| Race report by Jerome Sartel |
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The last round of the French Championship was held at the Bezril track, near Toulouse, the last weekend of September, in perfect weather conditions.
Renaud Savoya was in the lead coming into this race, but the championship was not yet decided. Yannick Aigoin and I still had a chance to win the championship!
The track was really fast and not so technical during the qualification rounds. It was dusty, but perfectly flat! These track conditions lead to qualifying being very tight as the driverâ™s times were very similar.
I had some difficulties in the first round, as I was testing a stiffer center differential. On the second round, the car was much faster and I took the third place. During the last round, I took the 4th place, only 3 little second behind Savoya.
I finally finished in 5th position after all of the qualifying points were tallied. Renaud was TQ for the race in front of J. Aigoin, Y Aigoin and Rodriguez, who was one of the fastest racers of the day. Guillaume Vray finish in 8th position. Young XRAY driver Hugon took the 6th place, just after me.
The car was fast at the end of the day and everything looked ready for the semi and the final.
Following the end of qualifying, the host club had arranged a group lunch and a party, which included a really good concert.
After a good night and a some work Sunday morning to prepare, the moment for the semi arrived. I started in 3rd position behind Renaud and Yannick. Renaud was in the lead for most of the race but a receiver problem stopped him 5 minutes before the end. Fortunately, after a quick battery change, he was able to return to the race to finish in 4th position. Yannick won the semi and I took the second place.
On the second semi, J Aigoin won the race with a time that would give him the top position to start the final.
After the semi-final results were combined, I found myself in 4th place on the starting grid for the one-hour final. With a strong start, I was able to take the lead on the first lap ahead of Renaud and Yannick. Eventually Renaud and Yannick were able to get by moving me down to 3rd. I pushed hard to regain the position, but the 2 leaders drove a fast clean race. I held on to the final podium position, taking 3rd in this race, which also secured 3rd place overall for the French Championship. |
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(click to enlarge) |
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Final results:
1. Renaud Savoya
2. Yannick Aigoin
3. Jerome Sratel XRAY XB808
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| With such a strong showing in a highly competitive, world-class field of drivers, I am excited by the prospects for next season and look to improve on my 3rd place finish. |
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