After achieving Pole Position in the morning, the Veludo/Knudsen duo were very motivated to complete the good work they had been doing throughout the year. And with a good start, the pair managed to stay ahead in the first corner until they were surprised by Tiago Madeira who was eager to win, Madeira who was sharing a car with Tomás Pinto Abreu. He took the lead and together with Ruben Veludo they staged an authentic spectacle of attack and defense! The two, for 25 minutes, did not let go of each other nor left a single brake to be fought, with Veludo getting the better of Madeira when he came in for his mandatory stop.
However, when everyone expected this fight to continue with Tomás Pinto Abreu and Simon Knudsen, the pair from car 62 got confused by the stopping time and lost a minute to the then race leaders, car 55. With the distraction of their closest friends, Direct opponents Simon Knudsen and Rúben Veludo just had to make sure their strategy didn’t fail to celebrate the taste of champagne. And so it was, the Mini 55 was the first to see the checkered flag in front of João Silva and Tomás Pinto Abreu and Tiago Madeira, who would be penalized after the race, having to give way to the charismatic duo of José Carvalhosa and Piero dal Maso.
In fifth place, Nuno Azevedo/and Diogo Azevedo, who overtook António Gago and Alberto Silva and completed the 2 hour race ahead of the new winners of the Mini Trophy, José Paradela and Rafael Pereira! The winning duo, who brought Cayo Santos to have fun for this final race, suffered gearbox problems and were stuck in 4th gear throughout the race, a true test of endurance and resilience for the new winners of the Mini Trophy!
Manuel Cota Dias, João Cavaleiro e Silva and Rui Salvada were seventh in the competition promoted by Touring Racing, finishing the classification of the final Mini Trophy race in 2023!
For Francisco Pinto Abreu, head of Touring Racing, “It was an incredible end-of-year race! With emotion from start to finish and without major mishaps, which sometimes happen. I have to congratulate all the team drivers and their families for a memorable 250km of Estoril that I will never forget! A word of appreciation to all the category winners and all the champions we met today, great year! It remains for me to discover that the 2024 calendar will be presented in January and that more and better things are to come! I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and great starters!”
Text and Photo: Touring Racing
Circuito Estoril