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| Race report by Reno Savoya |
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| Summer time, and like every year, everyone is all prepared to attend the Euros! This year the event was hosted by the WMV Fehring, a really nice facility in Austria, hosting also the 1/10th Euros a few weeks back. |
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We had the chance to attend the warm-up in April, so we could start on strong basis with my team Jerome and Manu. We pushed a lot to set everything perfectly for the event, even practicing the refueling moves to save time in the pit and maximize our hopes for a title-back!
We started with the set-up we prepared, for grippy conditions. Unfortunately, at no time during the week the temperature was higher than 30°C, so we had to work a bit reverse in order to give the car more traction and stability in low grip conditions, especially during the mains. |
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| Since the first practices, I was really consistent and could drive clear without crashing. The car was really easy to drive and fast. We especially worked on the shocks depending on the temperature, but also on the tires in order to run the proper compound. |
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| The qualifications started well as I qualified 10th, just 4 seconds back from the TQ time. For round 2, we decided to go with the same set-up, in order to secure the spot in semi and see how the tires will react to the temperature rise. I qualified 7th, again really close to TQ by 5 seconds! In round 3, we changed to a shorter rear camber link for more corner speed, and also the flexibility of the chassis aiming for more traction. It worked well, I ended up 3rd, only 1 second from the TQ time! Even before Friday, the semi was already secured, so we could relax and try different combinations for the mains. |
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The first round on Friday morning went perfect, I TQed, and thanks to this result, I was fighting for the overall TQ with Bloomfield and Ronnefalk. Unfortunately, a slower driver crashed me in lap number 4 as I was on a TQ pace, so overall TQ! It was good to know I had the speed to TQ and to know we progressed through all rounds.
Terrible rain occurred Saturday morning which changed the plans and forced a lot of drivers to run in really muddy and sticky conditions. Congratulations to all who had the courage to run those conditions! |
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When the semi practices time arrived, the track was drying really quickly, and close to the conditions we had during the week. We tried 2 different sets of tires, Battle Star and Double Action. Double Action had more traction so we decided to stick with it for the semi.
The semi went pretty smooth as I cruised behind Ronnefalk all the 20 minutes long, really close until the tone.
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| I would start with number 4 on the grid. As the car was good but not perfect, we decided to go with heavier shock oil and tyre compound in order to get more traction and stability in corners. I was really confident with my package and was sure I could fight for the podium. |
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| The 45 minutes final started really bad as another racer took me out of the track, and forced me to start the race with a slower pack than the one I was supposed to be. I lost nearly half a lap from the lead because of this, and with this all chances to get on the podium. As the race went along, I was gaining spots one by one. 5 minutes before the end, I was still 6th, and coming back! The last 5 minutes were epic, as I passed Miguel Mathias and Jerome Aigoin in order to get up to 4! Unfortunately, the start costed me too much time to progress more and get to the podium, but I'm really satisfied by this result. |
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| Final results: |
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1. Darren Bloomfield
2. David Ronnefalk
3. Robert Battle
4. Reno Savoya XRAY XB9
5. Jerome Aigoin
6. Miguel Mattias
7. Joseph Quagraine
8. Martin Bayer XRAY XB9
9. Chris Svensson
10. Yanick Aigoin
11. Borja Hernandez
12. Elliott Boots
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| I would like to take the most of this report to thank all my sponsors once again, all the Xray team, especially Juraj and Martin, who did a fantastic job and carried an amazing support! Big thanks also to Jerome and Manu, my best friends and pitmen for their awesome support. You are the men!! |
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