| Race report by Inaki Pahissa |
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On 17, 18 and 19 of October the last national race in Spain for the 2008 season was held. The track that held this round was Vigo in the north of the country. Being the fastest track of the year not only a good set up for the car was important, but the engines had to be perfectly tuned in order to be in the top qualifying positions.
Saturday qualifying:
Drivers had 4 rounds of qualifying to do the best they could. From the beginning, all XRAY drivers in this race made really fast times, occupying the top positions. The first round left us with Carlos Peracho on TQ, followed very closely by Victor Pelaez, Jonathan Pastor, Javier Hidalgo, Mikel Angulo and Javier Alonso, all driving NT1. Edu Escandon had engine trouble in the first qualifying round, preventing him from making the top 10 for this round.
After second round Carlos Peracho continued to be on TQ but times were much closer now, with just tenths of a second between being directly qualified and being on the semi finals.
On third round of qualifying, Javier Hidalgo with his XRAY/MAX, set the fastest time, placing himself on TQ, followed by Victor Pelaez who managed to improve his time too. Edu Escandon, with no problems on this round, climbed up position and started to look as strong as he has been throughout the whole season.
Fourth round changed every thing. Edu had a perfect run and managed to make an impressive time being 2 seconds faster than Victor Pelaez who finished in 2nd position. Javier Hidalgo was sent to 3rd and 4th was Javier Alonso. This meant that the 4 qualified directly for the final were all XRAY.
Carlos Ducay, finally, qualified on 21st position, which meant that he had to start on the finals on Sunday. |
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Sunday finals:
Carlos started his ? final on second position building a gap between him and the third qualifier. After a small mistake of the leader, Carlos jumped to first position and wouldnâ™t leave that position until the end, qualifying for the semi finals.
Semi final B:
This semi final was won by Mikel Angulo, who led the final form the beginning to the end. Mikel was followed by Raul Casado and Carlos Peracho, who had to wait for the results of the other semi final to know if he was qualified or not.
Semi Final A:
Semi final A was won by Jonathan Pastor who showed all his potential, winning fairly easily and looking to be as one possible candidate for the final win. Following Jonatan, Josep Gradoli finished on 2nd position making it to the final for his second time in a row, after also making the final in Vilareal. 3rd position was for Carlos Ducay who, thanks to a very constant driving and almost no errors, managed to finish in this position with clear chances of being in the final. |
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Final starting list
Eduardo Escandon XRAY NT1
Victor Pelaez XRAY NT1
Javier Hidalgo XRAY NT1
Javier Alonso XRAY NT1
Jonathan Pastor XRAY NT1
Mikel Angulo XRAY NT1
Josep Gradoli XRAY NT1
RaĂşl Casado
Carlos Peracho XRAY NT1
Carlos Ducay XRAY NT1
Main final:
For the final, the main issue that all drivers had to face was the tire wear. From the beginning, after a crash in the first corner, Jonathan led the final with Javier Alonso following his pace. Behind them Victor Pelaez after a bad start and Edu Escandon with the same problem were climbing up positions, until Edu broke a spur, leaving him with no options for the win.
Javier Hidalgo suffered some problems during the whole final and couldnâ™t manage to be with the fastest drivers, moreover when he had his tires worn out on the 20 minute of the final. Carlos Peracho was also climbing positions looking as if he could reach the podium.
With 10 minutes to go Javier Alonso who was chasing Jonathan broke, and left Jonathan with a comfortable gap between him and Victor who was second, until the last 3 minutes when Jonathan started to suffer from tire wear. From this moment onwards Jonathan couldnâ™t afford a mistake. Victor took advantage of the situation to place in 1st position. In the last corner Carlos Peracho who had been climbing positions for the whole final managed to overtake Jonatan who couldnâ™t even accelerate.
Carlos Ducay finished in 7th position, being a perfect return to competition after years without taking part in any race.
Final positions
1.Victor Pelaez XRAY NT1
2.Carlos Peracho XRAY NT1
3.Jonathan Pastor XRAY NT1
4.Mikel Angulo XRAY NT1
5.Josep Gradoli XRAY NT1
6.Raul Casado
7.Carlos Ducay XRAY NT1
8.Javier Hidalgo XRAY NT1
9.Javier Alonso XRAY NT1
10.Edu Escandon XRAY NT1 |
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