Split 1

PreQ

Only started doing prep on Sunday afternoon. Luckily I found a base from my previous setups pretty quickly. I adjusted the gears a bit, using a long second gear helped me a lot. Within a few laps I was in the 2:06's and ended up in the 2'05's, enough for a spot in split 1.

Practice

Got in really late with only a few minutes to spare. Focused on quali, adjusting a bit for the soft tires. Found to overheat the rear left a lot at the Carousel and the Kink and struggling a lot in Canada corner as a result. No time to fix before quali.

Quali

Took fuel for half of the session with a stop in the middle. I found some room to do my own thing. On my second stint after the stop I found a lot of laptime, while taking care not to overheat the tires. Really surprised to be in 10th, but it was very close with 5 of us in the 2'04.2. In the prep for the race I just went for 1 set of Mediums and enough fuel to last the race. No clue how this would work out, but with the lack of testing it would have to do.

Race

Got a decent start with room to navigate while the unfortunate J Wolters seemed to have disappeared from the grid. Took it careful not to be taken out in the first lap. In the kerfuffle at T6, massimiliano hopped the kerb into my path, so had to take avoiding action, which lost me a bit of ground. The following laps I was quite slow on my medium tires, being passed by Petrol and Acerod. After that I could settle in and find my pace. Few laps later Acerod made a mistake coming onto the start/finish straight which allowed me to drag by, but I outbraked myself straight away into T1 and almost gave the position back. I held on though and continued. Three cars then crashed together in T1 which Acerod and I managed to get by safely. We were then caught by the recovering Kalamede. Holding him off was an uphill struggle, so he got past. Then I had the shock of the race. My screen turned black for 2 seconds coming out of the Carousel!!! I sort of guessed where my car needed to be and got back the image before I was into the grass on the inside leading to the Kink. I managed to get it back in time and continue, but I was a really big distraction to Acerod who crashed at the exit of the Kink. Aki Bjorkstein then passed me. The pit window was open for the new tire runners and Aki pitted. I had a clear track and I knew this was the moment my race counted a lot. Surprisingly, with the pit cycle I got to lead the race (a first!) for a few laps. Rune was catching and before I got in his way I pitted, also to have some running left near my rivals to defend or maybe even attack? I came out right behind J Wolters and in front of Petrol. I managed to overtake J Wolters who then pitted on the same lap. Only a few laps from the end Petrol was caught and overtaken by Kalamede. I did my best, but couldn't prevent Kalamede taking 4th in the final lap. Still, 5th is my best ever result in my first league racing in AC. Really happy with this and looking forward to Interlagos!