Third round of the CEK 2024 at Motorland.
In this third round we have had ups and downs within the team: we managed to get Daniel Briz on the podium in the second race on Sunday; Alberto Hurtado got the pole position, but with serious engine problems he lost many positions on Saturday and was forced to penalize for engine replacement on Sunday; Mercier made a brilliant start, but also due to engine problems we were falling to the back of the grid; Español could not pass to the race on Sunday; and Goiricelaya achieved the goal that was to qualify for Sunday.
DANIEL BRIZ
Daniel Briz had a strong start to the weekend. We knew we had a very good pace from what we had been able to test.
The only doubt we had was about the sprocket, as we saw that the others were shorter than us, but we decided to stick with it, as we thought that at least for qualifying it was our best option.
In qualifying we didn't have the best of luck (yet another day), and we ran into traffic at the end of the lap, which put us in 10th position for the qualifying heats.
In the first qualifying race Briz was in P3, making a comeback of 4 positions. In the second heat, he managed to improve even more and placed 2nd, moving up 5 positions.
In the first qualifying race Briz was in P3, making a comeback of 4 positions. In the second heat, he managed to improve even more and placed 2nd, moving up 5 positions.
We continued with the same sprocket, because we saw that it worked, but we realised that in the afternoon, and with used tyres, the car struggled to get out from mid-race onwards, so we put in a shorter development to counteract that loss.
On Sunday we had clear targets: Zunzarren, Ratel and Barry-Berg. In the first race, after a good start and placing us in second position, a fight started to form from the middle of the race. It was then that Briz was overtaken by Eloi on the descent, which meant that Daniel had to change trajectory and the whole group came in front of him. He finally managed to save a 5th place, which was not the result we expected, knowing that we could fight for the victory.
In the second race, we decided to increase the pressures to have better performance and to recover the positions lost in the previous run, but knowing that in the end we were going to suffer: and so it was. After an incredible start by Briz, who got second again, he tried to push, knowing that he would have to defend at the end of the race. In the early stages of the race he lost the position to Zunzarren, who went straight for Aaron in the fight for the victory. Meanwhile, Dani focused on tyre management, knowing that he had the rest of the group somewhat distanced. Finally, he came through the finish line in third place, taking another podium finish.
After these results, we are still ahead in the general classification, 9 points behind the championship leader with only one race to go, and 8 points ahead of perhaps the toughest rival we have right now in the fight, Zunzarren.
ALBERTO HURTADO
For Alberto Hurtado it wasn't exactly the easiest weekend. We had pace, and we showed it in all the free practice sessions on Friday and in the warm-up on Saturday.
We arrived at the classification, where he managed to place first in his group, although he would finally be second due to Raúl Zunzarren's better time.
In the qualifying rounds, we saw that there was something wrong. In the first of them, he lost five positions, being finally P6. But in the second of the heats he lost ten places, crossing the finish line in 12th position. We went crazy adjusting the chassis, looking where the problem could be, but it seemed clear: it was the engine.
Even so, the team together with the driver decided that we should continue with the same engine, after going to talk to the engine manufacturer, showing him the data and seeing that there really was a problem.
After this, we arrived at the Sunday warm-up, and again the engine was running, but it was nothing more than a copy of Saturday. As soon as the heat arrived with the first race, we fell back at a rate of 1s per lap. Hurtado barely managed to cross the finish line in P18.
After this result, it was finally decided to change the engine. We were losing any chance of fighting for the championship starting from 18th position, and with the prospect of losing even more places if we continued like this (we were running in the top 25). We were penalised five places for the next race, but at least we removed the doubt that it could be a chassis problem.
As the formation lap started, Hurtado made a sign to the mechanics wall: this engine would run. And from then on, everything went up. We had the mistake of not correcting some things we had touched at the last minute on the chassis, causing it to have an excess of grip with such a hot track. Still, fifteen positions gained for him in the second race, finishing P8.
It's a pity to have lost so many points along the way, as the pace was there. We are not in the best possible position, but there is still one race left and we are 19 points behind the leader, so we will try to play all or nothing in Chiva.
