Sergi Franch wins Spanish 200mm season opener

The opening round of the Spanish 1/10th 200mm Nitro Touring National Championship was held at the ARCA track in Madrid in very tricky weather conditions. Due to rain on Saturday, the qualifying was moved to Sunday morning, just before the finals. Sergi Franch would claim the overall TQ after some flawless driving, setting the fastest time in Q3 in front of local drivers Adrian Ortiz and Victor Pelaez. Unfortunately after the qualifying it started to rain again and Victor Pelaez took the 2nd spot on the grid after winning the Superpole.

Just before the start of the main final the rain stopped and the track was drying very quickly. Sergi Franch and Johnny Pastor went all-in and opted for a setup for wet conditions disconnecting the anti-roll bars while the other drivers stayed with dry track setups. With a less-than-ideal setup, Sergi was still able to open a 3-seconds gap on Victor and Juan Hidalgo that even increased about mid-race. During a pit stop Juan suffered an engine flameout and and after trying to make up lost time he had an accident, promoting Adrian Ortiz into 3rd place. In the closing stages Victor Pelaez tried to catch Sergi Franch who was managing the gap on the field but ultimately Sergi was able to bring home a hard fought win in front of Victor Pelaez and Adrian Ortiz.

Final results:
1. Sergi Franch – Mugen/Novarossi
2. Victor Pelaez – Capricorn/Tesla
3. Adrian Ortiz – Shepherd/-
4. Jonnhy Pastor – Mugen/Ielasi Tuned
5. Raul Sancho – Serpent/-
6. David Belen – Capricorn/Novarossi
7. Nacho Lopez – Serpent/Novarossi
8. Cristian Villar – Serpent/-
9. Juan Hidalgo – Serpent/Novarossi
10. Raul Amella – Capricorn/Tesla

Thanks to Josep M. Franch for the report.