João Curva was the one who started the 2023 TLC Trophy season best by securing victory in the Motor Clube do Estoril race after ten hard-fought laps of the Estoril Circuit.
After a good performance in Timed Training, which earned him second place on the grid behind Duarte Amaral, the BMW S1000R driver with number 54 did not get the best start, falling to fifth on the first lap. A start very similar to that of Duarte Amaral who, after securing pole position with a margin of just over six tenths of a second, started poorly with the BMW S1000R and was only third on his first pass across the finish line.
Meanwhile, the one who stood out was Ricardo Almeida, with the third Bavarian machine, jumping from fourth on the grid to leading the race. However, the stint in first position was short, with Paulo Vicente, in another S1000R, taking on the costs of the race on the following lap.
By this time, Amaral had recovered to second place and was running close to Almeida, even ending up regaining first position on the third lap. Curva was also recovering ground, but more gradually. The climb to third place only happened after the fourth pass across the finish line, while the recovery to second position only happened after two more laps.
It was from the sixth pass across the finish line that Curva began the attack on first place, recovering ground to impose itself on Amaral at the close of the race. A victory achieved on the last lap of the race and with an advantage of 0.694s.
Meanwhile, at the bottom of the podium was Frédèric Bottoglieri. The Triumph ST765RS driver also started the race by losing some ground and then made a gradual recovery until reaching third place with three laps to go. A position that he never lost again and that ended up depriving BMW of the podium, as Ricardo Almeida ended up having to settle for fourth place overall.
In terms of classes, the Open triumph went to Rodrigo Amaral, followed by Carlos Pinheiro and Fernando Mecier. On TBN 1 the top 3 were made up of João Curva, Duarte Amaral and Paulo Vicente, while on TBN 2 the top three were Frédèric Bottoglieri, Romain Berton and Cyrille Schertenleib.
André Capitão was the lone winner of the SBK, and Raul Felgueiras and Márcio Silva were the riders who celebrated in the Super Sport.