First off:
@Slartybar , your defensive driving was on point last night. With myself on softs, and you on mediums, you managed to frustrate me and shut down any chance I had to overtake you, up until the last moment. A+++ driving my friend!
To the report: My qualifying was very average. Got caught behind someone slower, so only qualified 6th.
Before the race, I noticed everyone ahead was on the medium strategy (1 stop), and myself was on softs (2 stops). I feared I was on the wrong one, so I knew I had to push from the onset. Got a great start, moved up a place, nearly a couple more on the first corner, but broke too late and nudged someone, so I let a few go back ahead of me, and was back to 5th. Dispatched 4th and 3rd pretty quickly, but
@T-GT_Racing slowed me down for a few laps and was costing me, before I got past on the 4th lap. Caught up to Slartybar on the 5th, but as mentioned, he shut down all my attempts to pass. This did reward me with better tyre management, and managed 9 laps on the softs, still sitting behind SlartyBar. I thought my strategy was done for, as I needed 1:53’s to pull a big enough gap.
After a pit for fresh tyres (no refuel), I came out in 5th, but I had open air for my next stint, and managed low to mid 1:53’s for 8 laps straight (inc my FL). All 4 drivers ahead had to pit, so was ahead by the 12th lap. Managed a 20 second gap to 2nd by the end of the 17th, and did my final pit, new softs and a splash of fuel. Came out 2nd, and 7 seconds behind SlartyBar (my nemesis) with 7 laps to go. Caught up to him by the start of the 22nd lap, and then just decided to bided my time to make sure of my overtake and not take us both out.
You can watch the video to see the end result. Great wheel to wheel action.
I loved the strategy options with the tyre wear and fuel, and good to see so many different ones at play.
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