Round 2 of the Spanish Nationals took place at the Cerdanyola Model Car Track near Barcelona. After Jonhy Pastorâ™s first win in Valencia, all drivers aiming to win the championship had to do their best to avoid a second win from Jonhy, which would practically sew up the championship for the XRAY driver.
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Qualifying saw local driver Sergi Franch take TQ from I?aki Pahissa. Rodrigo Pahissa and Jonhy Pastor were the other two direct qualifiers for the final, making it four XRAY in the final.
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On Sunday, three more XRAY drivers bumped up from the semis to the final. Josep GradolĂ, Toni Mur and Fabio Barbosa had no issues in the semis and made it easily through to the final. With seven XRAY NT1 in the final. the XRAY brand is still the most popular car in 200mm scale and places itself in a very good position to retake the championship last year.
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The first minutes of the final saw I?aki Pahissa take the lead from Sergi Franch right after the first corner. His brother, Rodrigo, also passed Sergi who had to focus on keeping 3rd position. Behind the three drivers â“ who built up a considerable gap â“ Jonhy Pastor had to struggle with his set-up. Having not changed anything on his NT1, the car suffered due to the different track conditions compared to Saturdayâ™s qualifiers. Nevertheless, Jonhy was able to keep a constant pace with no mistakes.
Eventually this consistency had its reward as Jonhy won the race alter several calamities ensued⦠first dashing I?akiâ™s hopes, later Sergiâ™s and finally Rodrigoâ™s who after leading almost the whole race suffered a broken engine at the end of the main straight with six minutes remaining. With these three drivers out of the race, Jonhy headed to victory, making it 2-for-2 and coming very close to securing the championship. Only needing another result within the top 10, Jonhy will again be Spanish champion, giving XRAY his second consecutive title in the super- popular scale in Spain.
