the start I wanted
On the bright side, the field is dense and the action intense, and as I said last Wednesday, this is why I'm racing in the first place
Unfortunately, thoughts about what could have been still linger in my brain, and I run wide on the exit of both Agostini and Hamilton on lap 2. With
@Don Mejillone right on my tail, this earns me a 2s time penalty and a stern warning from the race director. I then overspeed the entry to Brundle, somehow manage to avoid a spin into Nelson, but again go off track and have to cede my position to my teammate. He is stuck behind
@Oldbass47 and
@beachboy6658, though, so I manage to catch up with them in no time. However, I get it wrong coming out off Hamilton for second lap in a row, and this time I lose the car completely. Seemingly inspired,
@beachboy6658 repeats my Hamilton pirouette on the next lap, and in a moment of "now I can catch him" I focus my view too much ahead to notice that my left front wheel is leaving the race track. The result is immediate: another violent spin
I scold myself and make the conscious decision to reduce my pace for the sake of consistency. This works out, as I don't have another spin until the end
Now starts the most fun part of my race: It takes me about 3 laps to reestablish contact with
@beachboy6658. I'm conservative with my braking points, mindful to avoid more off track moments or bump into another car. I really enjoy how close you can follow in these touring cars, but the chase is ended only half a lap later, when
@beachboy6658 has trouble negotiating Hamilton once again.
Next up is
@Oldbass47, but his pace is faster and, when I do catch up with him on lap 8, his defensive driving very clever. He knows exactly where the best overtaking spot on the circuit is, and is a joy (now) and a pain (yesterday) to see how he positions the car to get the best exit possible out of Murrays and onto the long pit straight
He is fast in all the right places, and I only manage to pass him after he runs wide through the infield hairpin 2 laps later.
This leaves me with an empty track in front of me, and I pick up my pace to find out whether I can reel in my teammate
@Don Mejillone, who in turn is catching up to
@IfAndOr and
@rj5992. But driving faster also increases the risk of additional mistakes. I manage to half the gap between us, but running wide after a mid-corner lockup through Nelson spells the end to my efforts with only 6min to go. At the finish,
@Don Mejillone has almost caught the fighting pair in front of him, but the gap between us is almost identical to what it was when I started my pursuit 6 laps ago.
