Looks like this came to fruition! Well done
I am wrapped to come away with another win - and to make it three in a row. And I finally managed to hit the jackpot with a win, pole and fastest lap (one of my goals for this season).
If you had spoken to me last Friday night after running some practice laps around Tokyo I was ready to count this week as a right-off and use this as my drop round. No matter what I tried I just couldn't do any better than the 1.33's and with the car all over the track I wasn't looking forward to Sunday's race at all.
Saturday saw a bit more practice and managed to hit a few 1.32's but it wasn't until Sunday when things really fell into place. I managed to find my line and markers and from the re the times just started to drop, bottoming out with a 1.29.9 on a (for me) near perfect lap. This thankfully boosted my confidence and I was now looking forward to the race again.
When quals started I wanted to jump out of the gate and set a good time straight up but it took a few laps to loosen the tyres a little but eventually managed a 1.30.7xx to take pole from Blindman (by 0.2 sec).
Having a practice run with Blindman earlier in the day I knew he had great pace and would push me to the limit - which of course he did.
Managed to get a reasonable start this week but still got beaten to turn 1 by Blindman who was just too fast off the line.
For the first 10 laps Blindman and I pushed on and created a gap on the remaining field and I wondered what Blindman's strategy was for his pitstops. Lap after lap Blindman and I attacked and defended as we swapped a few bumps here and there as we fought for the lead position - all in good fun though.
On lap 10 (I think) I decided to take my first pitstop and noticed Blindman continue on. I decided to top up with 30L of fuel and threw on new tyres, then raced back out on track to resume my race. As the next couple of laps unfolded I kept watching Blindman's name on the leaderboard to see when he went into the pits. I can't remember the lap but it was a few after mine and I then realised he was attempting a 1 stop race. Courageous I thought. In the testing I'd done earlier I knew that the tyres went off very quickly beyond 10 or so laps so I hoped my 2 stop strategy would help me to chase him back down near the end of the race.
After my 2nd stop (where I took on 55L and new tyres) I got back out on track and took the bull by the horns and threw the Macca around the track as fast as I dared in an attempt to whittle down the gap to Blindman. As I came out of the pits he was +12 secs up on me and within a few laps I had dropped that to about 4 seconds. I knew his tyres must have started to go off by this stage so kept the pressure on until I eventually caught him. For the next couple of laps I took it easy behind him, biding my time and loaning some free-draft in sections to further the fuel I had in my tank.
Once I made it past Blindman I tried to keep the pressure on and with only a couple of laps to go I didn't want to take my chances with him at close quarters so I tried to keep my pace high. Coming into the last turn with a couple of laps to go I saw his marker on the map pointing in several directions and figured his tyres had finally given out and not long after saw him drop down the leaderboard as Kiwi and Molch passed him by.
From there I drove the rest of the race conservatively to make sure I didn't run out of fuel before the finish.
What a dream season I have had - one I doubt I will be lucky enough to ever replicate again in the future.
Looking at the lead drivers from all the divisions for this season there has only been one other driver who has been more dominant, the one and only BJH. Whilst I may technically tally up more wins for the entire season, BJ is still the season champion in my eyes (complete domination). Well done BJ!
Now with the almost certain promotion to Division 3 for next season I will have my work cut out for me just to keep up with those guys!
Looking forward to the race at Spa now for an all-out celebration with my Division 4 comrades
Click to expand...