Track Map
I hadn't done much practise beforehand, and it showed in qualifying: My best time was a 1:50, and that was on my outlap. For some unexplainable reason I was spinning off everwhere, and as a result of that I was unable to clock a respectable time. I ended up 13th and LAST on the grid, boy did I have it all to do...
I got a good getaway for the start, but slowed right the way down for the first corner so that I could pass the spun-off and crashed cars with ease. Unfortunately I got taken out on the run down to the hairpin (1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5). I managed to continue without resetting the car, but it was to be the cause of much pant-wetting later due to the damage I suffered from the prang. After frightening a Lotus off the track in "The Uphill" corner, I could cross the line in a reasonably comfortable 10th.
Two cars in the roadside in Klee, and I advance to 8th. Two Ferraris are fighting into T1 on the next lap, one of them goes off and I advance yet another position. I then screw up exactly one lap later and lose a bunch of positions, re-take a few at the top of the hill due to a minor wreck and 9th is mine. Yet another lap later the Lotus I'm chasing goes off in Klee (where a Ferrari has already had an off) and I go two positions up the standings. I have a spin in the Hairpin (after several lockups on previous laps) but continue without resetting. I suffer yet another spin one lap later in Klee, drop down to 9th, and still don't reset. In hindsight that was rather daft of me but meh, c'est la Vie...
I re-gain 8th after passing a spun off Ferrari in Klee on the next lap, and 7th one lap later in the Esses. A few laps of peace and quiet are to be had, before I get bored and screw up in the Hairpin on lap 12. I take that long-awaited Shift-R and can continue with a car in much better condition than the one I'd had since my L1 prang. That didn't stop me from driving like a....rubbish driver for the next few laps while trying to catch up. Position: 9th after getting caught by someone, me passing him after him spinning off, and finally me having an off and losing two positions.
The leading Honda then decides that now was a good time to approach/lap me, and I have a real brown-trouser moment in T2 (Video clip here). He eventually gets by, and we pass yet another spun-off Ferrari by the roadside and I advance to 8th. I manage to keep him pretty close until his last lap, when he let me through (1) to do battle with the 7th placed car ahead. Unfortunately for him, his engine started disagreeing with him after "The Uphill" (1) and I could sail through to an easy 7th place.
Overall I'd say this was a very disappointing race. I went off far too many times, both due to my lack of practise but also the damage I suffered on lap 1...
