Last weekend the first EFRA GP 2011 was held at the FMM (La Turbie) track at Monaco.
Between Thursday-Friday the track was open for free practice, and many drivers took advantage of that.
On Saturday morning we had controlled practice and four rounds of qualifications. The last two rounds were held on Sunday morning. But the rain had cancelled the 4 rounds of qualification on Sunday so all hope was on Sunday to drive a fast and clean run.
Qualifying was won decisively by Maxim Claes (XRAY NT1) , Ludovic Gaviorno was 2nd , Arnold Leo was 3rd, and Singer Manuel (XRAY) was 4th. We all thought we were directly qualified, but when the race controller posted the results and the sub-finals we saw that there were no direct qualifiers. It was a new EFRA rule.
1. Maxim Claes XRAY NT1
2. Ludovic Gaviomo
3. Arnold Leo 4. Singer Manuel XRAY NT1
5. Rosado Nicolas
6. Noirat Jeremy
In Semi-A it was a clean start, but after 7 minutes I hd radio troubles⦠my receiver was not working. My dad quickly installed another receiver. So then I needed to overtake 2 laps to get in the main. After 20 minutes I finished 4th so I was able to run the main.
I didnâ™t see Semi B, but I thought there were some more troubles.
Start order:
1. Arnold Leo Verbicaro Biagio XRAY NT1
3. Rosado Nicolas
4. Musso Thomas
5. de Jong Arco
6. Noirat Jeremy 7. Singer Manuel XRAY NT1
8. Maxim Claes XRAY NT1
9. Spreng Helli
10. Gommers Ingeborg
We had a clean start, but I jumped the start so I got a stop-and-go penalty. During the race the car was getting better and better. After 15 minutes the top 3 (V. Biagio, C. Maxim, and A. Leo) were within 7 seconds. After 25 minutes I planned my tire change and I fell 5 laps down. With a fresh set of tires the car was even better than before. I started to overtake. Because of the tire wear the others were getting slower, but unfortunately I missed out by 1 lap. After 45 minutes, Verbicato Biagio took the win with Arnold Leo in 2nd position and Maxim in 3rd.
Final results:
1. Verbicaro Biagio XRAY NT1
2. Arnold Leo 3. Maxim Claes XRAY NT1
4. Rosado Nicolas
5. Noirat Jeremy 6. Singer Manuel XRAY NT1
7. Spreng Helli
8. Musso Thomas
9. Gommers Ingeborg
10. de Jong Arco
It was a good weekend for XRAY with 2 cars on the podium.
Many thanks go to the organization for the nice event. I would like to thank my sponsors RC-connect, Orcan engines, Capricorn, Racing experience, RC car colors ghiant.
