John Doucakis wins at Greek TC Nationals Rd3
Round three of the Greek National On-road Championship was held at the Zorri RC track near Athens with many of the country’s top drivers in attendance. Sunday started out in nice weather and with the usual warm-up runs ahead of the qualifiers. With four qualifying rounds of which the two fastest counted and a tyre limit of two sets for the day, tyre strategy was important. In the opening qualifier John Doucakis (Awesomatix) dominated the proceedings in the Touring Modified class by scoring a 17 laps 5:13 run, two seconds clear of reigning champion, Nick Georgiadis (Xray) and touring car veteran, Dimitris Mitropoulos (Yokomo).
Round two saw Nick Georgiadis leading the way, with John Doucakis retiring with a broken spur gear. The second place went to up and coming Filippos Isaakidis (Tamiya) while in third place it was again the very consistent Dimitris Mitropoulos with his Yokomo. The third qualifying round would again see John Doucakis on top of the timing sheets as he was the only driver to score a 17 laps run. The fourth and final round would then see no major improvements through the field as most had already used the peak life of their tyres.
Qualifying top 5:
1. John Doucakis – Awesomatix/Team Orion
2. Nick Georgiadis – Xray/Hobbywing
3. Filippos Isaakidis – Tamiya/Advanced Electronics/Much More
4. Dimitris Mitropoulos – Yokomo/Team Orion
5. Nikos Nikolakopoulos – TOP/Much More
The opening A-main saw the TQ holder struggling on new tyres but once they grooved in John was able to open a gap on the hard charging Nick in second place. Unfortunately for Nick a tyre failure in the closing stages send his car off the track at full speed, promoting Filippos the runner-up spot. A2 and John, knowing Nick would use an old set of tyres due to destroying the newer ones in A1, started with his qualifying rubber to spare his newer set for a potentially deciding A3. On the tone both John and Nick had a good take off but they were closely followed by an ever improving Filippos who kept contact with the two front runners. A frantic chase followed between the three leading cars until the final 30 seconds of the race when John would just manage to open some breathing room between himself and Nick to win the final by just 0.192 of a second. The third A-main would decide over the runner-up spot and Nick was now struggling with very old tyres. Filippos took full advantage of the situation and made a very brave and spectacular pass in the “S” section in front of the driver’s stand. After the pass both would hold position to finish 1st and 2nd, handing the runner-up spot to Filippos in front of third placed Nikos. With the win at round three John now has a small points advantage going into the final and deciding round which takes place on the 25th of October at the beautiful Modelodromio track in Patras.
Source: Awesomatix [awesomatix.com] | Image: radiocontrol.gr [radiocontrol.gr]
