Luis Cortez wins opening Portugal Regional

Last Sunday the first round of the Portuguese Regional was held in the Circuito Automodelismo do Funchal. This year the qualifying rounds were extended from 5 to 7 minutes making the fight for the pole position very close. Team Magic driver Mario Oliveira took the pole position but the first seven drivers all managed to complete 21 laps. Mugen driver Luis Cortez, who had engine problems all weekend and opted to change to a Siro XXX for the final, started from 4th position and took the early lead of the race and managed to win the race with 87 laps. Kyosho driver Paulo Rodrigues lost six positions following a driver error, but drove a very good race managing to get the 2nd position of the podium on the final lap. The current regional champion Duarte Faria, who started from the second position on the grid, set a new track record but at the final stage of the race didn’t have any rear tires left and he ended up in 3rd.

Thanks to Paulo Rodrigues for the report.