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Race 1 - Round 6 of the Spring League Fuji Gr2 15 laps Fuel usage x 4 Tyre wear x 3 Qualifying Kiwi has always been fast at this track so for the first lap of qualifying it was a surprise to have provisional pole with Mike, Lee, Phil, Paul, Crispy and James completing the top 8. Mike nails his second flying lap though and managed to take provisional pole by a tenth of a second. However Kiwi, about half a lap behind, sets a blistering lap to take provisional pole from mike by over 4 tenths. James constantly improves through qualifying and moves himself up to fifth place making the top 8 Kiwi, Mike, Me, Lee, James, Phil, Crispy and Paul. After several failed laps, I get a lap together to move myself ahead of Mike though still some way behind Kiwi who only further improved his lap time. Race At the front, I get a good start to edge a lead going in to turn 1 however Paul, starting 7th, got an even better start and got himself up to 3rd and in the pack with Kiwi, Mike and Lee challenging for 2nd place. Over the first lap, Paul drops back as the fight continues for second place which Lee briefly holds but a bit of contact at turn 6 sadly sees him run off track and lose a lot of places. Mike and Kiwi continue their battle for 2nd place with Mike managing to make the pass through the final corner though Kiwi uses the tow down the long start finish straight to retake the position in to turn 1 as Mike runs wide. Phil, who had a clean opening lap, takes the opportunity of Mike's mistakes to make a pass in to turn 2 though Phil's podium position is short lived as Mike re-passes Phil at turn 7 of the same lap. The fighting for position had given me a clean break out front however by the end of lap 2 everyone had mostly settled in to their positions and Kiwi began closing the gap down. At the end of lap 2 my lead was 3 seconds but by lap 7, this was down to just 1 second though a mistake on lap 7 gave me respite at the lead opened back up to 2 seconds. At the end of lap 8, halfway through the 15 laps, strategy started to come in to play with Mike and Phil both making a stop swapping their super softs for another set of the same and taking a splash of fuel to see them to the end. Crispy, who started on mediums, didn't stop as he attempted do a no stopper as Kiwi and myself, on super softs, were trying the same. Crispy, who hasn't stopped, gets to turn 1 and meets Mike who has just exited the pits and causing Crispy to get distracted and make a mistake and spin on to the grass. This mistake drops Crispy back and a further mistake at the final corner of lap 10 allows Phil to look at a move in to turn 1. Phil runs a little deep allowing Crispy to hold on to the place though Phil makes the move stick through the complex at the end of the lap. While this was going on, the battle for the lead had become tense as Kiwi had managed to close the gap down to 0.8 seconds by the end of lap 12. I had saved enough fuel that I could run flat out to the end and had a good start to lap 13, opening the gap back over 1 second; an important marker as around 0.9-1 second is where the tow starts to take effect. In pushing, I make a mistake through turn 8 of lap 13 costing me too much time and giving Kiwi an easy tow down the start finish straight. Kiwi takes the inside line in to turn 1 and takes the lead as we begin lap 14. Knowing turn 1 is the best overtaking spot on the circuit, it's my aim to re-pass at T1 on lap 15, the final lap, but a bad exit out of the final corner sees me drop too far behind to even attempt a dive in to T1. The only other real opportunity is turn 6 but again I don't manage to keep it close enough to attempt a pass. A different line, or a mistake maybe, from Kiwi allows me to unexpectedly close up in to turn 8, the penultimate corner, so I dive to the inside and manage to retake the lead. Some hard defending of the inside line of the final corner sees me get a small nudge in the rear and knocks me wide on the exit of the final corner. There's tarmac out there though so it all comes down to a drag race to the line - I'm initially ahead but Kiwi drops back in to my tow and starts gaining but the line comes a few metres too early as I cross the line to win by just 0.05 seconds; by far the closest finish we've had in all the races so far. Results Race 2 - Alsace Village Gr3 5 laps Fuel usage x 0 Tyre wear x 0 As common practice now with these races, Race 2 sees the grid being the reverse of the results of the previous race. Race The getaway from the grid and turn 1 is clean as we all try to make some space through turn 2. Phil and Mike out front have a small bit of contact at turn 3 which Paul also gets involved with. Kiwi and myself commit to the corner and unfortunately it's unavoidable to hit Paul which spins him out. I follow over the rest of the opening lap and through a better exit out of the hairpin get my nose alongside which gets squeezed in to the barrier much to Crispy's amusement. Turn 3 is again the point of contention on lap 2 as Crispy makes a move on Phil but Kiwi, Phil and myself all get it wrong and run wide on the exit. Kiwi and Phil get away with a small time loss though in an attempt to hold on to the car, I spin out. This promotes Crispy to second place though a recovering Kiwi makes quick work of overtaking to re-take the position. I catch Crispy going in to the long banked right hander and somehow get a far better exit meaning I have to take some avoiding action and end up running over the grass giving Crispy the place back until he runs wide at the next corner. The positions hold steady then until the end of the race though Mike has a scare at the end of the final lap as he runs wide on to the grass but by this point he had built up enough of a lead to be able to cross the line for another win. Results