| Race report by Christian Villar |
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| Team XRAY driver Cristian Villar has already proclaimed himself the mathematical winner of the 2009 regional championship, even with the last race of his circuit (Porrino) still to be competed. After a slightly bumpy season, marked by rain races, the Team XRAY driver has proven himself to be the most regular driver â“ not postponing the work until the final of the championship, which up to three other pilots could otherwise have opted to win. |
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This last race saw fierce competition. The Foz circuit in Lugo hosted the fifth round of the regional championship, in which over 30 pilots faced a race held â“ at last â“ in very good weather.
In the qualification rounds, the two drivers who had the best chance to win this championship fought for the pole position. The first round was won by Jose Porto with a time of 7 laps in 5.07.936, and Cristian was second with a time of 7 laps in 5.08.319. No other pilot would go below 5.20, which made it evident that these two drivers would be the candidates to take the win. |
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The second qualification round was won by Cristian with a time of 7 laps in 5.09.252, followed by Alberto Neira, who kept getting faster throughout the race. Another Team XRAY driver, Jaime Vanaclocha, was 4th - feeling ever more comfortable in the Foz circuit.
The semifinals were very exciting â“ with some expected endings â“ as the fastest drivers in the classificatory rounds prevailed, though not without some startling moments. In semifinal A, Porto and Neira kept their domination from beginning-to-end, while Jose RodrĂguez meddled at some point in their duel. Porto won the semifinal with 26 laps in 20.23 followed by Neira, Francisco Dios, Jose Carballo, Jose Frecha and Luis Javier Fdez.
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| In semifinal B it was XRAY's pilots who started in positions 1 and 2. They got away from the rest of the pack at the beginning and Jaime put a lot of pressure on Cristian, overtaking him on several occasions. In the 6th minute of the race, Cristianâ™s car went out of control at the bottom end of the circuit. He made a pit stop to replace the receiver battery pack and went back onto the track in 8th position (which could have cost him the championship) with an over-3-minute lap. He steadily climbed up to 3rd, then relaxed and set his mind on the final. Jaime won the semifinal with 26 laps in 20.19, which gave him n?1 in the final! He was followed by Ivan Cerdeira, Villar, Tami, Valcarce and Pardino. |
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The big final was 45 minutes long and the starting grid order was: Vanaclocha, Porto, Cerdeira, Neira, Dios, Carballo, Villar, Tami, Frecha, Valcarce, Fernández and Pardino.
During the first laps the pace was not very fast since nobody wanted to break and Cristian capitalized on this to reach the lead in lap 5 and then he start imposing a pace that no-one else was able to keep up with. Behind him, Porto and Vanaclocha battled for 2nd place, and they swapped numerous times. In the first pit stop to refuel, Cristian had almost an entire lap on the field, hence his being able to relax. His rivals ran into trouble when Porto had to quit due to clutch problems and Jaime had an engine breakdown. Cristian won the race with 60 laps and Neira and Tami joined him on the podium with 55 and 54 laps, respectively. |
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Final results
1. Cristian Villar XRAY XB808
2. Alberto Neira
3. Jose Porto
4. Roberto Valcarce
5. Jose Luis Carballo
6. Jaime Vanaclocha XRAY XB808 |
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| "With this victory the championship falls in my hands at last and our bad luck is now (hopefully) behind us. I would like to dedicate this victory to my mechanic, Andreia (it would not have been possible without her) and to say thanks to Moldevigo, Micromodel, XRAY, and HUDY for their support. And to my rivals, because I would never be where I am standing now without them." Team driver Cristian Villar |
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