published: 2011-06-12 18:30:39 (57979) Author: FrankM |
EC B Final 1/8 IC Off-Road, Lyon - Final |
| Final Report |
 This is it: the big final race of the weekend!
The starting order:
1 NOBLE Maxime, FR;
2 BALDÓ Oscar, ES;
3 BAUER Dominic, AT;
4 SANDBERG Marcus, SE;
5 BACRO Jonathan, FR;
6 TARTARE Laurent, FR;
7 PÉREZ MAYORAL Adrian, ES;
8 NAVARRO CUENCA Albert, ES;
9 TRUMAN Tony, GB;
10 NAVARRO LATORRE Francisco, ES;
11 ROBIN Tom, FR;
12 HEBERT Guillaume, FR |
 At the start of the race, the mechanic for Guillame brought the car out very late, which caused a problem with the start. The cars were reformed into a proper starting grid and the countdown began again. From the start, Dominc took the lead and held it until lap 9 when Marcus took over. Jonathan held third with Adrian close behind in fourth and Albert in fifth.
Francisco made a great start from 10th and was in 6th, with Laurent and Tom just behind, moving up from 11th. Adrian, Maxime and Oscar made up the rest of the field, while Guillame brought up the back after flaming out on the first lap, then a stop-and-go penalty for his mechanic's mistake.
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 Ten minutes in and Jonathan took over second place from Marcus, then Marcus took the position right back! It would be a race-long battle between these too! Francisco had moved up the field and taken Laurent with him, they were fighting over 4th place.
At the fifteen-minute mark, Dominic had taken over the lead again with Marcus chasing him. Jonathan continued to hold third place, while Laurent had moved up into fourth with Tim in fifth.
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 At the halfway mark, Dominic was out! Marcus moved up to take over the lead once again. Maxime was also out of the race, but there were still plenty of French racers to take up the flag. Jonathan and Laurent were in second and third, with Albert the first Spaniard. Tom was next in fifth, with he lone Britsh racer, Tony Truman was holding station in 6th but trying to move up. Then came three more Spaniards, Francisco, Oscar and Adrian, and Maxime had just re-joined the race at the back of the field.
Sixteen minutes remaining and the top 3 drivers are very close, neck and neck and changing positions every lap! Jonathan, Laurent and Marcus are fighting a very tight battle and it would take some time for it to get sorted out! All the cars racing on the track are very close, only a few have been lapped - except for Maxime who was a dozen laps down.
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 With just a few minutes left the battle was still between Marcus from Sweden and crowds favourites Jonathan and Laurent! Every passing move was cheered and the lapped cars were quickly told to move out of the way of this race-long battle. Marcus has flamed THREE times during pit stops but he's still in the fight for the win!
In the final moments, the crowd was going wild with the passing and re-passing! The referees were watching closely to make sure everything was clean, and with the crowd's will and the commentator cheering him on, it was a French 1-2 with Jonathan taking the win and Laurent second! Marcus came in a hard-won third position for the final podium spot. |
