Carreras Los 80 With Breathtaking Qualifying Session!
Absolute debut of Spanish competition on national soil
More than 20 fantastic vehicles make up the starting grid
BMW M3 E36 flies to Pole Position
Portimão Circuit, splendorous sun, iconic vehicles were all the conditions for a perfect day. The Carreras Los 80 arrived in Portugal on Friday just after the clock started ticking the second lap. The two dozen teams started to settle in their paddock seats. As soon as the cars started to be unloaded from their transports, the certainty that it would be a success was obtained.
With several categories, this competition brought to Lusitanian soil those cars that, in the 80's and 90's, made wonders to the motor sport aficionados.
It was just a few minutes before 3pm when the traffic light on the Algarve Pit Lane turned green, allowing the 22 competitors to go through the challenging curves of the Portimão circuit in search of the best time that would dictate the starting grids for the 40 minute races of the following day.
In the T1400 Fiat Punto, the duo Rui Silva and Marco M. Pinto outperformed their direct opponent Tiago Lindo, in the same car, thus conquering the leadership of the category. However, at the end of the session a mechanical problem dictated the couple's fate, thus ending their weekend.
In the GR2 category, Jorge Cruz's BMW 323i was the fastest followed by the couple José Filipe Nogueira - Campos Ferreira in Ford Escort MKI. In third place comes Paulo Duarte in VW Golf MKI.
Let's talk now about the category of beautiful cars that crew the GTCOPA category. The fastest in this qualifying session was Paulo Vieira in a BMW M3 E36, who was closely followed by Piero dal Maso in his always amazing Porsche 964RS. These two finished the qualifying session only 14 hundredths apart and will start the two races on the front row of the pack. Coming from Spain and assisted by the Eficar Team, Teodosio Perez placed his BMW M3 E36 in the third position of the category.
In a category dedicated to TMAX, the dispute for the fastest lap was the father and son family duo and the Garcial brothers arguing lap after lap who would start the race at the front. In the end it was the Sousa's BMW 635 CSI who got the better of their opponents on identical mounts. The Spanish duo, Tomas Moreno and Oscar Bartol, also didn't want to be left out of this fight as they tried to push their spectacular Mercedes 190 to the limit.
In the INV category, it was the Monteiro brothers who got the better of Luís Palhão. The duo assisted by Monteiros Competição took their Volvo 850 to sign the best time of the category, leaving the BMW 328i E36 in second place.
On Sunday, this luxury squad will face two 40-minute challenges. Besides the added challenge that is the AIA track, rain is still expected. The Carreras Los 80 will open the day with the first race starting at 09h00 and race 2 starting at 14h55.
