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Lobato wins
the inaugural race
The new TCR Ibérico started at Estoril
with a grid of twelve cars that may
also compete for the TCR Portugal and
TCR Spain titles.
Rafael Lobato (Veloso Motorsport Audi
RS3 LMS) and Francisco Mora (Veloso
Motorsport SEAT León) claimed one
race victory apiece and the latter –
the 2016 TCR Portugal champion –
tops the classification with a margin
of two points ahead of Lobato.
In Race 1, pole sitter Francisco
Abreu’s Volkswagen Golf stalled at the
start; Manuel Gião (SEAT) took the
lead, but Lobato overtook him on lap
2 and pulled away from the rest of
the field.
Behind him there was a fierce fight
for second place; eventually Gião
handed second to Abreu and third to
Mora. Abreu tried to chase Lobato,
but the latter upped his pace and won
with a 6-second margin on Abreu.
Mora was classified third ahead of
Gião, Manuel Pedro Fernándes and
Amalia Vinyes.
José Pedro Faria was classified tenth
in the CRM Motorsport KIA cee’d; it
was the first appearance of the Korean
car that is running under a temporary
homologation.
In the second race, Mora sprinted
from pole position and consistently
opened a gap, finishing the 30-minute
race with a winning margin of nearly
eight seconds.