Interest piqued
It has been a while since I have had to clean oil from my helmet visor so that I could see clearly.
The day started with a qualifying session at 10:30 am. It was cold and windy but dry. I was mostly driving alone during the session, and I felt like wind may have been hampering my speed. It felt like I was driving better but not going any faster than yesterday. Finally, near the end of the session I put in my best lap so far by .6 seconds over previous. The lap gave me the 7th starting position for the race in the afternoon.
The weather did not improve at all, again, at least it was dry.
I worked hard during the pace lap to try to get some heat into the tires. At the beginning of the race, we were all ready to go but they just weren’t throwing the green flag, finally at about the last possible moment the flag came out and we are racing. I see a car to my left get a great jump and I see the cars ahead of me are not moving quickly. I survey the turn ahead and get around one car while simultaneously setting up a block for the car that got the great start, I position my car so that they cannot move to the right and then maintain that spot which allows me more acceleration as we come out of the corner, it is a very small amount but it gives me the opportunity to close off the line for the next corner. I drop into 5th spot and feel good with the lead pack tight ahead of me. At turn 7 and 8 the 4th place car is not able to maintain the pace of the lead three cars and I am going nearly crashing into the back of him trying to go, I do have the option to attempt to pass at this point, but the success rate is very low and would likely cost more distance to the leaders. I try to be patient and follow for another lap hoping that we can use the draft to gain back the loss, but in the same section he is off the pace, and we lose more ground. I can’t wait anymore and decide to take over fourth on the front straight, he fights me for the position, which is ill advised, this causes us to go side by side into the turn lowering both of our speeds if he just let off the throttle for an instant I could move over, and we both go quicker through the turn. Now I am hoping that I can make it to the next turn without getting drafted by the next guy, I do make it and finally get to the section that I was so much better, and I keep the pedal to the floor. Perfect, I open a gap and nail the rest of the section before the back straight, I check my mirrors going down the back straight and oh crap, I am creating a nice draft for them and here they come, ZOOM, two cars go by me going into the braking zone. They are on the inside; I am on the outside. I go deep into the corner to attempt to repass one of them on the following straight, but I go a little too wide and the left rear tire hits the rumble strip, it immediately sends me spinning toward the pack behind. I roll off the track to get out of the way and spend an eternity trying to get the car into gear. I rejoin the race in twenty third position of 26 cars. The remaining 6 laps of the race are a blur of passing on the outside and late braking and for the most part rude behavior. I had an epic last half of a lap battle with a guy for 16th position;` I set him up on the last turn and used all of his draft to cross the line side by side bowing to him by .06 seconds.
That was fun but I want to have a better result tomorrow. The difficulty has been ramped up to 11 on this one though, the starting order for tomorrow’s race is the finishing order from today, so that puts me 16th on the grid. I will be looking forward to a fun, eventful and successful day.