It was time for racing again, this time at the French circuit of Dijon. However, right from the first session, the weather was wet, and so the first race was held on a wet track. The second day at the French Dijon Prenois circuit also promised excitement, with dark clouds looming over the circuit.
QUALIFYING
From the first session, it was wet in Dijon, and thus the drivers started the first qualifying with rain tires on a slowly drying track. However, during the second qualifying, it was dry. Filip Salac would start from pole position, with Patrik Pulkkinen and Marcel Brenner beside him on the front row.
PULKKINEN WINS WET RACE 1
During the two hours between QP2 and Race 1, the wet weather forecasts came true, and the drivers had to start on a fully wet track. Lukas Toluvic #6 made a furious start, coming from P10 to second after the first lap. He could maintain this battle for the lead for a few laps before having to retire after a fall in the third lap. After this, nobody could challenge Patrik Pullkinen’s first place, who was consequently the first to be flagged with a comfortable lead of 5 seconds over second-place Marcel Brenner #46. He, along with Vasco van der Valk #62, engaged in a fierce battle for the remaining podium positions throughout the race.
1. Patrik Pullkinen – FIN
2. Marcel Brenner – CH
3. Vasco van der Valk – NED
Under difficult and wet conditions, 5 drivers failed to finish. Fortunately, it was only material damage, and all drivers could report the next day for warm-up and the second race.
DELGADO GRABS FIRST MORIWAKI VICTORY
The warm-up took place on a drying track, so the young drivers took it easy on their slick tires. The young talents were ready on the starting grid at 10:20 for their second race of the IXS GP3 race weekend at the Dijon-Prenois circuit.
Under a threatening cloud cover, the young riders shot off in what turned out to be another typical Moriwaki race. Throughout the field, there were battles for positions. The top 8 had countless position changes in every lap towards the finish. The climax came in a thriller where the entire group of 8 riders went for the win. With 7 riders side by side, they stormed towards the finish line. Somehow, the young Mexican rider Adolfo Delgado #19 managed to push his bike across the finish line first, securing not only his first win but also his first podium. He had only a 0.074s lead over second-place Phillip Freitag #49 and 0.075s over third-place Filip Salac #4.
The rest of the 7 riders finished within 0.18s of the winner! Also, the other riders finished very close to each other. Places 9 to 11 were within 0.01s of each other, and places 12 to 18 were only 0.5s apart at the finish line. Once again, the young talents left their mark in France and showed that the Moriwaki 250 Junior Cup is where racing begins!
Podium Race 2:
1. Adolfo Delgado #19 – MEX
2. Phillip Freitag #49 – GER
3. Filip Salac #4 – CZ
In 4th place, we saw Brenner, Orgis, Pullkinen, van der Valk, Fraga, Czichos, and in 10th place was Sander Kroeze. Jarno Kausch classified 11th, Dan Jones 12th, Notis Papapavlou 13th, Mate Laczko 14th, and Nic Liminton secured the last point.
Only Jaron Nooren #7 failed to finish. He retired due to technical problems. The next race is at Hockenheim in Germany.
