BF Goodrich King of Spain Les Comes

The 2019 season of Ultra4 Europe promises to be very lively thanks to the return of the Portuguese Emanuel Costa (2016 champion) and the Italian Pier Acerni, with the veterans of this championship (Nicolas Montador, Jim Marsden, Rob Butler and Axel Burmann) who will declare fierce and determined, with last year’s rookies (Cedric Porcher and Inaki Lanzagorta Egia) and with the new crews this year that will try with all their might to show off. Besides all this, what makes Ultra4 Europe fascinating is also the diversity of the competing vehicles; alongside the powerful 4400 there are the Stock, the Modified, the Legend (not present at KOS) and the UTV. The budgets are certainly not the same, giving everyone the chance to race in Ultra4 Europe races.

From 23 to 25 May, Les Comes hosted the first race of the Ultra4 Europe 2019 championship . This location, since it was announced to the public, has created a lot of waiting and curiosity for everyone. Expectations, also due to the fame of Les Comes, were all fulfilled when the teams arrived and were pleasantly welcomed by a beautiful and verdant hilly region, an ancient village restored with wisdom, an arena for the short course clearly visible to the public and from a camping area with the services worthy of a campsite and a 5-star paddock.

Behind the scenes, Chris Bowler, European Race Director, worked intensively with JT Taylor and all the staff of U4E, assisted by that of Les Comes, to create a 22 km long race course that could satisfy both drivers and drivers. Ultra standart highs.

After the shock tuning sessions on Thursday and the pre-running sessions on Friday morning, everything and everyone was ready to get into the heart of the BF Goodrich King of Spain Les Comes with the prologue.

At 3.00 pm on Thursday, May 23, the first car started to race the 1.6 km long prologue. The short course, clearly visible to the spectators, included some jumps, a rocky area, some nice curves to handle carefully and fast straight sections.

In the game “I am the fastest”, it was Englishman Jim Marsden who signed the pole position ahead of compatriot Rob Butler and the Spanish Inaki Lanzagorta Egia in third position.

First day of competition at the King of Spain Les Comes: the nightmare!

If the prologue took place under a blue sky and a summer sun, the first day of competition of the BF Goodrich King of Spain Les Comes was more similar to an apocalyptic scenario. The region is known for being dry and always sunny but on Friday an intense rain fell on the area that was rarely seen in this region.

The large amount of water that has fallen since early morning has turned the land into a nightmare for pilots. The clay layer immediately turned into a thick, slippery and sticky patina. In the course of the day the situation did not improve, indeed, the incessant rain caused the mud to increase even more. Driving in these conditions was very difficult and put the drivers’ skills to the test.

Due to this difficult situation, which even beat the hard King of Wales and King of the Glens, the number of laps to complete was reduced by 10 laps from 22 km to 6 laps for a total of 132 km!

The pilots not only had to adapt the guide to these particular conditions but they had to come to terms with the mud that filled the entire cockpit creeping into the helmet and covering their entire face and eyes. Driving in these conditions and moreover wet was not easy and our applause goes to all the daredevils who have not given up and have finished the race.

After the success of the prologue, Jim Marsden literally dominated the first day of the race concluding the six laps in 5 hours and 22 minutes. Rob Butler finished second with 21 minutes behind Marsden and Frenchman Cedric Porcher third. These three pilots were the only ones (besides Philon Parpottas in the UTV) to have completed the 6 laps planned. Too bad for Iñaki Lanzagorta Egia who just as he was fighting head-to-head with Marsden had to retire due to an engine problem.

The second and last day of the competition took place on Saturday 25 May. Although there was no rain, the mud of the previous day did not dry out so all the pilots found themselves having to face the same problems as the previous day. In addition, the continuous passage of vehicles on the muddy track has uncovered numerous rocks that have been the cause of endless punctures. Jim Marsden punctured 9 tires in two days!

The race started following the script of the previous day with Jim Marsden on the run and all the others chasing him. At one point, with Marsden slowed down by punctures, the games reopened with Cedric Porcher, Rob Butler and Neville Cianter starting to undermine the leadership. With this situation we reached the end of the race leaving the final result uncertain. In this agitated phase, Axel Burmann had to retire due to mechanical problems; sin because it would have been with the others to contend for the victory.

Also in race two the 10 km 22 km laps were reduced to 6 due to the unaltered bad conditions of the course. The Frenchman Cedric Porcher with an excellent performance cuts the finish line of the second day first. Second comes Jim Marsden followed by the Maltese Cianter.

Among the Modified Moralez ranks first, Felip Esteban wins in the Stock and Philon Parpottas is first among the UTVs.