After four Portuguese drivers attended the European Championship, all drivers were back and focused on the National Championship. Local XRAY drivers Nuno Gancho, Hugo Miguel, Ricardo Cardoso, Ricardo Bastos (Modified) and Rui Almeida (Stocks), were ready for this race.
Saturday was practice day, with the track reaching a good level of grip which allowed for the setting of a w new track record in the Modified class : 19.450 sec. Also surprising was the speed that the Stock class was reaching, with some drivers getting the same lap times as Modified drivers.
A few more drivers arrived on Sunday, and we had a great day of racing. In Modified class there were four drivers battling for the title: Nuno Gancho (XRAY), Hugo Miguel, Ruben Francisco, and Francisco Henriques. With great regret, Francisco Henriques was unable to attend this race so he would be out of the hunt for the Modified title.
Great rhythm was imposed by local drivers, where XRAY driver Hugo Miguel won the four qualifying rounds with room for doubt. This allowed him to start the finals on pole position ahead of Nuno Gancho (XRAY) and Ruben Francisco. New young-gun driver Helder Silva (winner of the 2nd race of the National Championship) was in 4th position.
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For the finals, Nuno Gancho exchanged tires and this allowed him to pass into the lead ahead of Hugo Miguel. However, due to the increased grip his car traction rolled. Hugo Miguel won the first final, Nuno Gancho was 2nd, and Helder Silva was 3rd.
In the second final, Nuno Gancho had a poor start and dropped to last position. But within 10 laps he drove his XRAY T3 into the lead to win the second final followed by Hugo Miguel and Ruben Francisco.
Everything would be decided in the third final. Hugo had a good start and lead the race from beginning to end, with Ruben Francisco in 2nd. So Hugo Miguel managed to capture his first victory with his XRAY T2â™008, something that he has deserved for a long time for being a hard working and talented driver.
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Mod final results:
1. Hugo Miguel XRAY T3
2. Nuno Gancho XRAY T2'008
3. Helder Silva
4. Ruben Francisco
5. Joao Martinho 6. Ricardo Cardoso XRAY T3
7. Fernando Cordeiro
8. Luis Correia
9. Jorge Chalupa 10. Ricardo Bastos XRAY T3
