Martin and Azcona win ETCR Pool Furious’s Zolder quarter-finals
Romeo Ferraris driver Maxime Martin and Hyundai Motorsport’s Mikel Azcona won the two ETCR Pool Furious quarter-finals at Zolder.
Martin led from start to finish in the first quarter-final, with only two moments where he looked seriously under threat.
The first came on lap two when Cupra EKS driver Mattias Ekström used his power up to attack into the second chicane and almost got on Martin’s inside but had to back out of the move.
The next came at the penultimate chicane as Martin, Ekström and Romeo Ferraris’ Luca Filippi all used their power up exiting the corner. They had converged by the time they reached the next chicane, the final corner of the lap, and Ekström bumped into the rear of Martin while Filippi locked up heavily and avoided making contact but drove straight through the gravel.
He rejoined the track some way back from the top two, and Martin was in control after that as he had saved his power up ready to fend off any attack. The three-lap race concluded with Martin taking victory by 0.655 seconds ahead of Ekström, and Filippi finishing 1.815s back.
Ekström said he “was a little late on the brakes” in regards to the contact with Martin, and had picked up a little bit of front damage, but the trio brushed off what could have been a far more costly incident for all three.
Hyundai’s Nicky Catsburg and Azcona were joined by Cupra’s Jordi Gené in quarter-final two, which marked Gené’s first running of the day as cooling problems ruled him out of qualifying.
Azcone said Catsburg “made my race much easier in the first corner” as the inside starter was passed by Azcona entering turn one and then spent time holding up Gené. That enabled Azcona to create a small lead up front, which he grew to 1.817s by the end of the three-lapper.
He described it as a “very comfortable race”, and will join the pool’s first semi-final with Martin and Ekström.
Catsburg and Gené go into semi-final two after they finished second and third behind Azcona, with very little action between them despite how close they got at times.
