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Last week end we had the 3rd round of our National Championship at the Lisbon track, the same track that will host the World Championship.
Forty-seven drivers attend the event. The weather conditions made it very challenging for all drivers; at any time it would be dry or wet or semi-wet, thus causing a lot of problems with grip and sometimes electronic problems. The three series of heats were raced in several different track conditions, never being equal to for drivers and in the qualifying finals we had unusual classifications with top drivers.
1 Bruno Coelho
2 Eduardo Dulac
3 Jaime Silva XRAY NT1
4 Joao Malveiro
5 LuĂs Simoes XRAY NT1
6 Joao Gaio XRAY NT1
7 Bruno Pereira XRAY NT1
8 Joao B. Inacio XRAY NT1
9 Paulo Santos
10 Jorge Felix
12 José Pequito XRAY NT1
29 Filipe Costa XRAY NT1 |
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XRAY finalists
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On Team XRAY, only driver Jaime Silva and José Pequito qualified directly into the semi-finals, and Filipe Costa had to start from the 1/8 finals.
The sub-finals had the same unstable weather conditions, with track conditions changing continuously, and a âśdancing in the rainâť spectacle that was very nice to see.
The semi-finals had better track conditions, with the A semi-final having much more grip than the B semi-final, and once it was considered a âśwet raceâť the 10 finalist were:
1 Bruno Coelho
2 Joao Malveiro
3 Filipe Costa XRAY NT1
4 José Candeias XRAY NT1
5 Jaime Silva XRAY NT1
6 Joao B. Inácio XRAY NT1
7 Mário Coelho XRAY NT1
8 José Pequito XRAY NT1
9 Ricardo Mendes XRAY NT1
10 Joao Gaio XRAY NT1
So, all team drivers went to the final. |
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Filipe e Candeias
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From the start we saw the Filipe Costa engine become rich without any reason (it was okay before the start) and we lost 6 laps to adjust the engine properly. After that Filipe Costa blasted through the pack from 10th position to finish 3rd at only 2 laps from the end, 3 seconds from 2nd place XRAY driver Ricardo Mendes.
Team XRAY driver Filipe Costa made the best Lap with 19.222 with a dry track but not in the same conditions, much less grip, than track record Daniel Ielasi on the warm-up with 18.719.
Team XRAY drivers Jaime Silva and José Pequito experienced different problems. Jaime lost power on his engine, and Pequito had a broken rear belt.
For the first time XRAY placed 8 cars in the final, taking the 2nd and 3rd positions.
After 3 races the National Championship stands:
1. BRUNO COELHO 328 Points
2. FILIPE COSTA 326 XRAY NT1
3. JAIME SILVA 314 XRAY NT1
4. JOAO BATISTA INĂ CIO 306 XRAY NT1
5. JOSÉ PEQUITO 298 XRAY NT1
6. RICARDO MENDES 290 XRAY NT1
7. RICARDO NOGUEIRA 278
8. JOAO MALVEIRO 278
9. JOAO GAIO 268 XRAY NT1
10. MĂ RIO COELHO 248 XRAY NT1
The next National race is on June 15th at the SINTRA track, 35Km away from Lisbon. |
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