| Race report by Inaki Pahissa |
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The fourth round of the Spanish National Championship took place in the CAPA track in Parla, Madrid. It was the first time that the Nationals visited this track, therefore all drivers had to challenge the difficulties of starting from a blank sheet of paper and try to come out with the best set-up.
Friday was free practice and due to the small amount of participants all present had more time than usual for testing. This was particularly useful when facing a new layout, with very particular characteristics such as very fast corners, low levels of traction, and a huge surface â“ which made it difficult to see some parts of the track. |
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Nevertheless, Team XRAY (with Rodrigo Pahissa, Johnny Pastor, and I?aki Pahissa) worked very closely together to find the best possible set-up for the qualifiers on Saturday.
To make things even more challenging, Saturdayâ™s weather was excessively warm, affecting the performance of cars and engines. Due to the high temperatures the fist qualifier was be essential as it was the only time of the day when the track had a normal surface temperature. Rodrigo â“ who was TQing the round for more than 5 minutes â“ had a small crash with another car when he overtook him, losing a few tenths of a second. This eventually took him to 2nd position only 1 second behind first qualified. Johnny was struggling both with the track itself and his carâ™s set-up and couldnâ™t match the pace of the fastest cars.
Inaki, who was one of the fastest, had to retire due to problems with his second gear, leaving only Rodrigo at the top of the list.
The second qualifier was more of the same story. Rodrigo was again very fast but due to the temperature his final time was 8 seconds slower than the previous qualifier. Johnny continued to have set-up problems and Inaki flamed out right when he exited the pit lane after refueling. |
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The third qualifier was noticeably better. Inaki improved and managed to climb to 5th only tenths of a second behind 4th place. This result which gave him confidence for the last round, where once again all driver would have to face very hot temperatures and a surface which was by far worse than in the first round. Inaki managed to TQ the last round and improve more than enough to gain a direct place for the main final.
Qualifying results:
1. Victor Pelaez
2. Rodrigo Pahissa XRAY NT1
3. Hugo Santos
4. I?aki Pahissa XRAY NT1
5. Javier Alonso
6. Johnny Pastor XRAY NT1
7. Mikel Angulo
8. Juan Antonio Ă lvarez XRAY NT1
9. Adrian Ortiz
10. José Aldudo |
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| Semi-final B |
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| Johnny Pastor, after not finding the pace in qualifying, decided to change his set-up to what the other XRAY drivers were using. This change had a very positive result on Sunday. During his semi-final, Johnny had no problems on jumping to the main final, reaching the checked flag by 1 lap over 2nd qualified Juan Antonio Alvarez (XRAY) and making it his first ever National championship final. |
| Semi-final A |
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| In this semi-final, Carlos Ordo?ez, 2010 Spanish B champion finished 4th, but unfortunately his final time wasnâ™t good enough to bump up to the final. |
| Main final |
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Right from the beginning Rodrigo led the race, due to problems with the clutch of Victorâ™s car, which took him to start from 11th place. Rodrigo led the race for more than 20 minutes. Although it might seem stupid, a fly disturbed Rodrigo as well as many other drivers in the final, something which made them make mistakes and precisely one of these mistakes made Rodrigo lose the lead. Nevertheless he recovered himself closing the gap to 3 seconds with Victor, until in the last refueling fuel got into Rodrigoâ™s receiver. This put an end to the final for him.
Inaki was left without any option early in the final after a flameout before the 5th minute, climbing up to 6th position. Johnny eventually had the best result for Team XRAY, finishing 2nd overall after a very consistent and trouble-free final. With this result, Johnny is in a very good position to become the new Spanish champion, since the last round is celebrated at his home track in Elche. The other XRAY driver in the final, Juan Antonio Alvarez, finished 5th overall, making it his best ever result in the Nationals. |
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| Overall results: |
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1. Victor Pelaez
2. Johnny Pastor XRAY NT1
3. José Aldudo
4. Mikel Angulo
5. Juan Antonio Ă lvarez XRAY NT1
6. I?aki Pahissa XRAY NT1
7. Javier Alonso
8. Hugo Santos
9. Luis Cayetano MartĂnez
10. Rodrigo Pahissa XRAY NT1 |
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