This Saturday is marked by the arrival of autumn, but also by the return of the National Speed Championship to the Estoril route with this first day of the race being marked by strong emotions among those mainly interested in national titles in the various squads that make up the CNV. With free and timed training held during the late morning and early afternoon, this Saturday promised, depending on the times achieved, intense fights.
TLC TROPHY and NAKED BIKE TROPHY – Duarte Amaral opens the weekend with a win
Between TLC and NAKED, and as far as timings are concerned, the highlight was Duarte Amaral’s BMW S1000R (Class TNB1), with which the driver set the fastest lap. Amaral covered the 4,182 meters of the Estoril route in an impressive 1:47.844s on the 4th lap. This time allowed the BMW man to grab pole for the afternoon race. Next to him on the grid, Frédèric Bottoglieri (Class TNB2), needing another 0.473s to place his Triumph. ST765RS in 2nd position. Closing the top 3, João Curva (TNB1 class), also in a BMW S1000R, 0.678 behind Amaral. The first grid line for the afternoon race was thus found.
The first race of the weekend was launched with Paulo Vicente leaving 4th position on the grid and momentarily surprising the drivers on the front row of the grid (Amaral, Bottoglieri and Curva), by taking the lead of the field. It would be short-lived sunshine, despite the excellent day in Estoril. At the start of the 2nd lap, Vicente was in 3rd place and Amaral took over the race expenses and João Curva took 2nd position. For his part, Bottoglieri would not be able to have luck on his side as on the 3rd lap and after a crash at turn 10 at Estoril, he immediately found himself out of contention. The incident would result in a red flag, a new grid alignment and a return to the starting positions. The race was relaunched with just 6 laps to complete, and this time without surprises, Duarte Amaral secured the lead with João Curva on his wheel. With few laps to complete and differences always below “half a second” between Amaral and Curva, it was at the front of the race that interest remained. In parallel, the fight for the lowest spot on the podium was maintained between Rodrigo Amaral (Open class) and Luís Franco (TBN1 class) but both accumulated seconds compared to the duo in front.
With some changes of position in the fight for victory between Amaral and Curva, at the start of the last lap it was Amaral who had the slim advantage of 0.049s, which he would manage to hold until the checkered. Duarte Amaral thus won overall, race 1 of the TLC Trophy and Naked Bike Trophy of the weekend, as well as being the best in his class (TNB1), João Curva was second overall, but ensuring the fastest lap in race with 1.47:546s. Luís Franco would climb to the bottom of the podium, more than 8 seconds behind the winner. Closing the top 5, Rodrigo Amaral (Open class) would sign 4th overall and Luís Franco (TNB1) would be 5th.
As for the other classes, André Capitão (15th overall) was first in SBK, having raced alone. Among the TNB2 men, Romain Berton (8th overall) stood out.
MOTO4 + MirMOTO5 – Dominant Cabá guarantees victory with more than 1 minute advantage
In the Moto4 and Moto 5 field, it was no surprise that young Alexandre Cabá (Moto 4) took the fastest lap overall. Cabá pushed his BEON 150 to the limits and on lap 10 set the time on the clock that would give him Pole for the afternoon – 2:01.105s. This time, in addition to guaranteeing the top position on the grid, also placed the rider as the best in Moto4.
The middle place on the grid went to Lourenço Vicente, more than 8s behind Cabá, but nevertheless the strongest among the Moto5 riders. Vicente would line up with Mir-Moto5 alongside Cabá for the afternoon clash. Rounding out the top 3 is a man from the Moto4 squad, David Dias.
Second race on Saturday afternoon with young Moto4 and Moto5 riders lining up for 10 laps of the Estoril circuit. Race without history with Alexandre Cabá (Moto4), leading from start to finish. Dominant and always increasing his advantage, the young driver already had a lead of more than 6s at the end of the first lap. The winner was defined from the start and the fight for the remaining podium places was left to the duo of Lourenço Vicente (Moto5) and David Dias (Moto4), who rode in the same second and with differences of less than half a second. For the chess team, Cabá’s absolute victory gave the others an advantage of more than a minute. 2nd and 3rd place went to David Dias and Lourenço Vicente respectively, with the latter being the best among Moto5.
