This past weekend the first official race was held in Villareal, Spain, where the next European Championship will take place. Saturday was a cold and windy day when nearly 30 drivers came to Villareal to face off. This race was non-scoring to the Nationals, it was a race to see the behaviour of the cars and drivers.
Heats started Saturday afternoon, and the top ten were divided between XRAY and Schumacher. Local drivers took the 1st and 2nd positions: Vicente Eres (XRAY) and Marc Esbri. After them the 3rd position was the most difficult to get. A lot of drivers had very similar times, we had to wait until Sunday morning to know who will be in 3rd position.
(click to enlarge)
On Sunday morning the last heats took place. The 1st and 2nd positions were filled by Eres and Esbri. But in the last heats XRAY factory driver Gonzalo Garcia took advantage and claimed the 3rd position after 3 heats against local drivers.
The A-final was stacked like this: 1. Vicente Eres (XRAY T2'008)
2. Marc Esbri 3. Gonzalo Garcia (XRAY T2'008)
4. Luis Crisenti
5. Luis Condes
6. Daniel Martinez
7. Vicente David
8. Raul Sancho
9. Ivan Mula
10. Carlos Fernandez
A-final 1:
In the first turns the XRAY seemed much faster than anybody, making all the turns without mistakes and the three first positions where the same: Eres, Esbri and Gonzalo. Lap times was almost the same, only 2 seconds separated 2nd to 3rd, Eres took the lead and won the first A-main with total authority over the rest. Esbri came in 2nd and in the last turns Gonzalo’s battery died and he lost 3rd position to Luis Crisenti.
(click to enlarge)
A-final 2:
The second final was almost the same as the first one, but unfortunately with a lot of accidents at the start. In the first turn both XRAYs took the lead but it was finally Eres who took it, after him it was Esbri and Gonzalo head-to-head, then Gonzalo hit Esbri and both of them were relegated to the final positions. This started the battle to get to the 1st position. After this accident Eres took the heat again and won the race. The battle came to an end with Esbri in 2nd place and Gonzalo in 3rd place.
A-final 3:
The last final would decide the overall 3rd position winner. In an almost perfect start, both XRAYs took the two first positions in great competition. With the high temperature and 40?C in the asphalt the electronics and batteries were very important and thus decided the final results. In the last lap, the cars that were still full of battery juice and with drivers who had taken a good place would ultimately get the good positions. This is where Gonzalo and his XRAY took 3rd position and took the overall 3rd position as well. A very good start to the season XRAY at this track!
Final results: 1. Vicente Eres (TQ) (XRAY T2'008)
2. Marc Esbri 3. Gonzalo Garcia (XRAY T2'008)