HENRY JAMES MERCIER
Henry had one of the strongest weekends of the season, although Sunday's results do not reflect this.
He started the weekend very well, being fast, although he told us that he had a few extra tenths with the chassis, as he was not 100% comfortable.
As Friday went by we managed to find the key, until in the last free practice session he got off the kart and told his mechanic that it was perfect, that we should not change anything.
And so we did, on Saturday morning we tested everything the same in the warm-up, and the rider again indicated that everything was to his liking. In qualifying, he managed to place 9th in his group and P18th overall, which gave us a pretty decent place to start from in the qualifying heats.
In the first of the heats he managed to gain a position after being fighting for the Top 7 all race after a touch and defending himself from the attacks. Finally, he managed to cross the finish line in 11th position.
For the second race the objective was the same, to stay in the group and try to hold off the attacks of the rivals. This time we lost two positions, but we were happy with a 14th place.
But on Sunday, everything went wrong. As it happened with Hurtado, the engine went down in the warm-up. After that, we went out for the first race with it, losing eleven positions and finishing in P29.
We were also checking that it was nothing to do with the chassis, and decided to try another carburettor (no penalty), but the result was the same in the second race.
After several laps running in the last position, we finished in 24th place. Undoubtedly, a major setback for Henry Mercier and the team after seeing his best weekend just when these engine problems appeared.
DIEGO ALONSO
For Diego Alonso it was undoubtedly his best weekend to date. Little by little he is progressing and gaining experience.
On Friday he was a bit hesitant, because he felt that he was not comfortable in the kart and things were not working out for him. We decided to look at the data with him and attack the problem, both in the chassis and in his driving, making him improve his lap by lap considerably.
We had a shorter sprocket than the others, but we knew that it could benefit us in terms of correcting driving mistakes, especially at the exit of turn 3, which is where we lost the most due to the long uphill straight that follows.
With this clear for Saturday, Diego was feeling better and better. In the warm-up he was one second off the fastest time, setting a 1:01:880, his best time of the weekend so far.
When qualifying came around, he improved his time again, setting a 1:01:008, placing him 11th in his group and 21st in the overall standings.
Both qualifying heats went quite well for him, placing 14th and 16th respectively, which lifted him up to P20 for Sunday.
Sunday was a difficult day, but a very good job by Alonso. In the first race he managed to save the furniture with all the fights and finish in a very good P20, which was going to be a P18 for the start of the next race due to penalties.
But, in the second race we had a very strong touch in the exit of turn 3, where there were several cars stopped in the middle of the track due to an accident, and Diego couldn't avoid it, bending the rear axle and having to retire.
IKER GOIRICELAYA
For Iker it was a difficult weekend in terms of finding pace, as he was not able to solve the different driving faults and we couldn't get the chassis up to speed either.
Saturday started in the worst possible way: we couldn't take part in the warm-up due to a mechanical failure, so we had no time reference with respect to the others.
We went straight into qualifying, where Iker didn't manage to set any fast laps and qualified last in his group and P39th in the overall classification.
Before this we knew that we had a clear objective: to try to qualify for Sunday by any means possible. And we did it. In the first race Iker moved up a whopping ten positions, finishing 17th. In the second race he also managed to gain some positions, finishing 22nd, which gave us access to Sunday's grid in 30th position.
On Sunday we tried to make progress little by little, but fortune did not smile on us. In the first race, a touch at the start caused us to spin and we were in the last position, finishing 34th.
For the second race, we managed to make some progress, picking up the different drivers who had been involved in accidents. Finally, at the finish line he was in 28th position.
ALEJANDRO ESPAÑOL
Alejandro arrived at Motorland with very high expectations, a circuit that he was at least familiar with in terms of layout.
On Friday we started far behind in terms of time. Alejandro hadn't ridden here with the resurfaced track, which was also a novelty for him.
Even so, we couldn't find the time because of our own driving mistakes, so at the end of the day we decided to make a compilation of the most serious mistakes in order to improve them for Saturday.
