Detail

published: 2018-07-09 22:57:22 (18300) Author: Willy Wuyts

EFRA 1/8th Off Road EC B European Championship Finals report

Semi A

Marco Ravaglia led away from his pole position, holding off a fast Andrea Trevisan until a mistake on lap 9 allowed Andrea to the front. A strong drive from Andrea saw him take the semifinal from Marco, with Giuseppe Tescione third.

Semi B

Mattia Polito now knew what he needed to do to earn himself pole position for the main final, and set about his task from the start. Eliot Marcon went with him and these two pulled away from the field at a rapid rate, with Mattia eventually crossing the line 18 seconds ahead of the time set by Andrea in the first Semi, securing himself the pole position.

Post semi update

Andrea Trevisan, Marco Ravaglia and Max Hesse were disqualified from post race technical inspection in the first semi final, with Mirko Belli disqualified from the second semi. The issue centred around the capacity of their fuel systems, all of them being oversized during their first pass through scrutineering. The meeting was held whilst a second check took place, with the initial failures repeated on the second pass through, meaning that the drivers in question would have to race in the last chance qualifier rather than qualifying directly into the main final.

Last chance qualifier

Ten minutes, twelve drivers, one final chance the move up to the main final. Allesandro Castoldi made a strong start from pole position, and just managed to hold off a hard charging Andrea Trevisan to take the last spot in the main final.

Main final

Mattia Polito led from the tone, but couldn't escape the attentions of Eliot Marcon initially, with the lead changing between these two all the way through the first round of pitstops. The battle continued until an engine cut for Marcon on lap 22 dropped him to the tail of the field and reduced the pressure on Polito, who continued to set a searing pace at the front. After 40 minutes Polito had lapped the third placed car of Patrick Auvinet jr, with Giuseppe Tescione some 18 seconds behind in second place. An uneventful last five minutes saw Mattia cross the line for a well deserved win, from Giuseppe Tescione and Patrick Auvinet jr.