DUNLOP MOTOVAL CUP – Macuá wins the Dunlop Motoval Cup with a large advantage
With the three superpoles completed and the times for the men in the Dunlop Motoval Cup consolidated, it was Bernardo Aguiar who “imposed his law” with 1:46.457s, this being the fastest time of the session. But Aguiar, who with this time also secured the first position in the CDM1, had to “sweat” to secure Pole for the afternoon race as Ruben Macuá (CDM2) reached the middle of the grid. In 3rd position for the match Rafael Ribeiro.
Start of the Dunlop Motoval Cup with Aguiar, Macuá and Ribeiro discussing turn 1 at Estoril. Advantage for Macuá. But lap two dictated Ribeiro’s overtaking and rise to 1st. The fight for victory was on and lasted until lap 5 of the 10 to be completed. This was the moment of overcoming for Macuá, who in a perfect overtake took the lead of the race to add seconds to his advantage. By this time, Bernardo Aguiar (CDM1) was riding calmly and was more than 15s behind the leader, but with an advantage of more than 5s over his pursuer, Ricardo Rodrigues.
At the final checkpoint, Macuá won this Saturday afternoon the 1st race of the weekend of the Dunlop Motoval Cup, (as well as its class), with more than 7s of advantage over Rafael Ribeiro (2nd among CDM2), Bernardo Aguiar closed Top3 and secured his climb to the podium and “victory” in his class (CDM1) as 3rd overall.
SBK1000 and STK600 – Ivo Lopes gives SBK masterclass
Among the “1000”, it was without surprise and with absolute dominance that Ivo Lopes “walked at his leisure” on the Estoril route. With 1:39.543s, the IL 75 BMW Motorrad Portugal driver didn’t give the others any chance and secured pole overall and was the best among SBK. Seconding the BMW man was Romeu Leite, who with his R6 3.488s more than Lopes to achieve his best performance in Estoril this morning. Closing the Top 3 is the Honda CBR1000 from RL Performance 58, by Ricardo Lopes, just 0.016 behind Romeu Leite. A brief highlight of Pedro Fragoso’s performance (1:44.935s) being 6th overall and the best among the STK600.
As expected, and after setting the fastest time, Ivo Lopes attacked the Estoril track and, in the 2nd lap, he already had an advantage of almost 5s over Romeu Leite, who was fighting with Ricardo Lopes for 3rd position. From this moment on it was just a question of knowing what time Lopes would gain in crossing the finish line. More than 15s. Ricardo Lopes and Miguel Romão, 2nd and 3rd overall respectively.
SS300 – Very difficult victory for Dinis Borges
Dinis Borges (Kawasaki 400) was the strongest in the last timed session of Saturday’s competitive program. With 1:54:.199, the Rame Moto Racing rider positioned himself on pole on the SS300 grid, without much opposition from the rest of the field, with Martim Jesus (Team Motoclube de Loulé), 0.231s behind, being second and Martim Garcia (Akkoil Racing Team), at 0.987s were “the next gentlemen”.
Last race of the day with the Supersport 300 coming onto the scene. Contrary to timed training, and when Dinis Borges was expected to dominate, it was actually the best race of the afternoon in terms of emotion and uncertainty. The fight was on and between the three occupants of the first row of the grid. Borges, Jesus and Lourenço.
Martim Garcia was always close by and in a position to get involved in the fight for victory. However, he saw more than a 4s disadvantage to his two rivals in the final laps, which earned him 3rd place overall in the SS300.
The victory was very difficult for Dinis Borges given Martim Jesus’ opposition from the start. Always with very fast paces and arguing meter by meter for the lead, Borges won by a minimum margin of 0.083s. In terms of difficulty, if these few thousandths reflect what happened on the track, it is also necessary to remember that the fastest lap of the race was by Martim Jesus – 1:53.046s – precisely lap 14 of 15 that needed to be completed.
With Martim Garcia in 3rd overall, and Dinis Borges winning, the middle of the podium went to Martim Jesus.
Circuito Estoril.