The third round of French took place in Gergovie near Clermont Ferrand in France. More than 80 drivers were present Racing in four different classes : TC Modified, TC Stock 10.5, TC Stock 13.5, Formula One 21.5.
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The track was open with high grip and some bumps. It was downhill and banked so in stock class the motor had a big impact on the lap times. We needed to find the good balance between power and motor temperature because the track temperature was up to 65°C.
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Friday afternoon and Saturday morning took place the free practices and controlled practices for reseeding. Saturday afternoon on a hot track started qualifications, Michael Derderian (XRAY/Trinity/XSV) took the first two TQ in 10.5 and I won the third on Saturday evening. I found out that the PSS wasn't working on the hot conditions so I changed it for the third qualification and the car was a lot easier on bumps.
Sunday morning came the last two rounds and Antoine Brunet (XRAY/Trinity) chose to use his second set of tires and made two TQ. So with 1 and 2 I started 3rd on the grid but I kept a set of new tires for the finals.
Steeve Favrelle (XRAY) in 13.5, Jeremy Limoges (XRAY) in Formula One also dominated the qualifications and in Modified it was Loic Jasmin the fastest driver over the five rounds.
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The finals were run in hot conditions and I had the advantage of new tires for the first laps. In A1 Michael went out in the third corner so I passed him and on the big acceleration before the straight line I managed to use all the power from my Trinity Monster Horsepower and thanks to my XSV wing I could pass Antoine in the straight line. Thanks to new tires I took a 3 seconds break and then I just had to stay on the track until the end. In A2 it was more complicated as everyone was running used tires. I used the Trinity Sticky fingers tire additive to get more traction on the first laps and it worked! I passed Michael in the inside after the first corner and two laps later I came to the outside and then I was inside for the following corner and I caught the first place. Antoine after 5 laps had the same pace than me so it was up to me to get a gap and then control. 1:30 before the end he hit the curb and rolled over, we had 8 seconds gap from the following driver so I just controlled the race to the finish line!
In A3, Michael passed Antoine after some laps as he used fresher tires he was faster and in the last lap Steeve also made a good pass on Antoine.
In 13.5 class, Renaud Brusselles made an impressive A1 and A3 starting from the fourth spot thanks to his Trinity Monster Horsepower and his XSV wing he was the fastest and didn't make any mistakes. Thanks to the setup I also used (see attached) his car was fast and easy to drive. Congratulations for his first win!
For the qualifications, I finished second getting TQ in Q4 and a second place in Q1, the TQ was possible but too little mistakes does not allow me to have the TQ. .
In the finals I started second on the grid, after a big battle with Loic, he made a mistake which allowed me to win the A1 and A2. My XRAY T4'17 during the finals worked very well.
