Hi boys,
we had our final race of the season at the Nürburgring last weekend. 4h race into the dark. We had two qualifying sessions without any problems. I had to do the first stint and was very very careful while driving the first corner of the first lap, because it's a hairpin, which follows to the longest straight. At the start lots of guys had trouble with reacting to the lights properly and because of that I gained around six positions before the first corner, from which I lost four through the rest of the first lap due to my cautinousness. But I was already winning back one of them, before I missed my braking point. That meant, I would not miss a contact with a Porsche 911 driver in front of me
Oh deer, I f**ked it up. Completely. I thought, I threw the whole 4h-race away in the second lap. I came slowly into the pits. I could already see a damaged wheel-arche from the driver's seat and feel that the car wanted to steer to the left on its own.
When I came in, I was so ashamed of what I did. I jumped out of the car, answered the obligatory questions and started to remove the wheel. I saw the lower wishbones and the rear one looked really bad. The upper ones were completely OK and after removing the damper, I saw that the front lower wishbone was OK, as well. My father flattened it almost perfectly and I started to reassemble the front suspension. Both left wheel-arches got a treatment with gaffer-tape. After about 40 minutes of repairing, I could go out again for another ten laps until the first regular pit-stop. I tested, If the car was driveable and I saw that it was. The front suspension was a bit out of adjustment, which lead to a bit of understeer. When I won back some of my confidence in the car I was able to drive one brisk lap, but still far away from what I had done with an undamaged car. 2:37,1 min is about 5 seconds away from the limit, I think.
After that, I gave the car to my father, who also had to gain confidence, but constantly gained time. The third stint was my brother's, who had to drive into the dark, which was a problem because of the bad adjustment of the headlights. But both brought it home brilliantly and finished 3rd in class.
With the points for the third place we overtook the Ford GT40 in the championship standings. And we were already second in the Division standings after the race at Zolder. The Swiss with the three great race cars gets only points for the car, he entered at the beginning of the year (Ginetta G12), because the regulations say, a team consists of 1 - 3 drivers and ONE car. If you take another car, although your entered car is ok, you make yourself a guest driver, who is not allowed to score points. If your car is irreparably damaged, you can race another car, which belongs to the same class.
I think, we don't have to be ashamed of being Champion in this Division, because we scored the points and Felix knew that he won't, if he comes with his newest toy. He had a similar situation last year.
This is the provisional (until the official confirmation) result of the Championship after the last of four races:
Dunlop FHR Long Distance Cup 2014 Division III (Two-Seater Racing Cars):
1. Lotus Europa 13,5 points from 3 races -> 2nd race: (3/6), 3rd race: (2/2), 4th race: (3/3)
2. Ford GT40 13 points from 3 races -> 1st race: (1/1), 2nd race: (DNF/6), 3rd race: (1/1)
3. Ginetta G12 7 points from 2 races -> 1st race: (1/1), 2nd race: (DNF/6)
4. Porsche 907 6 points from 1 race -> 1st race: (1/1)
The numbers in brackets are (place/number of starters in class) for each race.
I think, this is a great succes for our team, if you keep in mind that our car is completely out of place in this Division.
P.S.: Have a look at the race and the damage of out little Lotus at my website
http://www.europa-racing.de.to.
