Martinho & Cardoso win Portuguese Nationals Rd2

The second round of the Portuguese electric touring car series took place last weekend in Coimbra. In the modified class, the pace throughout the day was extremely fast, with drivers changing positions every lap. Hugo Miguel TQ’d the first round followed closely by Bruno Coelho, João Martinho and Bernardo Cosme. In the second round the top 4 drivers from the previous round made some errors, but in the end João Martinho successfully TQ’d the round in the last lap from José Figueiredo who took second place with an error free run. The third TQ run was set by Hugo Miguel. The final and fourth TQ run was set by Bruno Coelho.

After the four rounds of qualifications the grid was:
1. Hugo Miguel (Serpent/SP)
2. Bruno Coelho (Yokomo/LRP)
3. João Martinho (Yokomo/LRP)
4. Bernardo Cosme (Yokomo/LRP)
5. Jorge Chalupa (Tamiya/LRP)

On the first A-main Hugo Miguel’s SP powered Serpent managed to win, setting a new track record. He was followed closely by Yokomo/LRP team mates Bruno Coelho and João Martinho. Despite having been in the battle for the lead Bernardo Cosme finished 6th due to a driving error.

For the second A-main, Bruno Coelho made a bad start leaving the battle to the front drivers Hugo Miguel and João Martinho. The pressure put by João Martinho’s LRP powered Yokomo was incredibly high and he managed to overtake Hugo Miguel and therefore finish in first followed by Hugo Miguel and Bruno Coelho.

In the final A-main, 3 drivers could still win the race, and it was a fast run put in by those 3 drivers. João Martinho had overtaken both Hugo Miguel and Bruno Coelho on the first laps, but an incredibly fast pace by Coelho had put it on the first place, but unfortunately due to some electronic problems he was unable to finish. With that Bernardo Cosme moved up to 3rd place and tried to reach Hugo Miguel, but in the end it was Yokomo/LRP driver João Martinho who finished first securing the overall win. With the last run Bernardo Cosme managed to finish an overall fourth.

1. João Martinho (Yokomo/LRP)
2. Hugo Miguel (Serpent/SP)
3. Bruno Coelho (Yokomo/LRP)
4. Bernardo Cosme (Yokomo/LRP)
5. Jorge Simões (Team Associated/GM)

In the stock class, Mário Ribeiro set the pace with a TQ run followed very closely by Fernardo Cardoso. After the first run it seemed that the race was again to be decided between Cardoso’s Schumacher/Nosram and Ribeiro’s Associated/LRP. After Fernando Cardoso seeing Mário Ribeiro denying his TQ in the first run, the Nosram powered Schumacher driver improved the pace TQ’ing the remaining 3 runs, with that securing the TQ position relegating Mário Ribeiro to the second place on the grid.

After the four rounds of qualifications the grid was:
1. Fernando Cardoso (Schumacher/Nosram)
2. Mário Ribeiro (Team Associated/Viper RC)
3. João Oliveira (Team Associated/GM)
4. Filipe Romão (Xray/GM)
5. José Salgado (Schumacher/LRP)

The first A-main was secured by Fernando Cardoso who won with a relatively large gap for the second, Mário Ribeiro and João Oliveira finishing in third. In the second A-main Mário Ribeiro tried for the 7 minute race to put the pressure on Fernando Cardoso to push the decision for the third and final A-main. Ribeiro tried to apply pressure but Cardoso didn’t made any mistake and with a clean run won the second A-main and therefore the second round of the Portuguese Nationals. With this win Fernando didn’t run in the third A-main. With a win in the final A-main Mário Ribeiro secured the overall second place with João Oliveira finishing in third place.

1. Fernando Cardoso (Schumacher/Nosram)
2. Mário Ribeiro (Team Associated/Viper RC)
3. João Oliveira (Team Associated/GM)
4. Filipe Romão (Xray/GM)
5. José Salgado (Schumacher/LRP)

Thanks to Joao Martinho for the report.