It was a lot of fun DB...
I wasn't happy with the set I had going, but a set up Steve was given was even worse on tyre wear than mine, so I kept making slight changes to try and get the most out of it... If I can do a better job for Melbourne I might be able to tackle the fast guys there...
Qualy went better than expected and I was 0.3s up on my previous PB and ended up 4th on the grid... But I was still some 1.2s off the best time I had seen set, and 0.4s off of pole...
I got a great start in the Sprint race, only to have the guy in 2nd miss the start thanks to not hearing the beeps, and I had to avoid him pushing me back to third going through the Senna chicane... I knew I didn't have the pace of the leaders, so I tried to keep my pace steady and stay in front of the 2nd place qualifier, who was charging hard trying to find a way past... I started looking too much in my mirrors and began making little mistakes, and he was all over me, and on 1 lap made a move into the hairpin, but he over cooked it and I got back through... Only to make a bigger mistake and let him through easily... From then on in it was a matter of survival for me as I had no chance of catching the 3 ahead of me, and the gap behind was already 9 seconds, so I decided to just keep that gap constant and make the races end...
For some reason the final changes that worked for me didn't save, even though I saved it to a new file name before the start of the sprint race, and I didn't realise until the timer for the race had started... So the start of the feature reverse grid race was a frantic challenge to get the set up similar to what I had before... I made it and again had a decent start and got past Steve in the run down to the Senna chicane.... I planned on trying to make my way through the field faster than the fast guys and was making a good go of it until a mistake by a driver 2 spots ahead of me caused a bottle neck just after the Senna S a few laps in... Thus allowing one of the fast guys through, and then a mistake by me let the pole sitter and first race winner through... I was at this point that I realised that I got the tyre pressures wrong and had rear temp issues, thus making my job of making up for lost ground even harder... I spent the next 10 laps catching up on the guys in front and then making a mistake and having to do it all over again... After making a adjustment during the one and only pit stop I was able to get myself back up to 6th and hold it... The guy in 5th made a mistake going through the sweeper and had to pit again, gifting me 5th... I then made the goal of keeping on the lead lap as the leading pack hunted me down, I ran wide into through the final 2 turns, and lost just enough time so that on the final lap I had to let the leaders past as they were less then 2 seconds apart and I didn't want to get in the way of a good fight...
So 2 top 5 finishes was the result... Loving racing this mod again... I'll be trying to keep myself up for the Melbourne race, but I'll be trying to make sure my schedule is a lot easier on me for the rest of the season... It all depends on what my next contract is...
