Round 14 - Estoril (November 24)

So we4 come to the final round of the 1986 European Touring Car Championship, at Estoril in Portugal.

Its been a really competitive season, plenty of different winners and cars up the front, and i hope everyone has enjoyed it.

Track:

http://www.rfactorcentral.com/detail.cfm?ID=Estoril%201988

A big thank you to Racer for organising another outstanding league. Even though the Rover can be a pig I still had a lot of fun.
Another big thanks to everyone who competed. Without you, there would be no racing
And finally a thanks to the guys who donated to the server so TTR have somewhere to race.
Bring on the 1970's ETCC league next year (Hint hint!!)

Great racing last night even with only 7 cars. Was unfortunate that Ryan couldn't make it 8.

Saved my best lap for Qual with a 46.2, just pipping DV8 for a front row slot.

R1, found that my rear vision mirror stopped me from seeing the lights from P2, so went on the clock. Made a decent start and was getting harassed by the drift-king Racer69, who passed me then fell off coming out of the last turn. I had nothing for Sleek though who was 4.5 seconds up the road at the end. Happy with a P2 finish.

R2, bit more conservative, Corty nailed me into T1, I chased him for a few laps and the Commy's tyres started going away. I was gifted a spot when Corty slipped off the road - I could see DV8 on a charge and was then scrapping with Corty about 2 second behind me. I made small error and DV closed to within 1.5 seconds, then he pitted.

I kept going for another lap or two because I felt my pace was still OK - had a ripper in lap and managed to hold a 2.5 second gap after the pit stop. I then got the head down and DV was on a charge, we were both peeling off qually laps and he was hauling me in a tenth of two tenths per lap. The tyres then started falling away badly and I was battling it but trying to drive accurately and not make an error. DV could have unloaded me on a few occassions, but was very clean, epic last few laps and I finished 0.3 in front of him in P2.

Sleek was about 20 seconds up the road and drove a great race, but I was happy with my night because it's the most pressure I've ever had with DV on my hammer for about half an hour!

Thanks to Racer for putting on a great series, congrats to Corty for the win, and thanks to everyone for some amazing racing, really enjoyed it!!!

I had a quite night, three seconds slower than anybody else in qually, good starts in both races, tried to run with the pack, but lost them after the first lap and then just drove around by myself all night.

Happy to finish the sprint race on the lead lap, got lapped by the whole field in the feature, only car to get lapped.

Thanks to Racer for organising the series and kudos to the bloke who had the idea to re-enact the 1986 ETCC, great series.