| The Event
This year the Portuguese 'National Championship' will
be hosted over four Rounds, at different venues all
over the country, counting only your best three race
results.
An interesting new format has been adapted for qualifying,
in which results are decided during three different
rounds of 8 minute long races. The twist is that only
the top three qualifiers automatically go into the final.
Following the top three, the rest of the drivers are
separated into different finals, in trios. The lowest
seeded 6 racers race for the top three spots at the
lowest final and bump up to the final above them, racing
against the next three seeded drivers and so on and
so forth until there is only three guys left to join
the top three qualifiers in the A final. So eventually,
even a E final driver can race his way up into the A
main.
With many PN Racing World Cup A main finalists vying
for the top spots, the competition is really intense
at any of these Portuguese events.
Practice and Qualifying Friday the track opened for
practice with many drivers trying to find the perfect
setup for the track. The track had a very technical
and bumpy layout, so set-up was really hard to find.
First round of qualifying started, with a total of 8
drivers running 39 laps while Team Reflex International
driver, Alberto Carvalho managed to get the provisional
TQ with a clean 40 lap heat. The Second round saw another
Team Reflex International driver, Rui Barroso improve
the qualifying pace to a blistering 41laps!!! Rui also
decreased the lap record to a super-fast 11.3 seconds.
Alberto managed do improve his time by 5 seconds, getting
close to the 41 lap pace. Local Pedro Miguel also managed
a 40 lap heat, which in turn, secured the third spot
on the grid for himself
The third round did not see any improvement in the top
three spots, with Rui, Alberto and Pedro Miguel having
already landed their spot, they pretty much watched
as the rest of the grid shuffled underneath them. Finals
The finals started with the E main. With only 4 drivers,
only one would be left out of the upper main. Special
mention should go to Nuno Albuquerque, from CPRMA in
Almada for bumping up himself from the E all the way
to the A-Main.
In the B main the stakes were much higher as the top
3 would be able to contest for the first win of the
Portuguese National title in the A main. Fourth overall
qualifier (and Reflex Driver) Miguel Carvalho took the
hole shot and never looked back, second place went to
Emanuel Marques with an epic battle between Nuno Albuquerque
and Ricardo Polonia for 3rd place for almost the entire
race, until at the end of the race, Ricardo’s
batteries dumped on him allowing Nuno to take Third
place fairly easily and securing the last spot on the
grid for the A-Main. The A-Main is run with the triple
final format. The first to win 2 out of 3 of the races,
secures the overall win for the weekend.
At the start of the first main, Rui managed to get a
clean start, followed by Alberto Carvalho in second.
Rui's car had trouble with traction rolling and chattering,
allowing Alberto to inherit the lead and drive away
for the win. Rui still managed to bring home second
place followed by Pedro Miguel, Nuno Albuquerque Pedro
Emanuel and Miguel Carvalho
In the second Main, Pedro Miguel took the lead from
the beginning, with hard charging Alberto battling through
the field to move up to second place. After an array
of lead changes between Alberto and Pedro, the Team
Reflex driver settled into the lead and started blistering
the track, eventually pulling away for his second win
of the day and the overall win for the first event.
En route to his win Alberto also managed to set the
fastest lap of the weekend with an 11.2 second lap,
besting Rui Barroso’s 11.3 from qualifying. Also
creeping up from the back was Miguel Carvalho, eventually
finishing in the second spot and setting himself up
for the possibility of the 2nd overall position.
With the title already secured by Alberto, he sat out
the last round. In the last main, Miguel once again
charged hard from the back, taking the lead and driving
home for the win and the overall second place. Following
Miguel were Rui, Pedro Miguel, Pedro Emanuel and Nuno
Albuquerque in last.
In the end the final results were:
1º Aberto Carvalho (XRT/Team Reflex International)
2º Miguel Carvalho (XRT/Team Reflex International)
3º Rui Barroso (CRP/Team Reflex International)
4º Pedro Miguel (CRP) 5º Emanuel Marques (CRP)
6º Nuno Albuquerque (XRT)
7º Bruno Ricardo
(CRP)
8º Carlos Conceição (XRT)
9º
Ricardo Polónia (CRP)
10º Helder Gomes (Géni-Racer)
11º Rui Almeida (XRT)
12º Mário Queirós
(CRP)
13º Pedro Albuquerque (XRT)
14º Eduardo
Cruz (CRP)
15º Pedro Silva (XRT)
16º Pedro
Mestre (Géni-Racer)
Congratulations are in store for all the drivers attending
the event, especially our Team Reflex International
drivers, who managed to sweep the podium with a 1-2-3
finish!
|
