Podium thoughts about Suzuka race PDF Print E-mail
Written by Xosé Estrada   
Monday, 12 October 2009 13:35
SuzukaThor
After starting number two, I descided to push on to get the first place. It worked out and I could make a little gap to no. 2 and 3.

My pit stop did almost ruin my race. As I got into the pit, I wasnt really sure at which tires I should choose. This made me have a speed-talk to one of our other drivers. After 3 or 4 seconds i choosed the slicks, which I was a bit nervous about. It seemed to be the right choise, as I got out of pit, the track started drying up.

After a couple of laps, I was no. 2 behind my team mate. He made a little mistake in turn 1, and gave me the lead. From that position I increased my gap to the rest of the field.

Great Race ! Its exciting to drive in such changing condition.

Mikko

That was one of those races I will surely remember a long time. Had the pace but not the luck to win....very happy for Thor and the team he took the win and considering 2 pit stops I'm very happy to be 2nd. Also Congrats to the filling in the DHR-GP sandwich - Peter Duivelaar. Thanks to Rami for a nice fight and Peter too for really giving me the heat. Also thanks to Mike for the fight in the first laps and just being an understanding dude when it comes to our fights. I had a terrible time lapping people and I think I may have caused Ivo Simons to spin when going passed him so for that I apogolize mate. I heard there were no blue flags so that explains why people just weren't letting leaders pass.

A little race report then. I started 4th and after lap one Thor had take P1 and I had passed Mike for 3rd. Then me and Thor accompanied by Rami ran towards the sunset...and then Rami made a slight mistake in the spoon and let my by. Disaster struck a few laps later as it was really raining and my tires were pretty much finished. We had a heated discussion over the team radio to figure what tires to change...and I chose the wrong ones (wets). I overtook everybody in the pits though and had the lead when Ben pitted...which I lost immediately when going off in T1. Thor now had the lead and my wet rubbers were really heating up. Peter caught me and as I had really bad tire issues I kept going wide in T1 which resulted in him getting pass me. Ok I was now in P3 and tires were all in the red. I was really worried my tires would not last the rest of the 9-10 laps so I pitted for slicks. I came out in P10 I think and that's where my race really started again. I knew I had to take everything out of myself and the car so I didn't hold back. I started to climb up the order passing driver after driver in the hairpin...eventually catching Mike and Rami on the last lap. They touched in the hairpin which resulted in Rami spinning and I got pass him. I got a good exit out of the turn and straight into Mike's slipstream. I took the inside on the looong right hander and as Mike didn't see me he turned into me resulting him losing control a bit and he went on the grass. Drove to the flag in P3...incidently the same position I came into the pits from.

Thanks for everybody who participated in this great race!