Pedro Salvador claimed a brilliant lights-to-flag Race 1 win at Vila Real, his third victory of the season so far, and stretched his leadership in the standings.
Salvador made good use of his pole position to sprint to the lead at the start in his Speedy Motorsport Cupra. Behind him Rafael Lobato’s Sports & You Peugeot 308, Armando Parente’s Team Novadriver Volkswagen Golf GTI and Gustavo Moura’s Speedy Motorsport Audi RS3 LMS battled for the second position. However, Moura did not finish the first lap, in fact he retired after a collision with a car from another class.
As Salvador benefited from the battle to create a gap, Parente and Lobato continued fighting for second throughout the race. On lap 8, Lobato lost contact while lapping a slower car, but he was able to close the gap again.
Eventually Lobato managed to overtake Parente for second on the last-but-one lap; Francisco Carvalho (Veloso Motorsport Audi) was classified fourth, while Manuel Gião finished fifth at the wheel of his Kia c’eed after having solved the electrical problems that prevented him from taking part in yesterday’s Qualifying.
The result meant that Salvador’s leading margin went up to 18 points ahead of Parente-Cautela, while Lobato-Abreu are currently third a further two points adrift.
The second race will start tomorrow at 13:50 local time (14:50 CET).