Patxi Penas (Spain) is TQ. Bryan Baldo 2nd, Ricardo Monteiro 3rd. As soon as qualifying finished, the track bathing in sunshine and to take advantage of that the track crew started removing some of the carpet on the straight... not 5mins later... guess what heavy rain! Its stopped now, but who knows what might happen tomorrow! Qualifying turned out to be a bit of a mystery as the track changed so much throughout the day; in Q1 the first heats (Top guys) were out first to play the role of the track sweeper, however Bryan Baldo TQ'd regardless. Come Q2 and Baldo was unable to repeat his Q1 pace, step up Patxi Penas - veteran of last year's Euro final and now driving a Mugen/Reds combination. Patxi looked a little off the pace during practice but promptly proved all doubters wrong as he swept Q2 and Q3, Special mentions must go to Portuguese driver Ricardo Monteiro, mature and definitely Mr Consistent - 3rd, 2nd, 2nd and 4th in the 4 qualifying rounds. Perhaps slightly disappointed he didn't win a round, but his eye is on the bigger prize on Sunday. As Q4 rolled around Patxi Penas was more or less confirmed at the top, this didn't stop him completing one of two 10 lap results - the other a slightly quicker time, by none other than Bryan Baldo - finally finding the form he showed in Q1. For the most part the top 16 didn't change much between Q1-Q3, but Q4 saw several drivers strap it up and scrape a semi spot; notably Alex Calatayud, Dan Robin, Alessandro Magi and Oscar Baldo - younger brother (13 years old) to Bryan and due to face his brother in the same semi final on Sunday. All in all the weather was a marked improvement over Friday (but it could still improve), the organising club have and continue to work tirelessly for the event and changing track, and the atmosphere is picking up more and more. Stay tuned for updates tomorrow.
Links: Qualifying rankings | Saturday Photo Gallery
