The second edition of the new for 2017 Promoter’s Cup at Misano last weekend saw more fascinating battles between several drivers for the honour of standing on top of the category’s podium.
The second edition of the new for 2017 Promoter’s Cup at Misano last weekend saw more fascinating battles between several drivers for the honour of standing on top of the category’s podium.
José Rodrigues and Thomas Robineau shared two victories each, with Rodrigues taking both Saturday wins and Robineau, in his first appearance of 2017, claiming a Sunday double with two highly accomplished drives in his self-run MAN entry.
On Saturday Rodrigues battled hard with Tankpool24 Racing driver André Kursim but the Portuguese driver took his fourth trophy of the season. He then took the race two maximum points score as he recovered from running wide while leading the race overall early in the race.
Sunday’s encounters both went the way of Robineau, as both Rodrigues and Kursim hit trouble of varying degrees. The Portuguese Reboconorte MAN driver suffered some technical issues in race three, while Kursim was twice penalised for track limit violations.
For Rodrigues, who now leads the Promoter’s Cup points standings by nine points from Kursim, it was a tough weekend, but one which had some positives.
“It’s a weekend to forget for us. Misano is a circuit which is not one of my favourites and we had a lot of problems this year here,” he said. “I went off in race two and retired in race three so it was a little frustrating. We could see in the telemetry that the truck wasn’t perfect and it was tough. Hopefully we can do better next time out in Germany.”
For Robineau it was a great end to a weekend which started in difficult fashion for him and his French team.
“I am really pleased with the way our races went today, especially after the problems we had with changing the clutch on Saturday,” he said. “In race four it was really good being able to lead overall for a short while but then I concentrated on having a strong race and we did. To take some trophies and be on the podium is really cool.”
André Kursim showed some of his best pace yet during the Misano weekend. The young Tankpool24 Racing driver ultimately took home a large 43 point haul. It is a total which ensures he stays within attacking distance of the leader, José Rodrigues.
“Luck wasn’t on our side this weekend,” surmised Kursim. “We had some problems, including one or two penalties, so the results weren’t great for us, but hopefully we can do better at the Nürburgring in a couple of weeks’ time.
“The performance of the truck was very good, we could see that in both free and timed practice sessions,” he continued. “We had very good pace and were first in the Promoter’s Cup, but in the races luck was missing. We lost right part of the bumper and the part that was sticking out was catching the penalty markers and touched several ones and then got a penalty and then another penalty. I hope I can win the Promoter’s Cup at the Nürburgring as it is a very good addition to the FIA ETRC.”
Also making appearances on the podium in the Promoter’s Cup this weekend were Enes Draganovic (Buggyra International Racing System) and Eduardo Rodrigues (Reboconorte MAN). The veteran Portuguese driver collected enough Promoter’s Cup points this weekend to secure third position in the standings.
Check out the Promoter's Cup standing HERE