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Practice 1 - Friday
Wet track with us second on so we were extremely
careful. As expected the track was oily from a year of road cars and the
walls very unforgiving. The circuit is much improved with some of the
bumpier sections resurfaced. The only problem is that the resurfaced
parts were done in a very fine tarmac so the track now has four distinct
surface types with different characteristics in different weather etc.
This is still a very difficult place. We ran a few laps of
familiarisation and called it a day.
Practice 2 - Friday
Dry track. Time to find out how our fixes went.
The good news is that even still on old tyres the diff fixes have
transformed the car back to its old happy self. We change ride heights a
little and generally get settled in. The session is red-flagged twice
for accidents so it's hard to get the tyres warm.
Qualifying -
Saturday
We have new tyres, new brakes, a dry track and we
are ready to go. Only trouble is that the GTPs left so much debris on
the track that the session is shortened to just 15 minutes. My best run
was interrupted by a red flag but qualified 8th.
Race 1 - Saturday
Got a good start and dropped into 7th behind Roger
Oakeshot with Con Toparis and Rohan Carrig behind. We circulated nose to
tail for a few laps but I decided to let Con have a go at Roger on this
extremely hard track to pass on. I hoped to slip part Roger in the hole
left by Con. After a lap or so Con got through Roger but he shut the
door very heavily on me even though he was holding me up. I applied
pressure for a while and then he lost it going down to turn 1 while I
was beside him. I managed to miss him as he went off the track and not
loose too much time. I set out after Con again. After a couple of laps I
had caught him and managed to out brake him on the inside down into turn
1 again and help the place to the finish for 6th place and second in
Silver star.
Race 2 - Sunday
These are the starts we wait for. Peter Hill
missed the go and I'm in 5th by turn 1. Clearihan got a good one too and
is in 3rd. As the first lap passes I get away from the cars behind and
am building a nice buffer. Alan Gurr plants the Ralt entry in the wall
and we are 4th. It's to one side of the track so no drama. I let Dale
Brede past as we are really concentrating on the Silver star and Roger
was way back. Dale then spun and bought out the pace car so we all
bunched up. After the restart I lost a place but then managed to catch
up with Con although we couldn't pass but we did out distance Roger
Oakshot which bodes well for the rest of the championship. We finished
seventh with a best lap time over two seconds quicker than last year.
Thanks to the crew for the weekend, Rebecca,
Barbara, Gil, Garrett, Michael and Mark..
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