propeller beanie

 

OEL IMSA GTS1 Series - Round 5 Mosport

It was looking good; I had the speed to get P2 in Qualifying and had seized the lead at the start of the race. Although I had a heavy car (I had fueled up for the full race distance to cut down my pitstop time), I had enough race pace to keep the chasers behind me. I thought, if I could stay ahead and control the pace, my strategy would gain me a bit of time in the second half of the race. 

Just on lap 5 we came upon a backmarker already, and I misjudged the closing speed. He was behaving erratically, and we were at the tricky switchback section of the track. I ran into the back of him as I was trying to overtake. He got punted into the wall and it ended his race. Meanwhile, I lost the lead and fell behind about 10 seconds to the fast guys.

I got rattled and I couldn't recover my rhythm. Maybe the damage from the incident also compromised my car, I don't know. But the fast guys pulled away and the time I gained from my quicker pitstop wasn't enough to make up the gap. So, the series championship is lost. It is double points in the final round, but still I have been eliminated from contention.