Cathedral of Speed

HSO 1982 World Endurance Championship
Starting Grid for Round 1 at Monza

Pos	Car	Driver	Laptime	Gap
1		Alfredo Calzolari  Enrico Fumagalli	1:37.864
2		David Jaques  Mick Chapman	1:38.227	+ 0.363
3		Juha Bos  Michael Drechsler	1:42.675	+ 4.810
4		Pascal Mikula  Arpad Vincze	1:42.852	+ 4.987
5		Juha Bos  Michael Drechsler  Jan Kowalski	1:42.964	+ 5.099
6		Richard Coxon  Richard Wilks	1:43.524	+ 5.659
7		Alessio Campigotto Thiago Canola	1:43.950	+ 6.085
8		Martin Lacina  Michal Janak Alberto Ibanez	1:44.995	+ 7.130
9		Ludovic Tiengou Emmanuel Haas	1:45.806	+ 7.941
10		Jan Titz  Matthias Weber	1:47.690	+ 9.825
11		David Jundt  Jonatan Acerclinth Matt Strand	1:48.288	+ 10.42
12		Yves Placais	1:48.715	+ 10.85
13		Dana Schurer	1:49.353	+ 11.48
14		Pascal Kalide	1:52.274	+ 14.40
15		Jukka Maattanen	1:54.051	+ 16.18
16		Jason White  Alberto Ibanez	1:55.531	+ 17.66
17		Andre Lagunzad	1:55.947	+ 18.08
18		James Knowles	1:56.825	+ 18.96
19		Herman Berkhey  Dylan Canton	1:57.450	+ 19.58
20		Raul Jereb	No Time
21		Caleb Marklein	No Time

If I put my best sector times together I would have a 1:55.3 or something. But one spot up the starting grid in a 1000km race doesn't mean much really. Still, it is good to know that I am on the pace with others in the same car and not so far off the leader of Group 5. There is no class win though, only the overall finishing order will be scored. The main challenge of course is to finish, as I will be running solo for the entire 6 hours race. My plan is to stop every 29-30 laps, which is about an hour stint before each pitstop. I will try to get 150 laps (out of the 173) but the prototypes are way faster and I will probably be more than 20 laps behind by the checkered flag. My preparation level has been adequate and I feel fit for the race distance. I know that if I stay out of trouble I will be able to bring the car home. The start will be a few hours from now and I must try to get some sleep despite this excitement.