Aigoin brothers rule in Portugal

Having watched his brother Yannick TQ the opening round of qualifying, Jerome Aigoin has gone and set the pace in Q2 to give us a repeat of Austria last year where they TQ’d the opening two qualifiers only in the opposite order.  The Kyosho driver said he found a really good rhythm during the run and his MP9 was probably capable of going faster.  Running AKA iBeam medium tyres he said the only set-up change he made was to a harder front spring and the car was perfect.  Feeling the track had better grip but bigger bumps the French driver said he plans to stick with the same set-up for the third and final qualifier of the day.

Setting the second fastest time was defending champion Renaud Savoya.  Changing everything on his car after a disappointing opening round he said it was a gamble that was going to be either ‘good or shit’ and thankfully it was better.  Changing to softer shock oil and a softer front diff, he said his MBX-6 felt much quicker although this wasn’t reflected on the time sheets. A clean run he said his second was slightly lucky as many of his rivals made mistakes during their runs but he is confident that he has a good base set-up now on which he can build for the the remaining three qualifiers.

Making it two Kyoshos in the Top 3 young star David Ronnefalk set the third fastest time with his Team Orion powered MP9.  The Swede said he did little to his car and that the improvement was down to better and smoother driving from him.  Running an AKA Cityblock/iBeam tyre combination the only change he made was to switch to a medium compound.

The pace setter in Q1 Yannick Aigoin was happier with his car but said the driver was not so good this time. The former 2 time Champion made a mistake on the double which meant he had to settle for fourth. The best of the Losi drivers in Q2, he said he chose too soft a tyre, but the car is getting better so he is happy.  Fellow Losi driver Miguel Matias ended up just behind him, the Portuguese driver also making a driver error. Moving the top of the shocks out one hole all round he said his 8ight lost a lot of steering. The local ace also said the track conditions were a lot worse than this morning.

The first time we have seen Xray inside the Top 10 so far in the event, Jerome Sartel enjoyed a ‘really good run’ with his 808.  The French driver said he made too many mistakes in Q1 but ran a much cleaner second round making only two small mistakes to end up 6th.  With a good feeling for the car after switching to softer diff oils and roll bars he said he now needs to increase his level of driving but he feels he has the pace to finish in the Top 10 come the end of qualifying.  Just 3/100th behind Sartel was team-mate Teemu Leino who was the only Xray driver in last year’s final.

Completing the Top 10 Graham Alsop was eight fastest with his Hot Bodies ahead of Borja Hernadez and Martin Bayer who was second fastest in Q1.

After a terrible Q1, 2007 Champion Robert Batlle was on a good run but made a mistake on the last lap. Unfortunately for him the marshal was attending to another car and didn’t see his Ultimate Racing backed Associated for some time and the incident ended up costing the Spaniard 8 seconds.  Batlle completely changed his RC8 and said the car is very close to the perfect set-up so despite the last lap incident he is positive he can end Day 3 of the championships on a high note by setting a competitive time in Q3.

Results Round 2 of qualifying
1. Jérôme Aigoin (FR) Kyosho/Novarossi – 8 Laps in 5:16.446
2. Renaud Savoya (FR) Mugen/RB – 8 Laps in 5:16.712
3. David Ronnefalk (SE) Kyosho/Team Orion – 8 Laps in 5:18.466
4. Yannick Aigoin (FR) Losi/Novarossi – 8 Laps in 5:18.647
5. Miguel Matias (PT) Losi/RB – 8 Laps in 5:20.110
6. Jérôme Sartel (FR) Xray/RB – 8 Laps in 5:20.882
7. Teemu Leino (FI) Xray/Team Orion – 8 Laps in 5:20.916
8. Graham Alsop (GB) Hot Bodies/RB – 8 Laps in 5:21.654
9. Borja Hernandez (ES) Mugen/RB 8 Laps in 5:21.764
10.Martin Bayer (CZ) Losi/Novarossi – 8 Laps in 5:22.047

Full results can be found online here.

View our event image gallery here.