The surprise was that later in the day I tried relaxing the rebound damping to see if it make it easier to get back on the gas early in turn 11. One click did exactly that, and felt good. A second click and suddenly the bike felt better *everywhere*. I was harder on the gas in turn 7, able to turn in at higher speed at the top of the carousel. I was having a great time all of the sudden.
Of course, right then raindrops began to fall so we packed up and left :-(