A perfect weekend in Portimao for Jeremy Iglesias and the CRG Racing Team, who won the Champions of The Future in the KZ top class, the preparatory event for the FIA World Championship KZ, scheduled in Portugal from 10th to 13th October. The French driver had an excellent feeling with the track since Free Practice, completing an excellent work program on a dry track, before obtaining P5 in Qualifying Practice on a wet track. The weather then improved for the Heats and the final day on Saturday, when in the Super Heat Iglesias achieved P2 in the morning, before dominating the Final in the afternoon, also setting the fastest lap of the race.
Arthur Carbonnel, P4, also came close to the podium after a good race, while Viktor Gustavsson closed this meeting in P8. Apart from the sporting result, which obviously gives a lot of confidence and morale to the whole team, the most important objective in this race was to work according to the chassis and engine setup and all three official drivers, by diversifying their work, allowed to collect a lot of useful data for the World Championship weekend.
The work carried out in the KZ2 category was also productive, where Paavo Tonteri shone, despite a very negative Qualifying on a wet track, in which he only achieved 78th place. The Finninish driver then moved up to P28 after the Super Heat and in the Final he recovered another 18 positions with an excellent race pace to finish in P10. Gabriel Gomez and Tigran Bunatyan also did a good job, running good Heats on a dry track and qualifying for the Final, even if they were then held up by traffic in the middle of the group. Finally, a positive weekend for Julien Gueant and Vincent Cossard, both in the top ten in the KZ2 Master category.
Once this important meeting on the Portimao circuit has ended, the countdown to the FIA World Championship officially begins.
CRG drivers’ post-race reactions:
Jeremy Iglesias (KZ): “It was a very productive weekend in view of the World Championship. Since Free Practice, all the tests we have done have gone in the right direction, both for the chassis part and for the work done with Gianfranco Galiffa on our TM engines. Winning the race was the perfect conclusion to a very positive weekend, as it gives us the right energy and motivation to face the most important one of the season in 15 days”.
Paavo Tonteri (KZ2): “The very negative Qualifying with a wet track made our weekend all uphill, but the technical material that we tested in the race in the Heats and on the final day on Saturday, gave us excellent feedback for the World Championship and this is the most important aspect. In any case, finishing in the top ten, constantly moving up the rankings, is also a good result from a sporting point of view”.
