23.01.2017
Report by VRC race reporting
SEASON 1 2017 RALLY X SPEC, ROUND 1 Mach Rally X
Season opener and very first Rally X Spec series started from Mach Rally X track. This track gives tricky mixture of jumps, gravel and asphalt.
Finnish SC Worldchampion 2016 Tommi Vacklin showed no mercy as he participated to this season opener. This 24 years old offroader was in fantastic shape, and his average 24.8 was four 10th`s faster than second place driver, Robert Hillman.
Hillman, like many others,had his troubles at backstraight jump. That "tablejump" gave lot of grey hair to many driver, as you had to set your timing and speed very perfectly when coming to the jump.
Italian Tommaso Andreuccetti drove to third podium place. Tommaso had consistent and clear run, but he didnt have enough pace to challenge those two at front. All in all, very nice final!
Opening round winner, Tommi Vacklin (FIN)
In SPORT level, Austrian Markus Hiller was the strongest. His average 25.7 was too much to Italian Erik Bottosso, who was five seconds behind Hiller when race ended. Hiller and Bottosso had guite easy and stable runs, as third place driver, American Jim Merrits was over six seconds behind Bottosso at finishline.
Instead Merrits had to do full job to get that last podium place. Merrits and Vesa Inkeri from Finland had huge battle of third place. Honestly, Inkeri was stronger than Merrits but his mistake at lap 21 mixed his rhytm and finally he had to surrender to Merrits, with frustrating 0.3 seconds margin.
In CLUB level, Dutch Hilco Pruntel, Italian Emanuele Sartori and German Jens Förster solved the podium places. Pruntel showed his pace allready at semifinal, and didnt give a chance to nobody at main. There was few mistakes, but his pace was so good and he crossed the line 3.4 seconds before Sartori. Sartori had also stable place and there was no threat from behind, as Förster in third place was over 16 seconds behind at finishline.
Many struggled with backstraight jump, this is "Hillman`s style"
FINAL RESULTS
A-main PRO
1|Tommi Vacklin|FI|25|10:22.306
2|Robert Hillman|SE|24|10:06.597
3|Tommaso Andreuccetti|IT|24|10:10.902
4|Jukka-Pekka Huhtala|FI|24|10:12.377
5|Jiri Mara|CZ|24|10:15.548
6|Carson Yeung|HK|24|10:19.320
7|Václav Brož|CZ|24|10:21.088
8|Marshall Kirkholm|US|23|10:15.503
9|Ilari Lamminsivu|FI|23|10:18.963
10|Jose M Maciá|ES|DNF
A-main SPORT
1|Markus Hiller|AT|24|10:18.106
2|Erik Bottosso|IT|24|10:23.206
3|Jim Merritts|US|23|10:04.317
4|Vesa Inkeri|FI|23|10:04.583
5|Christophe DELAMARE|FR|23|10:10.583
6|Alexander Dunkl|AT|23|10:10.672
7|Valeriy Kornilov|RU|23|10:14.497
8|Arturas Svoba|LT|23|10:18.411
9|Corey Tadd|US|23|10:24.997
10|Jozsef Valent|HU|DNS
A-main CLUB
1|Hilco Pruntel|NL|24|10:17.829
2|Emanuele Sartori|IT|24|10:21.215
3|Jens Förster|DE|23|10:10.897
4|Laurent Soreil|FR|23|10:22.315
5|Manuel Weber|US|22|10:00.663
6|Nejc Oražem|SI|22|10:03.214
7|Tony Keigley|US|22|10:09.471
8|Dorian Marcel|FR|21|10:04.503
9|Dan Passmore|US|21|10:28.883
10|Jonathan Csernak|FR|DNS
Tommaso Andreuccetti got well deserved third podium place
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