The weekend of the 18th and 19th of April saw the running of the 17th “Autocross Ciutat de Lleida”, second round of the 2015 Spanish Autocross Championship. There were SPEEDCARs in three categories, scoring two podiums with the second positions in Division III and Car Cross.
The SPEEDCAR TTRs once again showed their speed in the spectacular Division III, where the most powerful autocross singleseaters are included. Even if this time they couldn't repeat the 1-2 scored at Motorland, the car driven by Joan Enric De María finished second, which confirms him as one of the main contenders for the championsip.
Joan was fourth in qualifying and won the second heat, starting the final from fifth position to complete a very good race, moving to finish the ten laps in second position.
His teammates were less lucky as both Delfín Lahoz and Juan José Aranda couldn't defend their good positions in the final race of the weekend due to bad luck. Delfín, who had been the fastest in qualifying, was hit at the start of the final, suffering a broken driveshaft so he had to continue slowly so as to at least score some points, which he managed by finishing seventh. Juanjo had to retire because a clutch failure, being finally classified eight.
Thirty three entrants in the CarCross category, with ten. almost a third of the drivers, at the wheel of the always competitive SPEEDCAR Xtrem, that, for yet another season, is the most popular model used by the drivers in the national series.
This always closely fought category produced exciting battles during the heats, with SPEEDCAR drivers Juan José Moll and Jordi Puigvert, especially motivated in their home race, among the main contenders. Moll scored the second best time in qualifying and was first and second in the heats, which put him second on the starting grid for the 'best 15' final, where he finished second, less than a second behind the winner and scoring yet anothat podium at national level. Puigvert got also to the final after being third in his two heats, a result that put him seventh on the grid, the same position he had ten laps later when passing under the chequered flag.
Six more SPEEDCAR Xtrem drivers got to the B 'Final', the best result going to David Casadevall, who finished seventh, just ahead of Oscar Izarra in eighth. Manuel Moya, Asier Sánchez and Robert Durán, finished in 10th to 12th positions respectively.
A dual presence for the SPEEDCAR Xtrem in the category for the yoiungest drivers. The best result was scored by Pepe Arqué, who finished fifth. Right behind was Ares Lahoz, who started last for the final because she couldn't take part in qualifying and the heats held on Saturday as she was entering, on the same day, the Catalonian ice skating championship, another sport where she also exceels. Despite not having run during the whole weekend, entering directly in the final, Ares changed her skates for the steering wheel to finish sixth.
