Savoya Takes Third Euros Title
Guarda in Portugal hosted the 30th EFRA European Championships for 1:8 off-road and it was defending champion Renaud Savoya who put in an impressive drive to take his third title
Qualifying saw the five rounds shared by three drivers as Yannick Aigoin (Losi/Novarossi), Miguel Matias (Losi/RB) and Jerome Aigoin (Kyosho/Novarossi) took the wins. Yannick took three victories though and therefore would head the times sheets going into the finals.
The top six from the two semi finals would go through to the A final and this saw defending champion Renaud Savoya (Mugen/RB) win his semi but it was Robert Batlle (Associated/Novarossi) in the other semi final who took the win with a faster time who would end up on P1 for the 45-minute-long final. The line up for the start of the A final saw three European Champions in the first three spots with another former winner in the form of Miguel back in tenth.
The battle of the A final was between the first three and this then was two after Yannick suffered an engine cut before the halfway point. Although Robert clearly had the speed, a clutch issue hampered him and this allowed Renaud to control things at the front and take a comfortable victory. As the front two were able to build a lead, Miguel worked his way up from the back of the field and despite early mistakes, was able to secure the final spot on the podium to make it three different manufacturers in the top three.
The UK was represented by Elliott Boots and Lee Martin who lined up for the grand final in excellent fifth and 11th places. These two did a great job to make the top 12 in such a competitive class and came home eighth and ninth respectively.
