27.02.2018

Oliver Meunier dominates the final in 1:8 Nitro GT3 Spec at Lloret de Mar

Lloret de Mar was the venue for the third round of the first ever VRC PRO 1:8 Nitro GT3 Spec Series. The simple layout, combined with the limited set-up options of the 1:8 Nitro GT3 Spec chassis, provided for extremely close racing.

PRO LEVEL

The 10-minute qualifying round was extremely tight in the Pro Level. Qualifying saw 9 of the top 10 racers complete 41 laps; separated by only 8 seconds. In fact, the top three qualifiers were separated by less than half a second. Kevin Bacon (US) took the top qualifying position with 41 laps in 10:00.252, just .3 seconds ahead of fellow American Joshua Berman, who was less than .2 seconds ahead of Oliver Meunier (DE). Graham Raistrick (UK) qualified just 2 seconds off the leader’s pace; Dana Bailes (US) was 4 seconds back; Gary Crowell (US) was 5; Nuno Lourenco (PT) and Carson Yeung (HK) were 6; and Tommaso Andreuccetti (IT) was 8 seconds behind with 41 laps in 10:08.436. In other words, the top 9 racers were separated by only about half a lap after 10 minutes. Massimiliano Tanturri (IT) rounded out the top 10 with 40 laps in 10:03.234.

The tight qualifying set the stage for an exciting final round. Bacon took the pole position and led the pack from the starting grid, but Meuiner took the lead on lap one and never trailed again. Meunier focused and practiced between rounds and found another gear in the final round. Meunier ran a near flawless 20-minute final, committing only one mistake on lap 63. (Unfortunately, Meunier’s replay did not upload so the reason behind his 16.434 second lap is unknown) Regardless, Meunier ran away from the field throughout the final and was the only racer to turn 83 laps. Meunier finished with 83 laps in 20:10.368; his fastest lap was 14.132 and an amazing average lap (without pit stops) of 14.370. Congratulations Oliver on a great run and victory!

The final two podium positions featured a battle between three racers; Berman, Raistrick and Bacon. The three racers were all over one another for the first 5 laps when Berman stuttered and fell behind. Raistrick and Bacon continued to battle until lap 11 when Raistrick began to fall off the pace. Bacon pulled away until lap 16 when Berman started to real him in. The two were very close until lap 39 when Bacon clipped one of the infield hairpins and spun. Berman passed Bacon, took the second position for good, and never looked back. Bacon’s mistake cost him about a second and put Raistrick back in striking distance. Bacon began to extend his lead over Raistrick, but Bacon struggled in the pits and the one second lead he had gained was nearly completely lost when the racers came into the pits on laps 47 and 48. Bacon and Raistrick remained within .2 seconds of each other between lap 48 and lap 64; trading positions three times. With time winding down, Bacon came in early for his final pit stop, a 20.4 second stop; Raistick came in a few laps later on lap 72 in with a 19.6 second stop which put him 1.3 seconds ahead of Bacon with time running out. Raistrick held on as Bacon faded and claimed the final podium position behind Meunier and Berman. Raistrick finished with 82 laps in 20:03.398.


Raistrick (Orange) and Bacon (Green) battled side by side most of the final

A-MAIN RESULT – PRO LEVEL

1|Olivier Meunier|83|20:10.368 2|Joshua Berman|82|20:02.510 3|Graham Raistrick|82|20:03.398 4|Kevin Bacon|82|20:05.022 5|Carson Yeung|82|20:11.956 6|Gary Crowell|81|20:05.484 7|Nuno Lourenco|81|20:07.150 8|Tommaso Andreuccetti|81|20:12.906 9|Dana Bailes|DNS 10|Massimiliano Tanturri|DNS

SPORT LEVEL

At the sport level it was France’s David Lalanne who ran away from the competition. Lalanne, who was the only racer to turn 41 laps in qualifying, finished the final with 80 laps in 20:01.016; nearly a full lap in front of second place finisher Philippe Gross of Switzerland. Gross faced some stiff completion from Finland’s Heikki Huhtala. Gross crashed on lap 5 and suffered his slowest lap of the race. The crash cost him about 5 seconds and Huhtala jumped out to a big lead. However, Huhtala made a mistake on lap 16 and experienced his slowest lap allowing Gross to get within striking distance. Gross slowly chipped away at Huhtala’s lead and passed him on lap 34. Gross stretched his lead to 5 seconds by lap 65. But on laps 69 Gross slipped again and allowed Huhtala to close the gap. Huhtala got as close as .8 seconds, but Gross finished strong and was able to clip by the finish line one more time, just before time expired; Huhtala just missed it. Gross finished second with 80 laps in 20:14.400. Huhtala finished with 79 laps in 20:00.634.


Lalanne took the win at Sport Level

A-MAIN RESULT – SPORT LEVEL
1|David LALANNE|80|20:01.016 2|Philippe Gross|80|20:14.400 3|Heikki Huhtala|79|20:00.634 4|John Payson|79|20:10.078 5|Manuel Weber|78|20:04.276 6|Stanislav Pavlíček|78|20:06.692 7|Tony DELMASTRO|77|20:00.056 8|Eric Brawley|77|20:00.090 9|Raimondo Magliulo|DNS 10|Lello Cofano|DNS

CLUB LEVEL
Club level featured a tight race for the top spot between Petr Bella (BE) and Arturas Svoba (LT). The two pilots swapped positions 7 times in the first 22 laps. But on lap 23 Bella struggled in the pits, costing him about 5 seconds and giving Svoba his largest lead of 4.6 seconds. Svoba maintained a 2 to 4 second lead throughout the rest of the race and it looked like Svoba was going to coast to an easy victory. However, on his penultimate lap, Svoba crashed and experience his slowest lap of 20.044 seconds. The mistake allowed Bella to slide by and he was able to hold on for the win as time expired. Bella finished with 78 laps in 20:06.088. Svoba finished with 78 laps in 20:07.396. Tobias Fraunhofer (DE) claimed third place with 76 laps in 20:02.252


Bella passed Svoba on the penultimate lap to win the Club final

A-MAIN RESULT – CLUB LEVEL
1|Petr Bella|78|20:06.088 2|Arturas Svoba|78|20:07.396 3|Tobias Fraunhofer|76|20:02.252 4|Christophe Penchenat|74|20:17.090 5|Alan Prevendar|73|20:05.830 6|Kevin Tsang|71|20:04.398 7|Andreas Haslinger|DNS 8|Markus Aicher|DNS 9|Luke Allam|DNS 10|Florent Mahoudeau|DNS

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