I definitely improved while practicing over the previous week, so it amazed me to hear lots of the others hadn't done much. A lot of them were way back and off the pace, but even more amazing are people like Rudi van Buren who got pole without practicing!
I didn't get a time in for the first 10 minutes due to traffic and mistakes. Ended up with 8th, but would have needed a near pb to improve a place. 7th place guy had problems and decided not to start

Got of the line OK and tried to take advantage of Niall09 losing out due to some bumping at the first hairpin, but couldn't make it stick. I had Klouczech close behind me, us top 8 were staying together and pulling away from the rest of the field. For the first laps I had Klouczech giving me pressure, and it didn't help that I couldn't get the left turn right after the bus-stop chicane.

He finally got past me on lap 5 after I outbraked myself at the first hairpin. Next lap Klouczech had got past audimasta, I made my pass on audimasta by going round the outside of him at the first hairpin. I think he had tyre problems as he dropped off while I remained on the back of Klouczech in 7th again. He clipped a barrier on lap 10 which gave the position back to me again and for the first time I had some breathing space. I caught Jouman up but followed him home to finish 6th.

The top of the grid gets reversed order from sprint race finish, between 6 and 10 positions. The admins announced todays number was 7 which was a nice 2nd place start for me.

Followed Klouczech off the grid and had Niall09 on the back of me already, but he came together with Jouman halfway round which slowed the field down. I was with Klouczech again (a common sight for this event), with a bit of a gap to DaveWS so I was thinking we weren't going to be alone for long. It actually took 9 laps before I was caught up but it was Rudi van Buren instead, his fighting with Dave had delayed their approach. Rudi was right behind me on the start/finish straight. The first left kink is tricky and pretty much single file as it's only a minor lift of throttle yet I was caught by surprise when Rudi went up my left. I had to back off and fall behind. Some would say it was soft to concede there, some would say a pass was inevitable anyway :/ Lap 11 and I was very close to Klouczech at the final hairpin turn - so close I had a panic emergency brake to avoid tapping him. This locked up the front and spun me against the apex (damn). A quick reverse to get out of the way and I set off again but had lost two positions to DaveWS and Niall09. Over the next few laps I was trying to keep up with the three ahead. Rudi had raced off into a commanding lead, Dave got past Klouczech for 2nd.

Niall09 tried to pass Klouczech next on lap 23 at the right after the back straight, but clashed with him. I was not far behind and came upon them fast to find a stranded car in the middle of the road. I remember deciding on going round on the left just as Klouczech rolled that way and I hit him and spun. We both set off again with me behind, the following racers were some way off. he seemed to have some handling issues, soon he understeared wide at the bus-stop chicane and I nipped through for 4th. I escaped and was able to relax until the finish, I even improved on the left turn I couldn't get right. Good racing for 45 minutes - my arms hurt.