I knew from practice that I didn't have the pace to challenge the front runners. In Q I struggled to get under 45, which I had done in practice. Started 7th. Had forgotten this was a rolling start, so my radical gearing actually didn't handicap me in a launch (I had geared everything high and close to get the most out of the Conventry mill, which meant 1st was like a high 2nd gear). First few laps I stayed in contact with the cars in front of me, and then started to advance under their battles and subsequent offs. When MM disco'd, his car was frozen in the middle of the 2nd to last corner. Saw a few cars go wide to avoid and I inherited 2nd, some 40 secs off of Prado. Motored on until my schedule stop on lap 12. Took only fuel to top off again and was out in 18 secs onto clear track. Continued cranking out the laps and regained almost all of my positions when all the other stops started to cycle. Eventually ended up in 3rd and was slowly chipping away at Daniel's 12sec lead. I was on pace to catch him by the end, but a small half spin put me behind him another 8 some secs. Gap behind me was still healthy, so I just focused on maintaining that. I actually reduced my gap to Daniel again to about 11 secs, but last lap put an end to the chase.

I think the Elites benefited from being very gentle on tires. I had discovered in a comparative test, and then heard in pre race chat the the rear tire(s) on the Abarth burned up very quickly. I don't know if this actually slowed drivers later in the race, but it seemed like the Abarth's pace was equalized to the Elite in short order. The Abarth is a quicker car, but it didn't seem sustainable - unless you're a Prado or Miller (if he hadn't suffered a breakdown).