Espiritu de Montjuic
Iberian Historic Endurance
Race 2
- Second day of Espiritu de Montjuic with a breathtaking race
- Inclement weather didn't keep away the Espiritu de Montjuïc crowd
- Pedro Bastos Rezende makes the double in Barcelona on the last lap
The second day of the Espiritu de Montjuic was gifted with a beautiful blue sky, with the sun shining. However, as the second race of the Iberian Historic Endurance approached the rain appeared, which made us expect an exciting race with many stories to tell.
With one race already in the history books, the Historic Endurance drivers were getting ready for the final race of the weekend. Bastos Rezende, in a Porsche 911 3.0 RS was out of pole position after his victory on Saturday. Bastos Rezende was accompanied on the front row of the grid by Eduardo Davila, in the same car.
Moments before the race started, heavy rain fell on the Catalan track which forced the race director to take the decision to start the race behind the safety car, so that the drivers could see the state of the track before facing it at full speed.
After one lap behind the safety car, at the order of the Race Director the race started to take its normal pace. Bastos Rezende and Eduardo Davila were first and second respectively with Jordi Puig and Florent Cazalot, in Lotus 7, close behind. The fastest of the quartet was the nimble French Lotus 7, which quickly passed Puig's Ford GT40 and closed in on Davila's Porsche 911 3.0 RS. However, the Spanish driver was caught off-guard in a slippery area and could not avoid a mistake that allowed Cazalot to pull ahead. In a mission to take the lead by storm, the French driver set a strong pace and overtook the still adapting to the wet, Portuguese driver Pedro Bastos Rezende.
Thus, Cazalot and his Lotus 7 led for the first time in 2022 the H-GTP & Sportscars category and the 30-car field present in this second race in Barcelona.
A spectacular fight was going on between the Porsche 911 SWB of the Gentleman Driver Spirit category, Nuno Nunes, Carlos Beltran and Vincent Tourneur during a couple of laps exchanged positions several times, showing the public present in the stands of the circuit that the "smaller" cars were also very spectacular.
With the opening of the driver changeover window, the standings began to shuffle. Cazalot and Bastos Rezende came in for the mandatory stop at the beginning of the window and with Jordi Puig in his GT40 staying on track. However, when the driver changes were over, Florent Cazalot and Pedro Bastos Rezende retook the lead of the race and their respective categories (H-GTP&Sportscars and H-1976). With the upheaval of the driver changes, H71 leaders Piero dal Maso/Jose Carvalhosa, in a Porsche 911 2.5 ST were losing advantage to their closest opponents, Luís Sousa Ribeiro's BMW 2800CS and Joaquim Soares' Lotus Elan, which improved as the track dried out. Paul Rayment /James Wheeler, in the MG B Roadster, was leading the Gentleman Driver Spirit and Carlos Barbot was leading the H-1965 category in his Lotus Elan.
With the track drying out and lap times dropping, the inter-class fights also took a turn for the worse. In the Gentleman Driver Spirit, everything changed in a flash as Paul Rayment in his MG B Roadster broke the throttle cable and had to retire. Nuno Nunes, who took advantage of the British driver's loss, and his Porsche SWB conquered the first victory of 2022. Completing the podium were two other Porsche 911 SWB, with Catalan Carlos Beltran and Frenchman Vincent Torneur overcoming the difficulties of the track.
In the H-1965, victory was again Carlos Barbot's. The driver from Oporto conquered his second victory in this category this weekend in Barcelona. In second place, the Iberian duo of Guillermo Velasco and Francisco Freitas, in a Porsche 356SC with the Gulf colours, overtook the Porsche 356 B of Pedro Moryion and José Carvalhosa.
Among the H-1971, as in the Gentleman Driver Spirit the composition of the podium changed lap after lap. If Piero Dal Maso / José Carvalhosa led until near the end, a great recovery of the BMW 2800CS Sousa Ribeiro allowed the driver from Oporto to win, which he missed in the first race. Joaquim Soares still managed to overtake the Porsche 2.5 S/T at the end of the race and recover the second place with an exciting finish.
Counting on the H-1976, victory did not escape Pedro Bastos Rezende, making the double of the weekend. The experienced driver fought one of the most exciting battles of the race. The Porsche driver got the lead of the general classification two corners from the end in the last lap of the race. Although the classification is not considered in Historic Endurance, this battle for the lead of the classification gripped the large crowd until the end of the race.
Second in the H-1976 category, also in a Porsche but a Porsche 2.8 RSR, was Mário Meireles. The AMA Racing driver, more and more used to his car and historic tyres, spent the weekend in an upward curve in terms of performance with increasingly lower lap times. Completing the podium was rookie Bruno Santos. The driver from Samora Correia, left last, but conquered his second podium of the weekend, making a very competitive debut in the Iberian competition.
In the H-GTP & Sporstcars the victory was Jordi Puig's in the beautiful Ford GT40, the Catalan driver conquered his second victory of the weekend. In this second race Puig was running without his team mate Alberto Pecanins. In second place, due to a penalty applied after the end of the race, was Lotus 7's Frenchman Florent Cazalot. Cazalot led until two corners from the end, where he was overtaken by Bastos Rezende's Porsche 911 3.0RS (the fight we mentioned before). However, Cazalot would be penalised for not complying with the minimum pit stop time (by one second!). To complete the podium, another Lotus 7, this time from a Portuguese couple already well known in Historic Endurance, João Mira Gomes and Nuno Afoito, who were also seventh in the category.
After the end of the race, the podium of the most important category was celebrated. We are talking about the Index Performance by Cuervo y Sobrinos. The winner of this category is presented with a magnificent watch of the Swiss brand with Cuban heritage. In this race, included in the Spirit of Montjuïc, the great winner was Carlos Barbot in his Lotus Elan. In second place, in an elegant Alfa Romeo GTAm, Jorge Santos and Alcides Petiz and, to complete the podium, Guillermo Velasco and Francisco Freitas in a Porsche 356 SC.
Diogo Ferrão, responsible for the competition says "It was a very good start to 2022, an excellent weekend in terms of sports and an event with a lot of public, just like we had before the pandemic. We concluded our first race at the Circuit de Catalunya with a great party. Now the machines will rest and prepare the journey to the traditional Pau circuit."
The next race of the Iberian Historic Endurance will be on the city circuit of the Grand Prix de Pau Historique on 20 to 22 May.