| Race report by Inaki Pahissa |
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| Round 2 of the Spanish National Championship took place in the track of Zaragoza, with a fine weather forecast and 55 drivers. The track is a driver favorite, with a fast section and a technical area where the lap times are achieved. |
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| As always, on Friday all drivers had the opportunity to test their cars in open practice. Our goal was to achieve the best set-up for the qualifiers on Saturday. As the day went on, drivers fined-tuned their chassis. Team XRAY was fully represented with all official drivers: Rodrigo Pahissa (last yearâ™s champion), Edu Escandon, Jonhy Pastor, and Inaki Pahissa. Additionally, for this race Jorge Delgado (former Spanish Champion) also attended the race with his NT1 car, making Team XRAY stronger than ever! |
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| Qualifying started pretty well for Edu and he set the fastest time 1 second ahead of the 2nd place qualifier. Inaki finished 3rd but was disqualified because of the wing; this left his brother Rodrigo in 3rd. Jonhy was struggling with his engine and couldnâ™t find the pace to match the fastest cars. |
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| The second round changed very little. Nevertheless, Fabio Barbosa (XRAY) was able to set a very good time climbing up to 5th. In the third qualifier it was Tony Mur (XRAY) who did his best time and qualified within the Top 10. |
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It wasnâ™t until the fourth qualifier that top drivers settled for their definitive positions; 8 out of the Top 10 set their best times on the fourth (last) qualifier. TQ went to Victor, with Edu Escandon on 3rd having been unable to improve on his first result. Inaki ended up in 4th and with Rodrigo was 5th.
Results alter qualifiers:
1. Victor Pelaez
2. Javier Hidalgo
3. Edu Escandon XRAY NT1
4. Inaki Pahissa XRAY NT1
5. Rodrigo Pahissa XRAY NT1
6. Mikel Angulo
7. Jonhy Pastor XRAY NT1
8. Joseba Dehesa XRAY NT1
9. Tony Mur XRAY NT1
10. Josué Artiles
Semi B
On semi-final B, Joseba Dehesa, Carlos Atienza and Franciso Lara all were driving with XRAY. Unfortunately for Joseba â“ who was the fastest of the three â“ had problems with tire wear especially on the right rear tire. Due to the massive wear of his tires Joseba couldnâ™t battle during the last minutes when he was 2nd qualified. |
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Semi A
Semi-final A went completely opposite to the previous. Rodrigo and Jonhy were fastest and both were able to build a gap within the first few minutes. The only issue Rodrigo had to face was an extra refueling, but the tremendous gap that he had over 3rd qualified was so big that his 2nd position was never in danger. Third overall was Tony Mur, making it three XRAYs going to the final!
Main final starting grid:
1. Victor Pelaez
2. Javier Hidalgo
3. Edu Escandon XRAY NT1
4. Inaki Pahissa XRAY NT1
5. Jony Pastor XRAY NT1
6. Rodri Pahissa XRAY NT1
7. Javier Alonso
8. Mikel Angulo
9. Tony Mur XRAY NT1
10. RamĂłn Guasch
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| Main final |
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The final saw Inaki having to retire very early due to radio problems; he couldnâ™t even finish one lap before his car when out of radio range. This was very bad luck for Inaki, as he was in a very good position to battle for the win. With Inaki out, the battle passed to Victor and Edu who were both pushing very hard. Climbing up positions was Rodrigo, who was able to reach both Victor and Edu, when he also started to have some radio problems.
At around half way, Rodrigo decided to retire as his radio problems where growing exponentially and he didnâ™t want to risk his car. Right when he was in a direct battle with Victor, Edu had an engine stoppage, so from that point until the end Victor lead the race. Tony Mur found a consistent and fast pace was able to finish in 2nd position, with Edu completing the podium in 3rd after a very disappointing final. Jonhy continued to have engine problems and couldnâ™t battle for the top positions so he had to settle for a 6th overall.
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| Despite not having a very nice ending, Edu is still leading the National Championship with Jonhy, Tony and Inaki still with possibilities. The next round, which will be held in Bilbao, will determine who is still on the race to be 2010 champion. |
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| Final standings: |
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1. Victor Pelaez
2. Tony Mur XRAY NT1
3. Edu Escandon XRAY NT1
4. Javier Alonso
5. Jonhy Pastor XRAY NT1
6. Mikel Angulo
7. RamĂłn Guasch
8. Javier Hidalgo
9. Rodrigo Pahissa XRAY NT1
10. Inaki Pahissa XRAY NT1 |
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