The weather was still beautiful at Portimao for the last of the qualifying heats for the 2015 Rotax Grand Final. Everyone hoped for races that were less disrupted by clashes. Apparently, the race director had taken control as the incidents appeared progressively less.
Junior Heat 5 A-D
After an extra rolling lap, the start of the first race on Friday morning was given in sunny Portimao. A small crash took place in the pack, and Harrison Thomas took the lead. Jack McCarthy hassled him for the leadership, but Thomas was struggling to control his rivals, even blocking. He won the race from McCarthy, Dylan Drysdale took 3rd position, Aaron Cameron 4th and Roope Ropanen 5th.
Junior Heat 6 B-C
Scott Symons dominated the last Junior race ahead of Jules Bollier after a start without incident. Florian Venturi came back from 4th to 3rd place ahead of Axel Charpentier and Trenton Estep while Bollier took the lead. Symons responded Venturi lost places. Victory went to Symons ahead of Bollier and Charpentier, then Dean McDonald returned to 3rd ahead of Charpentier and Manuel Sulaiman. Venturi finished 6th and David Beaumann 21st.
Senior Heat 5 A-D
The first lap was successful and the duel between Berkay Besler and Edward Brand started right away, followed by a tight group. Brand managed to win in front of Besler, Giuliano Cucciolillo took 3rd position, Sten Piirimaegi 4th and Kairo Kivi 5th. Arnaud Sarrazin came back to 13th position and Felix Warge to 15th place.
Senior Heat 6 B-C
Three drivers got ahead slightly on the first lap with Alex Alex ahead of Abdullah Al Rawahi and Pierce Lehane. Bruno Borlido took 2nd place while Lehane dropped to 10th. Then Christopher Dreyspring moved up to 2nd position. Alex won despite the return of Dreyspring, Borlido recovered 3rd place ahead of Patrik Pastorok and Max Renberg. 8th place went to Lehane and 10th to Al Rawahi. Emmanuel Reviriault finished 14th, but Nicolas Duchateau retired on lap 6 he was up to 16th.
DD2 Masters Heat 5 A-D
There was another crash on the start line. Derek Wang, Fernando Guzzi and Antti Ollikainen stood out slightly. Ollikainen took 2nd after three laps and twice attacked the leader on the last lap, but he did not succeed. Wang won ahead of Guzzi and Ollikainen, Luis Schiavo was 4th and Robert Schluenssen 5th.
DD2 Masters Heat 6 B-C
The battle for 2nd place between Ryan Urban and Tomokazu Kawase allowed Michael Stephen to take a small lead early in the race. Quickly back to 6th position, Charly Hipp was launched in pursuit of Adam Hunter. Stephen won the race by 5/10 from Urban and Kawase. Renato finished 4th, Hunter 5th and Hipp 6th, while Laurent Aubin took 17th position.
DD2 Heat 5 A-D
Andreas Backman attacked Ferenc Kancsar on the second lap while Mads Thomsen took Pedro Pinto for 3rd place. The top six remained very close. Kancsar took control again on lap 6. Luka Kamali moved up to 5th from Pedro Pinto but let the top four take off. Backman didn’t relax the pressure on Kancsar while Lukasz Bartoszuk closed in 3rd position. Kancsar won the race from Backman and Bartoszuk, Thomsen was 4th and Kamali 5th. Rubens Barrichello was 12th and Alexandre Anstett 22nd.
DD2 Heat 6 B-C
The last heat start went reasonably well, a sign that things have changed since yesterday. Luke Varley led a bunched pack with Oriol Dalmau Caballero, Bradley Liebenberg and Martins Steinerts in its wake. Varley increased his lead at the halfway point. Dalmau dropped to 4th and Varley and won with a comfortable lead ahead of Steinerts, Liebenberg, Sanad Al Rawahi and Dalmau.
Info Kartcom / © Photo KSP