Santiago Vallve wins after leaders come together
Image © Arnau Vinyals, FormulaRapid.net, Kart Republic Spain
Something we don’t normally say about the Junior X30’s, this was the smallest grid of the meeting. Still, that meant that 36 drivers would take to the track over the course of the weekend, meaning no need for a second chance heat.
To ensure drivers could find some clear track, qualifying was still split into 2 grids and the opening session showed exactly how close this Junior X30 field is. The top 5 drivers were seperated by less than a tenth, with Spain’s Santiago Vallve topping the session over Winter Cup winner Bart Harrison by just 0.004 seconds. Estonia’s Reuben Volt was a further 0.052 seconds back with Brits Freddie Spindlow and Marcus Luzio completing the top 5.
Amazingly, the 2nd session was just as close, with the top 3 separated by the same margin. Germany’s Harold Nuredini topped the session, beating Vallve’s benchmark by just 0.003 seconds. Oliver Greenall would put his Fusion machine in 2nd, 0.046s behind the German with Spain’s Pol Chaos 3rd by 0.034s. One of the shocks was one of the drivers who failed to set a time, that being Mini X30 winter cup winner Jan Peral, who joined Jusso Laukkanen and Jack Cox on the side lines.
3 heats then awaited the drivers on Saturday and, just like in the minis, one name rose to the top with a perfect score. That driver was DHR’s Reuben Volt. 2nd on the grid for the pre final would go to Harrison, who finished all 3 of his races in 2nd, loosing out to Volt in the final contest. Greenall would have to settle for 3rd, despite taking 2 wins, but his 7th place finish was no match for Harrison’s consistency. It wasn’t a good day for Pole man Nuredini, he finished his first 2 heats on the rostrum, but ended the final heat down in 13th which plummeted him to 10th in the standings. By contrast, Dan Guinchard moved from 16th in qualifying to 8th for the pre-final thanks to a trio of top 8 finishes.
When the final went green, Vallve took the early lead as Spindlow lost out to Harrison and Greenall in the opening corners, leaving him with it all to do. Greenall quickly bolted himself onto the back of Vallve’s KartRepublic machine, as the pair tried to clear off at the front. Meanwhile, Spindlow already had Aaron Walker for close company who jumped from 8th to 5th. Spindlow quickly dispatched of Harrison as Greenall took the lead. Vallve looked like he was in trouble, first loosing out to Spindlow before coming under huge pressure from Harrison. Harrison soon had his own problems, as Walker forced his way through, allowing Luzio to drive around the outside of the MBR driver to drop him to 6th. That fighting allowed Vallve to refocus on the two guys in front.
The two leaders were nose to tail, trying to make sure that the Spanish driver couldn’t catch up. That was until Spindlow had enough of chasing and decided he wanted to lead. He made his move down the inside of turn 1, covering off Greenall to take the lead for KR-Sport. Vallve and Walker were employing the same tactic to pull away from Dan Guinchard who was up to 5th and close in on the leading pair.
Vallve looked like he found another gear and managed to close up to the leading pair, leaving Walker a long way behind the now leading trio. Behind the leaders, there was a frantic fight for 5th place being lead by Reuben Volt who was starting to pull away from Nuredini who in turn had deposed Dan Guinchard of 6th, who was under heavy pressure from Luzio. The DHR man making the move at turn 1 to move into 7th.
Greenall was trying everything to close onto the back of Spindlow. Pumping in the fastest lap of the race multiple times and with 2 laps to go, he saw his chance. He threw his Fusion machine to the inside of turn 3 to take the lead, but Spindlow came back at him. Greenall tried to slam the door, but Spindlow wasn’t backing down. The pair touch sending themselves across the grass and allowing Vallve to pass the pair of them. Spindlow was later handed a 5 second penalty for the move. Walker also profited from the move, moving to 3rd behind Spindlow. But he wasn’t behind for long, sending it to the inside of turn 2 to take 2nd. Spindlow and Greenall were again fighting, this time Spindlow didn’t put up much of a fight allowing Greenall through to 3rd.
When the flag fell, Santiago Vallve took the most unlikely win with Walker coming home 2nd. Greenall would finish on the podium in 3rd with Spindlow falling to 5th after his penalty, promoting Guinchard into the top 4.
