A most unexpected result, chaps. Not for a minute did I expect to emerge the victor here at Porto. My main task was simply to survive. This is a beautiful circuit that has a number of booby traps like tram tracks that can so easily trip you up. As well, haybales are ready to grab and hold a car. More than once in pre-race trials, I ended up speared on the end of the bales entering T1.
The no-shows of both Quico and Pelle were keenly felt. Hope that they are both back soon.
Clive cut a fine lap in qualifying to score pole but as so often can happen with the fragile Eagle-Weslake, his race ended early with a blown engine. Very sad. Tago might have been in line for a good finish but a most unfortunate collision with Trooper in the switchbacks had him done before he even had a chance to work up a sweat. Bad luck there, amigo. Trooper, Cayo and Aitor were also fallers.
Going to the grid, I found that I was outside in P3 on the front row. I couldn't see the starter. A quick glance with my 'Look Left' button on my G25 steering wheel showed him out of view on my left. 'Oh, boy! Now what?' My clutch function has been a button on the shifter console for the last couple of years thanks to a Windows 10 update that rendered the clutch pedal dead. Well I can't Look Left and push the console clutch button with the same hand so I quickly swapped over to the F10 chase view to see the starter. He was only just in view. When the flag dropped, I released the clutch button, got a good launch and got my left hand back onto the wheel. I very quickly used my right hand to hit the F10 key to go back to the cockpit. On the run over to T1, I took a peak to my left with the 'Look Left' button on the wheel to see that I was clear of both Clive and Sergio so decided to dive in there at speed. Some pretty hectic hand motions going on there, gys.
I expected to get gunned down on the long straight running to T2 and was somewhat surprised to arrive there still in the lead. Clive and Sergio were disputing P2 and allowed me to stay on the point. Clive's engine called it quits soon after to end his day. Sergio lost ground in avoiding Clive's slowing Eagle with David and Trooper able to pass. Finishing Lap01, I couldn't see anyone in my mirrors and wondered if there'd been a massive shunt in the twisties decimating the field. I rely exclusively on my pit board to give me my status and was shocked to see that coming up to the S/F line on Lap02, my pit guy was flashing me that David was P2 some six seconds behind. I was sure that there'd been a whole host of retirements. It wasn't until Lap04 that I learned that Sergio was still in the mix now up to P2 and chasing hard. I could see Sergio coming fast especially in the twisties where he was light-years faster. The end of Lap05 had me barely one second in the lead. My only advantage over the Cooper was a 4-5 mph advantage on the main straight which was a big help in fending off any pass attempts at T2. While it was abundantly clear that Sergio was far faster, a couple of mis-steps denied him the opportunity to make a bid for the lead. Lap09 was Sergio's last real challenge as he was all over me in the twisties. Trouble is that there is so little opportunity to make a pass there however faster one might be. Lap10 and disaster for Sergio's fortunes. A spin in the twisties while looking for a place to pass on Lap10 let David through for P2 and dropped him well off the lead. He lost about 20 seconds all told and virtually all chance of a win. Fighting back, he caught and passed David for P2 on Lap13 but my lead was too great to overcome. Sergio finish P2 with a blistering FTD in the 14 second bracket with David a fine P3 in what has to be his best race in my memory. Good show. Nick preserved for P4 being the last finisher.
All in all, a dream race for me and it went a long way to make up for the Silverstone disappointment.
Off to Montjuich next! It'll be hard to keep all four wheels of the BRM pointed in the same direction there.

Those who do not learn from history will be condemned to relive its mistakes.