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| Race report by Inaki Pahissa |
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Round 3 of the 200mm National was held in Valencia with typical summer weather, reaching a maximum temperatures of 40 degrees which made qualifying very challenging as you really had one chance to set a good time.
Like in all Nationals, Friday is used for free practice and despite the track having very low traction, in the first hours the car seemed to be working very well. As the day went by, traction improved and I started to test some minor things to find the best set-up. |
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For Saturday qualifiers I was pretty confident as my car was fast and easy to drive. Unfortunately, I ran out of fuel in the first qualifier when I was setting the TQ pace. The second qualifier didnâ™t go any better as I made a silly mistake that ruined all chances of even reaching the Top 4. With just two more to go, the third qualifier will be critical so I decided to play it safe and at least have a decent time. I managed to climb up to 2nd, pretty impressive, as I didnâ™t push 100%. For the last qualifier, the plan was to push as much as I could and try to get TQ. Things were going very good until, again, a small mistake cost me the pole position, which went for Fabio Barbosa also with XRAY.
Sunday finals saw, once again, XRAY being the most popular brand in the main, with 5 cars. As far as I was concerned, I tested a small change in the free practice for the finals which made the car easier to drive, something that would be very handy and hopefully would prevent me from making those mistakes I made in qualifying.
From the very first laps the car was very competitive and I was battling for the lead with Fabio and Jonnhy, until they crashed in the pit lane. This left me and Oscar Romero (XRAY) battling for the win. It was a very close battle until the last 3 minutes of final when Oscar had to make an extra pit stop. With a gap of 6 seconds with Oscar, I took all possible precautions for those last minutes and brought the car safely home, achieving the final win! |
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| Final Results |
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1. Inaki Pahissa XRAY NT1
2. Oscar Romero XRAY NT1
3. Victor Peláez
4. Sergi Franch XRAY NT1
5. Toni Mur
6. José Antonio Aldudo XRAY NT1
7. Rodrigo Pahissa
8. Jonnhy Pastor
9. Javier Ferrando
10. Fabio Barbosa XRAY NT1 |
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