Endurance Div.2: Race 10 - Monza race report
With NGT championship winner Dave Gymer enjoying his victory on holiday in Egypt we still had some work to do so we tied up the NGT team championship.
With little to go for, a relatively small field took to the track at the fast Monza circuit.
After 3 straight wins in NGT I was feeling pretty confident with Monza being one of my strongest tracks and with a fresh new PB at the track the day before I was really looking forward to it.
Mark was suffering a bit with a hangover but he always seems to pull out his best races when he's in that state!
I was surprised to see Jamera in the Porsche Bi-Turbo, then immediately a little concerned as it's flat-out speed is a real asset at Monza, question was, how would it handle through the treachorous chicanes?
Qualifying went exactly to plan, go out quickly and establish a good time, then attack it hard. I was extremely pleased to put in a time around my PB on my 3rd lap but then drove a blinder to go 0.5s quicker!
Jamera did go quite close, about 0.4s behind in the Bi-T which confirmed my suspicion he'd be quick but I retained the pole throughout qualifying fairly comfortably.
We'd hoped for a NGTL 1-2 after qualifying but Mark was back in 4th with the hangover still lingering so there was no room for any mistakes.
As the race started I was very concerned about the heavy braking into the first chicane on cold tyres, a mistake there could easily have seen me drop to the back of the field. I took it a little *too* easy though as Jamera outbraked me to grab the lead.
I settled into 'following mode', prepared for a long fight to regain the lead when Codsworth in a GT span out into the 2nd chicane forcing Jamera to brake heavily. Luckily for me, Codsworth's momentum took him out of my path as I entered the straight and a gap like the parting of the Red Sea opened for me to squeeze between them and regain the lead!
Jamera recovered quickly though and was less than 1s behind and chasing hard. Although the Bi-T is faster on the straights, my familiarity with the GT3 meant I could make up for it in the chicanes and I was pulling away ever-so slowly over the next 4 laps.
Jamera over-cooked it coming out of chicane 2 to leave me a clear 13s up on Mark who's managed to grab a place before passing Jamera.
The tyres held out extremely well as I drove very cautiously, maintaining my lead over Mark right to the finish line and another win!
The NGT Legends 1-2 was the icing on the cake as we won the NGT team championship! Hurrah!
A very enjoyable season, can't wait to see what season 2 brings!
With NGT championship winner Dave Gymer enjoying his victory on holiday in Egypt we still had some work to do so we tied up the NGT team championship.
With little to go for, a relatively small field took to the track at the fast Monza circuit.
After 3 straight wins in NGT I was feeling pretty confident with Monza being one of my strongest tracks and with a fresh new PB at the track the day before I was really looking forward to it.
Mark was suffering a bit with a hangover but he always seems to pull out his best races when he's in that state!
I was surprised to see Jamera in the Porsche Bi-Turbo, then immediately a little concerned as it's flat-out speed is a real asset at Monza, question was, how would it handle through the treachorous chicanes?
Qualifying went exactly to plan, go out quickly and establish a good time, then attack it hard. I was extremely pleased to put in a time around my PB on my 3rd lap but then drove a blinder to go 0.5s quicker!
Jamera did go quite close, about 0.4s behind in the Bi-T which confirmed my suspicion he'd be quick but I retained the pole throughout qualifying fairly comfortably.
We'd hoped for a NGTL 1-2 after qualifying but Mark was back in 4th with the hangover still lingering so there was no room for any mistakes.
As the race started I was very concerned about the heavy braking into the first chicane on cold tyres, a mistake there could easily have seen me drop to the back of the field. I took it a little *too* easy though as Jamera outbraked me to grab the lead.
I settled into 'following mode', prepared for a long fight to regain the lead when Codsworth in a GT span out into the 2nd chicane forcing Jamera to brake heavily. Luckily for me, Codsworth's momentum took him out of my path as I entered the straight and a gap like the parting of the Red Sea opened for me to squeeze between them and regain the lead!
Jamera recovered quickly though and was less than 1s behind and chasing hard. Although the Bi-T is faster on the straights, my familiarity with the GT3 meant I could make up for it in the chicanes and I was pulling away ever-so slowly over the next 4 laps.
Jamera over-cooked it coming out of chicane 2 to leave me a clear 13s up on Mark who's managed to grab a place before passing Jamera.
The tyres held out extremely well as I drove very cautiously, maintaining my lead over Mark right to the finish line and another win!
The NGT Legends 1-2 was the icing on the cake as we won the NGT team championship! Hurrah!
A very enjoyable season, can't wait to see what season 2 brings!
posted by popabawa at
3:57 pm
