AUTOCROSS ARTEIXO (Spanish Champ.)


The Speed Cars stood out one more year in the always popular event of Arteixo, fifth round of the Spanish Autocross Championship that was held on August 7 and 8 at the José Ramón Losada circuit. A victory and four podiums was the harvest for drivers who competed at the wheel of vehicles manufactured by Lahoz Industries, achieved also with three different models. Pol Durán’s and Josep Aranda's Xtrem finished first and third in Car Cross Junior, Josep Arque’s Wonder was third overall and first in the CarCross 1.6 trophy, and Joan Enric De María’s TTX was very close to the victory in Division III.

DIVISION III

Joan De María
(2nd Div.III)

Eduard Bañeres
(11st Div.III)

Iñaki Alberdi
(DNF. Div.III)

Just three tenths of a second separated Joan Enric De María from winning with the Speed Car TTX in the Division III final at Arteixo. The Lleida team driver was improving along the whole weekend, since he was fifth in qualifying, he classified in the fourth place for the final with a first place, a third and a fourth in the heats, and in the last race he was on the verge of overtaking the leader, with whom he came practically matched under the checkered flag. In addition to the second place overall, De María won in the 1.6 Trophy.

Worse luck for the other two drivers who competed in Arteixo with the Speed Car TTRs in Division III. After his victory in Carballo, Eduard Bañeres was again among the contenders for the top positions. In qualifying he scored the third best time and also showed his speed in the heats, with a first, a second and a third place that put him third in the starting grid for the final. However, whit just three laps from the end, Eduard was forced to retire and finished ranked 11th. As for Iñaki Alberdi, after placing sixth out of fifteen participants in the qualifying session, he achieved a fifth and two seventh positions in the heats, which put him eleventh for the final but he didn't start the race.

-> Division III results (pdf file)

CAR CROSS

Josep Arqué
(3rd CarCross)

Joan Salichs
(4th CarCross)

Arnau Biosca
(11st CarCross)

Six of the 45 entrants in the ever-popular Car Cross category participated in Arteixo with Speed Car models, four at the wheel of the Xtrem and two with the new Wonder. Of these, three reached the final of the top fifteen in which the first to cross the finish line was one of the Xtrem drivers, Joan Salichs. However, a 'drive trough' penalty for overtaking under yellow flags put the Speed Car driver back to fourth place in the official standings.

Because Salichs's penalty, another Speed Car driver, Josep Arqué, climbed to third place after being fourth in the Wonder. A result with which Arqué finished a magnificent comeback after suffering problems in the last qualifying round, which led him to have to earn the position in the Final A winning the Final B. Once in the final race, the driver of the new Car Cross model from Lahoz Industries was recovering positions from the last row of grid until having as reward a place on the podium.

The third Speed Car driver in the Car Cross final in Arteixo was Arnau Biosca who was also competing for the podium, as his positions on the heats showed, in which he was twice third and a second. In the final, Arnau started seventh but his good pace led him to climb to third when, with four laps left, he had to retire.

-> CarCross results (pdf file)

CAR CROSS JUNIOR

Pol Durán
(1st Junior)

Josep Aranda
(3rd Junior)

Quim González
(5th Junior)

The Speed Car Xtrem remain undefeated in the Junior category. The fifth win in as many events came in Arteixo with Pol Durán, who scored his third victory of the season after finishing the second race behind a driver who was penalized and thus lost the first position. On the podium he was accompanied by his team-mate Josep Aranda, who had been the great dominator of the weekend, with the best time in qualifying and two firsts and a second place in the heats but was hampered by a pile-up at the beginning of the final, losing ground in the first lap and being forced to recover, finishing in third position.

Aleix Costa
(9th Junior)

Quim González finished fifth, very consistent in his Xtrem as he was seventh in qualifying and he got the same position in the starting grid, after being once fifth and twice seventh in the heats. In the final, he regained two places to reach the finish just over a second from Aranda. Aleix Costa, who improved in one position the result obtained in Carballo, was ninth this time with the fourth of the Xtrem present in Arteixo.

-> CarCross Junior results (pdf file)


Pictures: CEAX RFEdA press service