The first race in Valencia was a serious test for the competitors – including all three Hadeca Racing drivers. Unfortunately, there was some risky behaviour on the track by some of the competitors, which affected the results of Race 1.
At the beginning, there was a successful attack of the Ukrainian Yury Protasov, who quickly moved to the second position in the overall standings and confidently led in the AM category. But in the middle of the distance there was a careless attack of the competitor, which led to a collision and turning of both cars on the track. This incident immediately dropped Protasov from second to sixth position in the race.
Yury Protasov: “I have two very different emotions – I’m happy and not happy at the same time. At first I’m happy because I was second in the race. Then I’m unhappy because another rider hit me, and I was spinning. But still I am happier because I lost not much time, I was able to continue the race and overtook some rivals. But at the end of the race, the tires started to overheat”.
After that, the unofficial leader for Hadeca Racing was Colombian Juan Pablo Vega, who finished fourth in the race and third in the AM category. He fought hard for third position in the overall race standings until the finish. Meanwhile, Protasov improved his position in the race a bit, finishing fifth and having the fastest lap in the AM category (1:36.827).
Juan Pablo Vega: “I’m very pleased to be a Hadeca Racing driver – I really like it in the new team. It was my first start on this circuit – it’s a fascinating and challenging track. The race started with my rival and I are making a small mistake in the second corner and losing a bit of time. But I was able to finish on the podium in my category. Tomorrow I will do my best to improve this result”.
Ukrainian Oleksandr Dobik again demonstrated his stability – he finished sixth in the overall race standings (i.e. Hadeca Racing drivers took three positions in a row, from fourth to sixth). In addition, Dobik won the GD classification and was more than 25 seconds ahead of his nearest rival. This is the sixth win in the GD category for him in seven races!
Oleksandr Dobik: “Our main goal this weekend was for all three of our drivers to finish on the podium in their various categories. And we have already achieved it today! Now I expect us to improve on that on Sunday. The track? I think it’s a really interesting track for the fans – they can see the whole circuit, not its isolated fragments like at other autodromes”.
Despite these issues and incidents, all three Hadeca Racing drivers finished in the Top 3 in different categories. Oleksandr Dobik won the GD category, Juan Pablo Vega was second in Grupo 992 Classe AM, Yury Protasov finished third in Grupo 992 Classe AM.
Tomorrow’s Race 2 promises to be a fascinating adventure. According to the results of today’s Race 1, the Hadeca Racing drivers in the second race should start from third (Dobik), fourth (Protasov) and fifth (Vega) positions.
