Round 3 of the Portuguese North Regionals took place at Avanca.
On Saturday there were almost no practice sessions because of the heavy rain. Sunday started cloudy but without rain. I tried to test a few set-up options (including the recent 5° kingpin steering blocks) and they felt really good. Qualifying went well and I got 6th overall and so I got into the semi as I intended.
The semi went really well. The rain began right after the start, and so calm and error-free driving was needed. I got a good start and took the lead, managing to win the semi by a lap.
The A-main started under heavy rain, and a bump in the beginning made me drop to last place. I still managed to get back on pace and after about 10 minutes I was up into 3rd, very close to the lead. At this time, the heavy rain had transformed the track into a mix of soft mud/clay and a lot of water. To finish was almost a matter of luck, of which I had only the bad variety. I was forced to stop at 10min with both servos burned out.
Even in these hard conditions, I must congratulate all the drivers who finished the race, especially XRAYâ™s Ruben Cerqueira who managed to "navigate" his car to 2nd overall.
My car and engine were very good all day long, and it was really unfortunate that the rain got so heavy... better luck next time!
Fianl results:
1. Gabriel Magalhaes 2. Ruben Cerqueira XRAY XB808'11
3. Joao Carlos Figueiredo
4. Luis Filipe Pereira
5. Carlos Dias Silva
6. Joao Lopes 7. Jorge Gonzaga XRAY XB808'11
8. Rui Reis
9. Nuno F. Ferreira
10. Tiago Leal
