I'll do a little write up about my weekend...
It started out ironically enough me (and another small group of guys) getting in trouble for being too fast in media sessions
my fastest lap would have put me just outside the top 10 even though I was carrying a passenger!
Straight away in p1 we were p1
my fastest lap was set in the middle of the session. I came in after that and let the car rest and cool down before going out in the last few minutes to put another lap down, but many drivers wanted to play funner buggers and mind games with me, finding it somewhat amusing to block me and push me into the grass while on their cool down lap... :/
Going into q1, my engineer told me that the track might be slower, so if you don't go any faster than p1 don't worry just keep driving and punching out the laps... On my very first lap I went 0.6 faster than my p1 fastest, over the radio I go "whoooo!". I had another shot again after but I had to back out because of traffic, even though I was 0.8 up on my first lap. I went back in to the pit box and had a bit of a rest, re set the tyre pressures and had another shot with a few minutes to go, but again drivers decided that I was not allowed to go any faster and made a seemingly conscious decision to block my fast laps. It didn't matter, I had half a second over them anyway
My goal into q2 was to go even faster and possibly break the lap record which I was half a second off in q1. We waited to see if my lap was under threat before we went out onto the track. About 10 minutes through the session we saw jozza hop into the low 49's, so we thought we better do a lap. Once again, drivers made it very very hard for me to make my way through (for example on my first flying lap - which would have been a mid 48 again - a driver sat right on the racing line going through t11, and had every opportunity to get off the race line but didn't forcing me to go round the outside), so I came into the pits, re set the tyres again, and went out again. I could only manage a 49.2, same as jozza, my lap was filled from mistakes... In saying that a low 49 was a good time for that session. I was happy to top every time sheet on saturday and was looking forward to sunday.
Sunday, we get to the track. It's raining... great. I was slightly nervous about the weather not knowing how everyone else will go about it and hoping I can get the thing off the line.
Race 1, I did get it off the line. Not initially, but the second part of my start was good enough to give me the lead into t1. Parker went around the outside of me at t1, I lost traction and didn't fight him for the position. I tried to hold off Lloyd for a lap or two but ended up opening the door for him because he had a little bit more pace than me. I sat with the two for a couple of laps but they were driving way too fast in greasy conditions for my liking, so I sat back in my comfort zone and scored an easy third, which gave me the championship lead.
Race 2, top 10 reverse grid so I was off 8th. I got an awesome start and passed a few before t1. I was making sure I picked the drivers off 1 by 1 and not make any silly decisions, any points are good from 8th. I ended up getting passed a few drivers then Dommo fell off the track trying to pass Beechey. I caught Beechey up heaps then made a pretty ballsy pass into t1 on the wet side of the track. I made a quick gap on him concentrating on my corner exits and straight line speed, then Bates decided he still wanted to play funny games and pushed me onto the kerb at t1 almost in the grass and continued to not give me the racing line into t2 even with the blue flags... I was not impressed. On my last lap I just put my head down, I had a good lead and just made sure I hit all my braking markers, got the throttle on at the right points and found all my track references. I did so, and set a time only 0.2 off my pole lap time on the last lap of the race! I was so happy with my first race win, it was the best feeling in the world, especially at this level.
Race 3, I was off pole... it stayed dry but we didn't quite set the car up right. Our bars were set for a damp/wet track, and it didn't quite have the speed it did and pushed quite a lot. I was still the fastest (not time wise but race wise the car was the fastest), and I didn't get it off the line quite right. I dropped back to 3rd by the end of lap 1, then I made another pretty spur of the moment pass on Beechy going into Siberia, then hunted down Parker. I had a good race with him but I just couldn't quite get the business done without pushing him off the track (there was many times where I could have had an easy win by doing that), so I settled for second and now I'm leading the championship by 15 points
It started out ironically enough me (and another small group of guys) getting in trouble for being too fast in media sessions
my fastest lap would have put me just outside the top 10 even though I was carrying a passenger!Straight away in p1 we were p1
my fastest lap was set in the middle of the session. I came in after that and let the car rest and cool down before going out in the last few minutes to put another lap down, but many drivers wanted to play funner buggers and mind games with me, finding it somewhat amusing to block me and push me into the grass while on their cool down lap... :/Going into q1, my engineer told me that the track might be slower, so if you don't go any faster than p1 don't worry just keep driving and punching out the laps... On my very first lap I went 0.6 faster than my p1 fastest, over the radio I go "whoooo!". I had another shot again after but I had to back out because of traffic, even though I was 0.8 up on my first lap. I went back in to the pit box and had a bit of a rest, re set the tyre pressures and had another shot with a few minutes to go, but again drivers decided that I was not allowed to go any faster and made a seemingly conscious decision to block my fast laps. It didn't matter, I had half a second over them anyway
My goal into q2 was to go even faster and possibly break the lap record which I was half a second off in q1. We waited to see if my lap was under threat before we went out onto the track. About 10 minutes through the session we saw jozza hop into the low 49's, so we thought we better do a lap. Once again, drivers made it very very hard for me to make my way through (for example on my first flying lap - which would have been a mid 48 again - a driver sat right on the racing line going through t11, and had every opportunity to get off the race line but didn't forcing me to go round the outside), so I came into the pits, re set the tyres again, and went out again. I could only manage a 49.2, same as jozza, my lap was filled from mistakes... In saying that a low 49 was a good time for that session. I was happy to top every time sheet on saturday and was looking forward to sunday.
Sunday, we get to the track. It's raining... great. I was slightly nervous about the weather not knowing how everyone else will go about it and hoping I can get the thing off the line.
Race 1, I did get it off the line. Not initially, but the second part of my start was good enough to give me the lead into t1. Parker went around the outside of me at t1, I lost traction and didn't fight him for the position. I tried to hold off Lloyd for a lap or two but ended up opening the door for him because he had a little bit more pace than me. I sat with the two for a couple of laps but they were driving way too fast in greasy conditions for my liking, so I sat back in my comfort zone and scored an easy third, which gave me the championship lead.
Race 2, top 10 reverse grid so I was off 8th. I got an awesome start and passed a few before t1. I was making sure I picked the drivers off 1 by 1 and not make any silly decisions, any points are good from 8th. I ended up getting passed a few drivers then Dommo fell off the track trying to pass Beechey. I caught Beechey up heaps then made a pretty ballsy pass into t1 on the wet side of the track. I made a quick gap on him concentrating on my corner exits and straight line speed, then Bates decided he still wanted to play funny games and pushed me onto the kerb at t1 almost in the grass and continued to not give me the racing line into t2 even with the blue flags... I was not impressed. On my last lap I just put my head down, I had a good lead and just made sure I hit all my braking markers, got the throttle on at the right points and found all my track references. I did so, and set a time only 0.2 off my pole lap time on the last lap of the race! I was so happy with my first race win, it was the best feeling in the world, especially at this level.
Race 3, I was off pole... it stayed dry but we didn't quite set the car up right. Our bars were set for a damp/wet track, and it didn't quite have the speed it did and pushed quite a lot. I was still the fastest (not time wise but race wise the car was the fastest), and I didn't get it off the line quite right. I dropped back to 3rd by the end of lap 1, then I made another pretty spur of the moment pass on Beechy going into Siberia, then hunted down Parker. I had a good race with him but I just couldn't quite get the business done without pushing him off the track (there was many times where I could have had an easy win by doing that), so I settled for second and now I'm leading the championship by 15 points
hmhm
