F3 Australia- Week 7 Nurburgring

I haven't had the best of luck in the Australian F3 league this season.  A couple of silly mistakes and a couple of tangles meant that heading into this week my best finish was a P5 at Interlagos.  With this in mind and the car feeling good on this track, I was hoping to have a good week.  Practise went well, I did my usual full tanks run and seemed to have good tyre wear right throughout the stint.  Quali was not so good and I didn't find a rhythm which left me further down the grid then I wanted. 

A clean start from the middle of the pack

 As I mentioned in my series blog post, the first corner in the arena layout had proven 'tricky' on the first lap when the cars were bunched and the tyres cold, so I was a bit nervous starting in the pack.  Thanks to the quality of the F3A field though, all 24 cars made it through the first corner although there was a spin at turn 4.  Ive learned its best to take it easy for at least the first 3 laps to give the tyres time to come up and knowing that the race is 38 laps long, I didn't mind giving up positions if necessary. 

A tight fight in the top 6

I soon became involved in a brawl over 4\5\6th place though which was effectively holding me up.  It eventually got to the stage where we were 3 wide into turn 1, with me on the very outside but on the inside for turn 2.  Unfortunately we didn't make it that far....

Being this close cant end well....

Car 8 squeezes Car 76 and I hope that they dont collect me...

Car 76 does a barrel roll and Car 8 tags me

Luckily I didn't get spun and there was negligible damage to the car so I was able to continue at a decent pace through to the pitstops.  I took mine comparatively late but it was enough to put me out in 4th, although somewhat down the road from 3rd place.

Moving into 3rd.  He was struggling with his rear tyres

I was content to hold 4th to the end but 3rd place ended up having dramas with his tyres so I was able to close the gap and slip past when he ran wide.  The car behind me was also pushing hard and closed to within a second at the finish.  Had there been another lap he might have got passed but I crossed the line 3rd for my first podium in the league.