Zakhar Makushin-Marc Carol (Seat León - Baporo Motorsport) completed an excellent performance at the Circuit of Estoril, finishing both races amongst the best in the D1 category. The 2nd position on the first race (1st Challenge SEAT) and the 4th position on the second race (3rd Challenge SEAT), after a great comeback, meant that they left the Portuguese scenery with a bitter sweet feeling since they weren’t able to climb the podium on the last race.
It is worth mentionning that the enemy to beat on the weekend and more specifically on the D1 category was local driver Francisco Mora, who raced in the meeting by himself. Carol managed to be faster on the oficial training sessions, but in the races Makushin-Carol weren’t able to keep up with his pace.

The circuit of Estoril received the CER (Spanish Endurance Championship) teams with wet asphalt, which remained that way during the whole weekend, until 2 hours before the start of the second race, when it stop rainning and the track was left in a very delicate state. The damp areas with dry wheels were an extra hurdle to overcome.

More than in any other event this season, the free training sessions were used to get the feeling of a track, where Carol hadn’t raced for a very long time (5 seasons) and which was completely unknown to his teammate

This time, the timed training sessions unfold favorably for the interests of the Baporo Motorsport drivers. The Andorran driver won the duel he had with Mora. During the first heat, Carol set the pole position of the D1 category with a time of 2’05”269. On the second heat, Makushin managed to stop the clock at 2’07”590, a time that placed him 4th amongst the vehicles of his category. This second heat saw Francisco Mora (racing on his own, he had to do both heats) as the fastest (2’05”492), but he was unable to improve on Carol’s first heat time.

Marc Carol started the 1st race just behind the two GT cars and remained first of the category until the 6th lap. At that point, Mora overtook him; Carol followed the trail of the local driver and left even further behind his rivals of the category D1. After changing drivers, Makushin kept the position and crossed the finish line second, behind the unreachable Portuguese driver.
     
The 2nd race did not have a very good start for the Baporo Motorsport team. A minor run off, due to the damp track, saw Makushin hindered back to 12th position (he started 4th). Despite the mishap he remained in the race and it was obviously time for a comeback.Half way through the race they were 10th, which was when Carol took the wheel of the Seat León aiming solely to risk it all. He managed to improve his position at each and every lap but at the end he was 6” away from climbing the podium. According to Carol: Such a pity we couldn’t finish our comeback with a spot on the podium. On the bright side, we will get to the last meeting of the year with less handicap and this will be very positive in the Circuit of Barcelona - Catalonia.

The meeting Marc Carol was refering to will take place on the 14th and 15th November. On the Catalan track will be decided the champions of the Spanish Endurance Championship (CER) 2015.

Press service.

Results CER 2015 (D1) - Circuit of Estoril (Portugal).

1st Race:
1.-Francisco Mora (Seat León) 51’48”553, 2.-Z.Makushin-Carol (Seat León), +36”236, 3.-Fontes-Van Oostrum (Seat León), +58”015, 4.Dimitriev-Montserrat (Seat León) +1‘15”457, 5.-Carbó-Sicart (Seat León), +1 lap.

2nd Race:
1.-Francisco Mora (Seat León), 2.-Lesoudier-Cosin (Seat León) +17”284, 3.-Fontes-Van Oostrum (Seat León), +17”288, 4.-Z.Makushin-Carol (Seat León), +22”746, 5.-H.Arruabarrena-Aristi (Seat León)  +23”915.