The 2022 Spanish Autocross Championship had its second round on 7 and 8 May in Esplús. The competition ended with two wins for two different models of Speed Car as Joan Salichs won with the new Wonder in the Car Cross category while Joan Salichs won in Junior with one of the always effective Xtrem.
Eduard Bañeres was fighting in Esplús for his first victory of the season with the Speed Car TTR when his attempt to win the final ended up with a contact against the earth bank that sent him from second to fourth place.
The Catalan rider had been fourth in the timed session, a position he improved in all the qualifying heats, in which he achieved a first, a second and a third that put him in the pole position for the final race. Unfortunately, the outcome of the weekend ended up not being what Eduard wanted and deserved but his pace augur an early triumph for the Speed Car driver.
The Car Cross category again surpassed forty participants, with eleven of them being Speed Car, divided between seven Xtrem and four Wonder. Six of them took the top six positions in the timed session, with the Wonders of Salichs, Moll and Arqué ahead of Biosca's Xtrem, Ares Lahoz's Wonder and Vila's Xtrem. A spectacular result that demonstrates the speed and competitiveness of the two types of Car Cross currently in the range of products offered by Lahoz Industries.
Four of the six reached the final, in which there was a fifth Speed Car, the Xtrem of Olaizola. The Basque driver had been tenth in qualifying but earned a place among the top fifteen of the weekend thanks to his good results in the heats that, instead, were fatal for the aspirations of Ares and Vila as well as complicating the access to the final of Moll, who ended up getting it by winning the final B.
The last race concluded with Arnau Biosca’s Speed Car crossing the first under the checkered flag but a penalty for getting ahead of the start sent the Xtrem driver to fourth place in the classification. Anyway, the victory was also for a Speed Car, since the winner ended up being Joan Salichs with the Wonder, who thus achieved his first triumph in the Spanish Championship.
Ander Olaizola completed his always improving performance finishing fifth with his Xtrem while Moll climbed to seventh with the Wonder and Arqué had to settle for thirteenth place, despite finishing tenth, after being penalized with a drive trough.
Five drivers reached the final of the Junior category with their Speed Car Xtrem and the victory was again for one of them. As in Motorland, the winner was Pol Durán, who also repeated the triumph achieved the previous year in this same track. His biggest rival at the beginning of the race was his brand mate Quim González but a mechanical problem left him out of race in the third lap and from there no one could worry Pol on the way of his second consecutive win of the season.
Jordi Vilardell, in seventh place, and Aleix Costa, in the eitght, concluded also the final, completing the representation of Speed Car in the last race of the Junior category the Argentinian from team Mollerusa Juan Grigera, who finished in eleventh position..
-> CarCross Junior results (pdf file)
Pictures: CEAX RFEdA press service
