The second round of the 2004 Portuguese TC Championship was held the weekend of April 2-4 at the Monsanto track in Lisbon. Daniel Ferreira and his XRAY took the win, and XRAY was by far the most popular brand of car in the top 10. All 25 drivers drove the 1st and 2nd qualifiers under slippery conditions, which resulted in poor lap times. But by the 3rd qualifiers the track had dried out and made for very grippy asphalt.
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XRAY driver Daniel Ferreira gave a good performance with 17 laps. In the 4th and last qualifier almost everyone improved their times, including Rodrigo Marinheiro with his XRAY T1R who placed an excellent 4th place in the final A grid. The 1st final was a victory for Daniel Ferreira (XRAY), followed by Associated driver Felipe Costa â“ the 1/5 scale national champion â“ in a clean race with no problems.
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The 2nd was very exciting to watch with Daniel, Felipe, and Miguel (HPI Pro4). These drivers were very close to each other in that order. At the 2 minute mark Felipe and Miguel passed Daniel, but Miguel made a small mistake allowing Felipe to get into the lead and win that final. Daniel finished in 2nd and Miguel finished in 3rd.
In the last final, either Daniel or Felipe could reach victory. At the start, Daniel left very quickly with his well set up and easy-to-drive XRAY Evo2, followed closely by Felipe. The final was very fast and a new race record was registered at this track with 17 laps in 5:02.
Final standings â“ 2004 Portuguese TC Championship (Round 2)
1. Daniel Ferreira (XRAY T1 Evo2)
2. Felipe Costa (Associated TC3)
3. Miguel Macieira (HPI Pro4)
4. Diogo Moreira (Yokomo SD) 5. Rodrigo Marinheiro (XRAY T1R)
6. David Lopes (Losi XXX-S) 7. Hugo Silva (XRAY T1R)
8. Luis Costa (XRAY T1 Evo2)
9. Luis Fidalgo (XRAY T1 Evo2)
10. Antonio Gato (XRAY T1 Evo2)
