The second round of the Portuguese Nationals was held at the Avanca track, and about 75 drivers attended. This round also signaled the comeback for Miguel Matias and his debut in Portugal with the JQ car.
The practice sessions were held on Saturday with some cold weather and clouds but no rain. My car was not so good in practice, being hard to drive, but the track was slippery as well.
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On Sunday morning I finished 3rd in the first qualifying round which was won by Rodrigo LuĂs. After that, I made a few changes to the car which made it much better and I was able to win the next two rounds and become Top Qualifier. At that time the TOP 5 was: 1st Carlos Duraes XRAY XB808'11
2nd Bruno Coelho
3rd Rodrigo Luis
4th Miguel Matias
5th Ricardo Monteiro
In my semi-final I didnâ™t push very hard because I was just doing laps to get my spot in the A-main. Pedro Figueiredo, also driving an XRAY, had some electronic problems and was unable to bump up to the A-main.
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I started the A-main from P1, and managed to open a good gap in the first few laps. I lead the race from start to finish, having no problems during the entire race and being able to keep a strong pace with minor risk. Bad luck found Miguel Matias, who had a problem with the car while driving in 2nd ahead of Rodrigo LuĂs. Both my car and engine were really good.
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Final results:
1. & TQ - Carlos Duraes - XRAY 808 2011
2. Rodrigo Luis
3. Bruno Coelho
4. Ricardo Monteiro
5. Nuno Rebelo
