Juan Carlos Canas is 2023 European champion

The weather forecast led the Redovan crew and EFRA to reduce the 2023 EFRA European 1/8th nitro buggy championship, which will end on Friday a day early. With one day left, the final day promises to be long, very long and demanding under the Spanish sun. In order to finish the championship not too late, the lunch break will be shortened and the practice runs before the semi-finals simply removed.

Bruno Coelho, João Figueiredo and Berkan Kilic were expected to put up more defending fight, but the race decided otherwise. The first big surprise was a mechanical problem on Bruno’s XRAY XB8, which prevented him from completing more than 8 laps. Bryan Baldo drove a solid race to take 2nd place, Berkan finished 3rd, João 4th, Riccardo Berton 5th and the Baldo family placed another family member, Oscar, in 6th position.

Semi-final B will be slightly slower, but much closer. Davide Ongaro will have to keep up the pace to break away from the speedy Burak Kilic. After qualifying in 10th position, Elliott Boots showed he had the speed and consistency to make a top-three finish, finishing less than 2s behind the German driver. Less than 4s behind, Mattia Polito drove a solid run, while the Mayako duo of Robert Batlle and David Ronnefalk finished 5th and 6th, separated by less than a second.

Even if Juan Carlos’ speed seems almost impossible to match, we’re expecting an incredible finale with Davide. Night has fallen and brings another atmosphere to the final, as it did in 2016 at the World Championship in Vegas. SWORKz, which is already impressing with the speed of its drivers, adds the young and talented Daniel Pariente to the list of finalists, bringing to 4 the number of buggies from the Austrian brand, Daniel having won the LCQ by 3s over Théo Lemaire.

The start was smooth and already Burak pushed hard on the inside of corner 3 to take 2nd spot from Davide. Burak was the only one to keep pace with Juan Carlos in the opening minutes. The pace was so fast that it felt like a 45-minute qualifying round. The lighting gives a feel of speed that enhances this perception even more! Juan Carlos gradually pulled away from Burak to take the lead for ever. He never looked back. The battle was fierce at every level, and the effects of fatigue from a long day were felt as the final stages progressed. David Ronnefalk made a great comeback to take 5th place, but was unable to go any faster. In the end, he was hit by bad luck and suffered an electronic problem that caused him to retire. Out of 3 races at Redovan, David has had this kind of issue 2 times. Destiny! The most impressive was Elliott Boots, who got away from Brurak and Davide to take 2nd place. One of Elliott’s best races ever! Burak really seemed to be hanging on to 3rd place, but Davide never gave up and moved up to 3rd. The positions didn’t change after that. Juan Carlos came out on top and claimed the European Champion’s crown with a well-deserved victory for the fastest driver in the competition. In practice, qualifying, the fastest semi-final and the final, he won it all. The event was once again a battle of the tires. While Hot Race was imperial with Juan Carlos, the brand that made a stunning entrance was Matrix, the newcomer to the off-road class. With 5 finalists, it was even the most represented brand in the final. It helped Davide to his first podium finish in a European championship, an incredible achievement for a brand that’s just getting started. Reds places two drivers in the final, and they score 1 and 2 – what more could you ask for! For its 2nd Euro, the French brand Corsatec puts 2 drivers in the final, which confirms the high standard of the engines produced by French engine-maker Adrien Bertin. Well done to all, and congratulations to the club, which has done a fabulous job once again. Thank you for your support and the brands that helped me to take part in this championship at the last minute.