The 4th round of the Portuguese Touring Car Championship was held this weekend at the Tomar track. There were only 15 drivers, including Spanish driver Juansi Mateo from the Canarian Islands.
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All qualifiers were dominated by Carlos Barros (XRAY), followed by Daniel Ferreira (XRAY). All the cars were equipped with differentials, except Danielâ™s car which had a front one-way. It was clear that in the low traction Tomar track, the differentials made for more comfortable and easy driving (good for 3 seconds in qualifiers).
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In the first final, a crash at the start left Carlos (XRAY) alone in front, followed by Daniel (XRAY), and Fernando Cordeiro in third (HPI Pro4).
In the second final, Carlos was out in front, but was now closely followed by Daniel. However, the front one-way in Danielâ™s car made it much harder to drive (again, a 3 second of difference). Fernando followed in third place.
In the last final it was Carlos in first, Fernando in second, and Filipe Costa (TC3) in third.
The final standings were:
1 - Carlos Barros (XRAY)
2 - Daniel Ferreira (XRAY)
3 - Fernando Cordeiro (HPI)
4 - Diogo Moreira (Yokomo)
5 - Filipe Costa (Asso)
6 - Miguel Macieira (HPI)
7 - Miklos Nagy (Schumacher)
8 - Nuno Carrico (HPI)
Final thoughts :
At Round 4 of the 2004 Portuguese TC Championship, Daniel Ferreira with his XRAY T1 Factory Kit won the 2004 title. Carlos Barros (XRAY) and Daniel (XRAY) were first and second in qualifiers and finals, showing the great potential of the XRAY cars.
