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| Race report by Inaki Pahissa |
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| The Spanish B Championship took place in the ARCA track in Madrid. Thirty drivers attended the race. Saturday was free practice, with the race on Sunday only. |
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The weather was fine and the race could be held without any problem, something which isnâ™t very common this year in Spain where almost all races of touring 200mm have been suspended or had to be raced under rainy conditions.
The track has a very nice layout with fast technical corners and a middle sector with very slow sweepers, making it a very challenging track. Drivers had even more work, since they had to constantly adapt their cars to a surface that was constantly improving in terms of traction. A good example of this was that after each heat the overall times improved exponentially. First heatâ™s best result was 20 laps @ 7:15 and TQ was finally set on the fourth heat with a 21 lap @ 7:14. There was a 1 lap improvement in just three hours. This meant that for the subfinals and final we could expect to see a much faster pace and even some traction rolling.
TQ was set by ValentĂn Garcia with an XRAY NT1, being the only driver capable of doing 21 laps. Behind him, Carlos Ordonez, David Linares and Sergio Gonzalez, all with XRAY NT1, qualified directly into the final. XRAY was by far the most commonly-used car this race. More than 90% of the drivers attending the race were using the NT1 chassis. |
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| Qualifying results: |
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1. Valentin Garcia XRAY NT1
2. Carlos Ordonez XRAY NT1
3. David Linares XRAY NT1
4. Sergio Gonzalez XRAY NT1 |
| Semi B |
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| Sergio Porras started on a strong and consistent pace which allowed him to lead from beginning to end, finishing two laps ahead of 2nd qualified (Hugo Perez); both were driving XRAY. Since the 3rd and 4th qualified from this semi where faster than drivers from semi A, both of them achieved a passport to the final. Juan Saborit and Alberto Cubero were also driving XRAY NT1, making it 4 out of 4 for the brand, which added to the previous 4 directly-qualified to make 8 XRAY cars in the main final. |
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| Semi A |
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| In this semi final, young Jorge Martinez Agudo showed great talent and won the race. The other driver who qualified for the final was Enrique Sanchez Sayabera. |
| Main final |
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| Right from the beginning Valentin struggled with an engine flame-out in the countdown, starting from pit lane. Unfortunately for Valentin this wasnâ™t the only flame-out of the final. While he was climbing positions, Valentin suffered three more stops which eventually made it impossible for him to reach the leader. Carlos Ordonez took advantage of the situation and led every single lap of the final. Third position on the podium was Sergio Porras, finishing a fantastic race for XRAY. Team XRAY who achieved TQ, a win, the whole podium, and having 8 cars in the main final! |
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| Final Results: |
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1. Carlos Ordonez XRAY NT1
2. ValentĂn Garcia XRAY NT1
3. Sergio Porras XRAY NT1
4. Jorge Martinez
5. David Linares XRAY NT1
6. Sergio Gonzalez XRAY NT1
7. Alberto Cubero XRAY NT1
8. Hugo Perez XRAY NT1
9. Enrique Sayabera
10. Juan Saborit XRAY NT1 |
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