Round 2 of the 1/10th 200mm took place at the Raco2000 track in Utrecht. Saturday was sunny which made it a perfect day to get everything prepared for the race on Sunday. With the participation of Belgian team driver Maxim Claes, XRAY had a strong team for the weekend.
During qualification it was a great battle for pole position, and was very interesting to see who would make the 3 best consecutive laps. After 3 different leaders through the rounds it was Maxim Claes who claimed pole position, followed by Daan Jacobs, Team XRAY driver Pedro Rombouts, Remy Möller and Julius Kolff all very close together.
The weather forecast for Sunday wasnâ™t as good as Saturday. Rain fell during the lower finals which made it difficult for the drivers. In the ? final it was Ricardo van Dam who had the best pace and claimed the win and also the 6th spot on the grid for the main final. Second place went to Jurgen Geerlings and the three XRAY drivers (Dennis de Groote â“ winner of ? final, Bas Geurts and Arco de Jong) took the last main final places.
In the 2nd class of the Dutch Nationals it was a good day for XRAY. Janwillem Gons took home the victory after a strong race, followed by Arne Schober and Jos Phillippus â“ all driving XRYA NT1.
For the main final most drivers hoped for a dry race and they got it. At the start of the race the first four drivers had a clean start, but behind them it was a bit of a mess. Some drivers crashed and had to retire. In a few laps Daan passed Maxim for 1st place and behind them it was Remy who passed Pedro for 3rd place.
Over a few minutes Daan pulled out a small gap from Maxim, Pedro and Remy who were very close together. This was the picture until the 15min mark. Then it went wrong for Maxim, who made a mistake driving out of pit line; he hit the pit wall and had to retire. So then it was this the order: Daan, Pedro, and Remy. Daan had a small gap but had a 4-min fuel stop strategy. When near the end of the race the pit windows of Daan and Pedro came together, the gap wasnâ™t that big anymore. With 4 minutes to race, everyone made their last pit stop.
Daan was still holding 1st place with a small gap from Pedro, but Remy was all over Pedro to take the 2nd place. He couldnâ™t make his move and Pedro started to get away from Remy and close the gap on Daan. Daan and Remy asked too much of their tires and had a hard time driving their cars during the closing minutes. In the last minute Daan made a small mistake which gave Pedro the lead. Pedro crossed the finish line 1.3 seconds ahead of Daan with Remy just behind to take the 3rd place.
Final results:
1. Pedro Rombouts â“ XRAY NT1
2. Daan Jacobs
3. Remy Möller 4. Arco de Jong ⓠXRAY NT1
5. Dennis de Groote â“ XRAY NT1
6. Julius Kolff 7. Bas Geurts â“ XRAY NT1
8. Maxim Claes â“ XRAY NT1
9. Ricardo van Dam
10. Jurgen Geerligs
