Emotional scenes took over the FIA RX2e Championship round at Lohéac, as the 18 years old Dorian Deslandes, who has Cyril Raymond as his mentor, became the local hero by winning at home in a spectacular debut in the Olsbergs-built electric machine, beating opposition with much more experience than the young Frenchman.
The newcomer made sure to leave the best impression possible from the go signal by keeping Jesse Kallio and Reinis Nitiss at bay in Q1, and the Frenchman repeated the performance in Q2, beating Cyril Raymond, Guillaume De Ridder and Jesse Kallio on track, as well Conner Martell in the clock.
On Q3, Nitiss found his pace and took the top spot ahead of an aggressive Cyril Raymond and Guillaume De Ridder, with the trio of former World RX drivers giving no chance to the opposition, with De Ridder reacting by beating them all on Q4 with a comfortable gap, although this only left the Belgian in second in the Qualifying standings, as Deslandes got the top qualifier title safely thanks to his two wins, while Nitiss, Raymond and Kallio completed the top five.
Semifinal 1 had Deslandes denying Nitiss of the lead and keeping the Latvian at bay, and as Nitiss got stuck behind the Frenchman, he opted to Joker to defend from Jesse Kallio, which he did perfectly, enough to get back to the offensive to Deslandes, but things stayed as they were while Kallio got third place thanks to Nils Andersson’s late Joker.
In Semifinal 2, former GCK Academy team mates De Ridder and Raymond were in the front row, with the Belgian having the upper hand as Raymond got too sideways in the first corners. Early Jokers were highly rewarding, and Conner Martell opted for this and hit jackpot as he jumped to second.
De Ridder and Martell were set in their positions while Raymond was still defending his Final ticket from Isak Sjökvist, but leaving the Joker for the Final Lap hurt badly the Frenchman’s chances, with Sjökvist only having to keep it clean and precise to defend his third position.
Deslandes was the Final polesitter with a golden opportunity to leave a mark with a win, and held the field behind him in the first corner as De Ridder dropped behind Nitiss. All drivers behind Nitiss had the Joker complete, and Deslandes opted to do it before De Ridder, and it paid off as the Belgian left the Joker for the final lap and got back behind Nitiss in third, while Deslandes had clear way to win his debut FIA RX2e win being only 18 years old.
FIA RX2e Lohéac - Event results
The third place in the Final was enough for De Ridder to top the standings with 76 points, while Kallio dropped to second with 69, and Fraser McConnell, who missed the Lohéac round, is third with 49 points. The FIA RX2e Championship returns only at Spa-Francorchamps on 10 October.
PHOTO: Red Bull Content Pool/Jeanus Ree
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