Portimão, Portugal, May 2, 2021 – It is time for the third Grand Prix of the season. After a great qualifiers session, the Queenscape duo led the racers pack, hoping to fetch the first position of teams and pilots after the race; Majeyaux was not going to have an easy time catching up to them, after a difficult time trial which put 5 cars in between. The race looked hopeless for Kisielewicz and the Hatena and Slashware pack were ready for an interesting race holding back the Majeyaux while battling to the fourth or maybe even the third spot.
No one was ready for the race that was to unfold.
There were no surprises on the starting lane for Queenspace, but as the racers started dominating the first lap together, Jochen was unnecessarily aggressive with his teammate into the dangerous Lagos corner, crashing and almost ending Wichman’s race as well (he was lucky to make it through).
Kisielewicz, as mentioned, started from the last position, but jumped two positions in the starting lane and would then dash into 4th position leaving behind Simernino and the Slashware and Hatena cars; Simernino was soon on his tail tho, and claimed position #2 from Denzi as well, at the Samsung curve. Casalini, meanwhile, was still stuck at the back, unable to go past the Slashwares until Curve 13.
As Biskup was growing his advantage to the rest of the cars, he oversteered on curve #13, allowing for Simernino to get closer and closer, until they met at the Lagos curve on lap 2. Simernino attacked, but Biskup oversteered while defending, and Simernino couldn’t get back to the driving line timely and crashed. It was the second call in the race for Biskup at the Lagos corner.
The incident allowed Kisielewicz to take the lead for the first time in the year, although Biskup never gave up and kept a close distance to him. The fight for the first spot was intense towards the end of the race, and Biskup would finally meet again with the Lagos corner, this time ending the race as Jochen and Simernino had done previously. Kisielewicz would go on to score his first Grand Prix Victory!
Denzi had a great race, staying in place 3 and even surviving an effort by Casalini by the end of lap 2 who attacked when he was finally able to break free from the slow pack, only to lose traction of his car and fall back to the Hatena pair. After Biskup’s incident Denzi held into the second position, defending from an aggressive Casalini who came back for a second round and only managed to get the position in a thrilling photo-finish decider.
Wichman kept a low profile during the race, staying away from confrontation until the last lap when he tried to get Geckinho’s position #4 and crashed near Torre VIP, continuing his negative streak on the season, a shame for the Swedish driver who isn’t performing on par to his Polish teammate.
The great race for the Hatena was completed by Geckinho, who managed to survive the rugged race staying in the middle positions thru it and getting a #4 by the end. The Slashware cars crossed the finish line the last, but both managed to do so (an accomplishment for them as well).
After his first Grand Prix victory, Kisielewicz now leads the drivers’ championship, followed close by Casalini. The classification has shaken again with the Queenscape drivers diving down. Slashware Racing got his first championship point with Zapata’s 5th position on the race.
Kisielewicz’ victory also boosted his team to the second position in the teams’ championship, but Queenscape is not very far.
What a great start for the tournament, it seems anything can happen now! I’ll see you in a week for the Grand Prix of Spain where we’ll see if Queenscape manages to recover or the Epona team can continue their good run!
FormulaProc 