Arnaud Mathieu wins French 1/8th Rd2

Last weekend saw the 2nd round of the French 1/8th scale on road nationals take place in Besançon, a track formed back in 1982. Almost 80 drivers turned up across the Elite and National classes, but unfortunately as rain was expected on both Saturday and Sunday the organisers decided to reduce practice in order to run 2 qualifiers. It turned out to be a good decision as the rain made an appearance in the afternoon. In the Elite class qualifying it was reigning champion Richard Volta that took pole position in front of local driver Romain Baehrel with Arnaud Mathieu 3rd. In the National class, first round winner Nicolas Rosado took an easy pole position in front of Stephane Bertrand and Faisal Affejee.

On Sunday there was a mixture of showers and sunshine making track conditions very tricky. In the Elite class final, which didn’t feature pole man Richard Volta or Adrien Bertin, both not bumping up from the semi final, it was Arnaud Mathieu who took the lead, followed by team mate Stéphane Bouche, but he would go on to have radio problems at the half way mark dropping him out of contention. As the track dried out the wet tyres were worn out and the racers had to pit for dry tires. Arnaud manage to keep the lead, but it was another Motonica driver, Jérome Papaconstantinos who made less mistake and was fast enough to get second place from Christophe Louis at the flag

In the National class the track was wet from start to finish. It was Nicolas Rosado who took the win leading all the way but followed closely by Damien Thirion coming from 1/8th final. In the closing minutes Denis Mercier who was in third was passed by Philippe Régolle who took the final step on the podium. The next round in Evry near Paris in mid June.

Source: Andelle Competition [sasandelle.free.fr]