On Saturday in qualifying we didn't have the best times by far, qualifying P19th of our group and 37th overall.
In the first heat of qualifying he finished in 25th position after taking a penalty for having the front pontoon off. For the second race, he managed to gain a position, but it was not enough.
In the end, we were in 38th place, with no chance of advancing to Sunday's finals.
DENZEL FIORINI
Denzel Fiorini was slowly making progress, but on Sunday all the incidents that happened on track cost us a lot of points.
Friday was very strong throughout qualifying, although we had to make a lot of adjustments to the chassis to make the car feel more comfortable to drive.
Nevertheless, we went into Saturday with a good feeling for what the weekend could bring. In the warm-up we couldn't find the pace, and we were second to last, 2s off the lead, which made us check everything again to see what was going on.
After checking everything, we realised that it was simply that Denzel didn't have clean laps, so we ruled out any kind of mechanical damage or failure.
In qualifying he managed a very good 23rd place, 0.7s off pole. From here we saw that we had a chance to be in the Top 20 for Sunday.
On the first of the qualifying races, Fiorini did a sensational job, moving up four positions from his starting position, and finally finishing 19th.
In the second race, he also managed to gain some positions, and was again inside the Top 20, but a penalty due to a collapsed front pontoon sent him down to 25th position, leaving him in the same position he was at the start of both heats -23rd place-.
Sunday started in the worst possible way. At the start, after an incident involving several cars, Denzel was involved. This meant that he had to retire. But the worst thing was not the retirement itself, but the damage to the chassis.
When the car arrived at the pit box, we saw that the chassis was bent, the steering rods, the steering rod, the bushings were broken, the rear axle was bent, the radiator was caved in and the fairing was also damaged.
But Tom, Denzel's mechanic, did a fantastic job and managed, in an hour and a half, to assemble another chassis from scratch and to be able to go out on track for the second race. A second race in which Fiorini enjoyed and made us enjoy, climbing sixteen positions and finishing in 17th position.
LUKA TABAKOVIC
Luka has gone from strength to strength throughout the weekend, both in terms of improving his driving and in terms of getting to feel changes in the chassis and being able to set up a good set-up.
Friday was a day of trying to improve driving faults above all, and also of tinkering with the chassis to try to get it up to speed.
In the time trial we didn't do a great lap, but it put us in 32nd position. We would have to deal with this in the following qualifying rounds.
In the first of them he went well, and managed to stay on track without major consequences, getting a P30.
For the second one, after a good start, we had a touch, which caused the front pontoon to come completely off, incurring a penalty that sent us to 30th place again.
For the second one, after a good start, we had a touch, which caused the front pontoon to come completely off, incurring a penalty that sent us to 30th place again.
With all this, we were in P33 going into Sunday. In the first race, he had a touch in the same accident in which Denzel was involved, also causing damage to the chassis, and we had to retire.
The second race was a bit calmer for him, although he couldn't quite find the rhythm. Still, a good 27th place at the chequered flag.
JAIME DEL PORTILLO
Jaime del Portillo had one of the best weekends of the season in the CEK.
After a rather hesitant Friday, we were working on correcting driving mistakes that were holding us back in terms of lap time.
Little by little, Jaime was polishing those mistakes and improving his driving. In addition to this, we were working on the chassis.
Looking ahead to Saturday, we went into qualifying in good spirits. In the timed practice we got a great 25th position, 1s away from the pole position of the category.
We were unlucky in the first race, as we were forced to retire due to a touch at the start.
But fortune changed in the second race. A spectacular comeback by Portillo made him gain twelve positions, being with the leading group for most of the first part of the race. He managed a fabulous 13th place, giving us a 22nd place start for Sunday.
We arrived on Sunday and in the warm-up we could already see that Jaime was very comfortable with the chassis.
In the first race he made a fantastic comeback, gaining twelve positions again and entering the Top 10 at the flag.
However, in the second race we found it harder to keep up with the leading drivers, and we started to lose positions. Finally, P20 for him.
