The sensations that Jaime Alguersuari had during practice yesterday clearly demonstrated the jump in quality experienced by the Repsol driver as he gets race experience. After the podium finish he got at the circuit of Le Mans, Alguersuari was once again on the podium – two times in fact – finishing on the top in the second race. An extraordinary haul in what was an amazing week for him. Today, Saturday, the drivers in the top category of the World Series had two races in the Portuguese round at the spectacular circuit of Portimao.
In the first of the races Alguersuari started in 8th position because of the inverted grid, and quickly took advantage of a clash between Chris Van der Drift & Dani Clos, which also made Oliver Turvey go off the track, and so the Repsol driver climbed to 5th place. He was a witness to the fight between Guillame Moreau & Charles Pic for third position, but Alguersuari got past Pic on lap 13 just after Moreau had just done the same to his compatriot. In his slipstream the Repsol driver was able to overtake on the following lap, moving into his second podium position of the season, crossing the line a little over one second behind the winner, Jon Lancaster.
But there was the second race, Alguersuari started in pole position and he had a really good chance of fighting to win a race in the World Series for the first time this season. The Repsol driver was surprised by Charles Pic´s good start, but he was on hand to take advantage of a mistake on lap 2 to overtake the Frenchman move into the lead. He led the chasing group with authority, setting the best lap times, but with ten minutes left the Safety car came out. When it went in Alguersuari was in another battle with Pic who was level with him and managed to get past the Spaniard at the end of the straight. But the Repsol driver was better placed coming out of the corner and so moved back into 1st position, and he did not lose it on the following two laps and so crossed the finishing line in 1st place.
This weekend has seen a big leap for Alguersuari in the overall classification, he is now 3rd, 36 points behind the leader, Bertrand Baguette. There is a now a break but the championship is back on 20th September, at the Nurburgring.
Jaime Alguersuari
First race:
“We are making progress in every race and the car is also getting better. I am very pleased with this second podium finish. In the afternoon we are in pole position and I have set aside a set of new tyres for that. It seems that we have have been dealt the hand needed to win the second race.”
Second race:
“This was a hard-fought race. Charles Picovertook me at the start and once again after the Safety went in, but in the end I was able to get the lead back. Today we had a really good car, and we made a lot of progress again. The World Series is allowing me to get a lot of experience, especially regarding my preparation for F1.”
