I thought my luck had struck again at the start. I got myself into the lead at Turn 1 a lot,(cheers Paul for messing up the start 3 times) only for others to have incidents and need restarting. I was so relieve to make that great start again for real and get a small gap behind through the first sequence.

A couple of times i messed up the chicane entry and had to mash the brake to avoid flipping out, which closed up the gap to Ryant behind. He was driving hard early on and i quickly cottoned onto the fact he was gonna go for a 2-stop race so didn't respond to his pace. Yep he pitted way early so i could just get on with my own race as Paul chased behind.
His pace was supreme, really really impressive. Inevitably he caught up to me as my tyres went away. I didn't fight that hard when he did catch, a little bit but not enough to sacrifice my car and i wanted to try and get out of the pits ahead of Ryant.

That bit didn't work as both he and Paul were about 6seconds ahead after the pit-stops. As they battled i closed in a tad, so that when they (almost inevitably) collided i was close enough to get by Ryant. Paul then made a small error that spun him out at Turn 1 (really easy to do, i did exactly the same in the practice races). I slip by and away into the lead.

That final phase of the race was intense as holy f*ck. Paul clearly the quicker car but i kept it clean and delayed that catch as long as possible. Those final 5/6 laps of battling were awesome! We both tried our hardest to keep it clean, trading places constantly. Hats off to you Paul for that, it was a ton of fun... But as we got closer to the finish i was more and more determined to not lose the race i'd driven so well. My moves got a bit more agressive and a bit less friendly, i'll admit that but i was still trying to avoid contact wherever possible.

That last lap i think i stayed just on the right side of agressive. My defence was strong yes, i was not going to give you an inch more than nessesary. The issue being that a few times i encountered some lag with your car so i wasn't always 100% sure where your car was or what it was doing. This was true in that final corner. I was convinced my rear quarter was clear so i went to shut the door, except your car was there and as it phased into reality, well two doesn't go into one. Apologies, i thought i was clear and i was absolutely not gonna lose that late in the day.

Great race. I always had something to play for, whether it be in direct battle or just having to hit my marks every lap to keep lap time as high as possible. Very very very fun. Finally i got the bit of luck.
Only the second rFactor race i managed to complete double-digits of laps (i know!) and i managed to land a race win. Finally some validation for the time i've put into these leagues. I really can be a slog at times but one race like that, where i am racing 100% of the time makes it seem all worth while. (although i came so close to rage quitting in those restarts)