Tom Cockerill wins Spanish EP off-road nationals Rd2

This weekend was round 2 of the Spanish National Series, held at the CARBI track in Bilbao, home of the 2009 European Championships. The club have changed a few features of the track since the previous years event, but it was still a very challenging and high grip circuit. Saturday would see a day of practice, with 2 controlled rounds late in the day to seed the heats for the following day. With just 2WD running, Sunday would have 5 rounds of qualifying and 3 finals for all. The weather report threatened for rain on Sunday afternoon, but it never came, the sun and dry weather staying for the whole weekend.

The event saw Schumacher UK drivers Tom Cockerill and Trish Neal invited over again, and it was Tom who got to grips with the track quickest, taking all 5 rounds of qualifying to take the TQ position. Behind him there was a close battle between Schumacher drivers Pablo and Trish, Pablo coming out on top by virtue of a faster time. Going into the 7 minute finals it was going to be all about going clean, very difficult to do on the tricky track. Tom would continue his qualifying form to take all 3 legs, followed home by Pablo in all 3, giving him valuable championship points. Oscar made the most of mistakes from other drivers to take the final podium step.

Final Result
1. Tom Cockerill – Schumacher
2. Pablo Fernández Rodríguez – Schumacher
3. Oscar Zamarreño – Team Durango
4. Nahun Morales Gonzalez – Team C
5. Ivan Jimenez Perez
6. Zacarias Villalba – Team C
7. Tristram Neal – Schumacher
8. Jorge Pascual Ibañez – Schumacher
9. Luis Fernández Barrios – Team C
10.Gonzalo Fernandez Rodriguez – Team C

Source: Schumacher [racing-cars.com]