Late at night and in the early morning there was rain at Portimao, but a strong and fresh wind then began to sweep away the clouds and dried the track for the last Junior heats on Friday at 11.30am. The battle was tough for everyone to be among the 28 competitors who qualified directly for the finals. Then a downpour soaked the track for the Seniors. Struggling to mount in the rain tires and making last minute adjustments, no less than 10 drivers couldnt get on the grid for the start of the AD heat. There were more showers that were more or less disturbing for DD2 and DD2 Masters, but rain tires and set-ups were mandatory for all.
In Junior, the Portuguese driver Bruno Borlido kept the advantage thanks to two victories ahead of the British driver Josh White and the Japanese driver Kazuto Kotaka, but in third with an already high total of 15 points. The Spaniard Alvaro Perez lost places in his last race in 6th position, while the British driver Harry Webb needed to push hard to reduce the disadvantage of his retirement in the first heat and won 2 races which allowed him to end up in ninth.
In Seniors the Australian Pierce Lehane successfully achieved grand slam with 3 wins in 3 races. So far the Hungarian Ferenc Kancsar is in second place in front of the Irish driver Charlie Eastwood and the British Harrison Scott. The Japanese driver Ukyo Sasahara is in fifth position ahead of two other British drivers Edward Brand and Oliver Hodgson and Canadian Jesse Lazare, in 8th. Joseph Mawson (Australia) is 14th, James Singleton (UK) 17th with a retirement and a victory under his belt. With a third and fourth, Jordi Van Moorsel (Holland) manages to save his qualifying position in 24th despite a retirement in heat 1.
In DD2 Masters, it was elbow to elbow between Cristiano Morgado (South Africa) and Scott Campbell, each twice winning, turned to the advantage of the South African with his 2nd place against the Canadian, who was fifth in the final heat. There was a performance from the British and Irish David Griffiths and Martin Pierce, 3rd and 4th ahead of the Finn Mika Salo, not the former Formula 1 driver. The French Guy Pansart confirmed his sixth position ahead of the Belgian Christophe Adams.
Now under the Canadian flag, Ben Cooper dominated in DD2 with three victories. The Austrian Simon Wagner finally took a slight advantage over the Belgian Xen De Ruwe, whereas the Canadian Nicholas Latifi is fourth ahead of the Portuguese Henrique Baptista and Kevin Lüdi from Switzerland.
Info Kartcom with Kartlink / © Photos KSP