Francisco Mora collected yet another triumph in the Porsche Sprint Challenge Ibérica, by dominating, this Saturday afternoon, the first race of the third round of the competition, at the Spanish circuit of Navarra, finishing ahead of Pedro Salvador and Manuel Alves, the trio who stood out from the beginning. Ricardo Costa, in the AM category, and the British Chris Hillaby, in the GD category, were other winners of a race shortened by the need for two “interventions” by the Safety Car, following an equal number of accidents. “We managed to improve the car, which is now much better and we will continue to work to evolve the setup a little further.
I made a good start and set a good pace, but the arrival of the Safety Car did not allow me to understand my real difference to the opponents”, said Francisco Mora, a quiet winner. Pedro Salvador managed, shortly after the game, to gain a foothold over Manuel Alves and until the end he was never in a position to threaten Mora’s superiority. “We have a small technical difficulty with the car, which has been identified, but today we couldn’t rival Kiko’s [Francisco Mora] progress and I can only congratulate him”, commented the runner-up. Manuel Alves knew it wouldn’t be easy, starting from second place on the grid, to hold Salvador… “The first three corners on this track are tough for someone who starts second and Pedro overtook me. I went after him, our pace was very similar, but the arrival of the Safety Car spoiled the race for a lot of people and I lost the opportunity to recover a position. Tomorrow I hope to do better…”, said the young Trofa rider.
With that trio standing out in front, Vasco Barros was isolated in fourth position and detached from José Barros, the leader of the AM category, but both would end up, later on, touching on the finish line with the Safety Car (SC) on the track , when they did the usual “S” to maintain the temperature of the tires. The entry of the safety car took place following the skidding of Jorge Ramirez, then discussing primacy in the AM category with Ricardo Costa. The collision between Vasco Barros and José Barros was violent, although without physical consequences for either player, leaving the first’s car badly damaged, while the second gave up shortly afterwards.
At the restart of the race, Mora did not allow any surprises, while Ricardo Costa confirmed his victory in the AM category, ahead of Tiago Gonçalves and Nuno Inocêncio, who did not hide the satisfaction of climbing to the podium in his second sprint race. Chris Hillaby dominated the GD category in an afternoon in which Aloísio Monteiro, author of the “pole”, after having walked through the first places, ended up, following two “pawns”, by falling to third.
Final classification (unofficial)
1st, Francisco Mora (Veloso Motorsport/PRO-AM), 29.53.350
2nd, Pedro Salvador (PRO-AM), at 0.792
3rd, Manuel Alves (LOB Motorsport/PRO-AM), at 1,630
4th, Ricardo Costa (Monteiros Competição/AM), at 7,550
5th, Tiago Gonçalves (AM), at 10,973
6th, Nuno Inocêncio (AM), at 11,751
7th, Chris Hillaby (RGB Racing Team/GD), at 12,942
8th, Rui Miritta (Monteiros Competition / GD), at 15,078
9th, Jorge Brioso (AM), at 16,527
10th, Aloísio Monteiro (GD), at 35,927
11th, José Barros (Veloso Mortorsport/AM), 4 laps
12th, Vasco Barros (LOB Motorsport/PRO-AM), 4 laps
Fastest lap: Francisco Mora, with 1,43,499.
NAVARRA PROGRAM
Sunday (June 25)
09:45/10:05 – Qualification 2
13:35/14:10 – Race 2 (28 minutes + 1 lap)