Started 10th. First 80 laps or so were all clean and good, I was bumpdrafting with different people and I was sitting between 5th and 9th all stint long. Sorry to Asnl for the contact early on, I was slightly ahead at T1 exit but we touched slightly, felt like you could've gotten away with that, but lag threw you into a big slide unfortunately.
Then at the caution at lap 85 or so, I decided to pit. Turned out I was the only idiot who decided to not take tyres. I exited the pits in 8th and 1st of those who pitted, but as my pit was mega quick, I don't think I would have exited much further if I took tyres.
Then at the restart I got smoked by ineX and Niko. I was on my own most of the time afterwards, and then I had to let the LLM draft train by, and maybe 1 or 2 more people. I was taking it really easy because my front right tyre was getting really thin, and I was affraid of blowing it - it's hard to see punctures coming up in the XRT. Fortunately those tyre related worries were gone thanks to that caution with 5 laps to go.
Then the last lap... It was just Daytona-esque. It was crazy to be out there, so many things going on in such a short amount of time.
I was 8th when the green flag fell. At T1 there was that odd contact ahead between Flame, Niko and Lamothe, which allowed the group I was in to have a go for 3rd. Then on the ran from T1 to T2, I tried to bumpdraft Peter on the outside lane, but a lag contact threw me sidewayds, heading into the infield. Fortunately I bounced back (pretty hard) into Tehro, which put me back into the right way without losing so much time and without getting any damage. Not only this was a very lucky escape, but it made me lag a few car lenght behind the thick of the pack, and it turned out to be a greater and safer place to be in. When LLM, Niko and co went wide at T2 while fighting for 3rd, the timing was perfect for me to dive on the inside and pass them all.
I was 4th coming into T3, with Tehro in front of me, and Cornys behind, both coming from nowhere. On the final straight I drafted Tehro and pulled alongside him on the outside. I lost the 3rd place fight for 0.01 sadly, but still managed to finish 4th.
On one hand it is very frustrating to lose a podium spot for only one hundredth. But on the other hand I can't complain, I gained 4 positions in the last lap in which I was very lucky. And 4th was higher than I had ever been during the race - most of the time I was sitting between 5th and 9th. Also this meant I improved my finishing record in the 250 by three spots - I finished 7th in both 2010 and 2011.
In the end it was a pretty cool race, most of the time it was pretty clean and fun. IMHO it was the best race so far in 250 history, although it probably didn't have the best strenght of field. This was my first serious LFS race in months, and I'm glad I joined it, it was great.
So thanks to everyone involved, drivers, admins, broadcasters, etc. Hoping to see you again in 2013. Also thanks to Niko, DJ and Lauris for the great company on TS