Round 2 of the RCCO World eX Championship at Valencia was a real thriller. No fewer than nine incidents were investigated by Race Control. A total of three yellow cards were handed out. Defending champion Devin Braune was also caught out.
The Spanish MotoGP circuit provided a thrilling race with plenty of action, but also plenty of contacts. There were several collisions, especially in the Sprint where the top eight from Qualifying start in reverse order.
In Qualifying, Devin Braune was once again in a class of his own. The two-time champion was over half a second quicker than German kart racer Jarno Wiese, who was once again the title defender’s closest rival in terms of speed. Nicolas Hillebrand, who has just officially completed his bachelor’s thesis and presentation, was third fastest.
In the Sprint, Devin Braune was extremely aggressive right from the start – even against his friend Nicolas Hillebrand, whom he put under massive pressure in the first two laps, eventually forcing him to make a mistake. The fact that his first overtaking attempt was a little too optimistic and Steffen Walter was pushed off the track earned Braune a yellow card.
The World Champion’s next victim was former eX World Champion Julius Martin, who was also overtaken with a slight contact – this time without any consequences from Race Control. Having also overtaken Chris Overend, Braune went after his teammate Callum Crips.
The intra-team battle between the two had already entertained us in the Sprint at Watkins Glen, and so it was again at Valencia. The British racer and instructor defended as hard as he could as they both closed the gap on World eX rookie Rune Bobbaers, who had started his debut from pole position on the reversed grid thanks to P8 in Qualifying.
A slight mistake by the Belgian gave the Rocket Simsport duo a 1-2 lead on lap 7 – a lap that ended badly for both Bobbaers and Jarno Wiese when a slight contact between Braune and Crips in front of them caused Wiese and Bobbaers to touch and spin off track.
Braune and Crips continued their intense battle, which allowed Chris Overend to close the gap to the leaders. But things were not going well for Chris Overend either when Crips went wide on lap 9, handing the lead to Braune and spinning directly in front of Overend, who had nowhere to go and ended in the gravel.
All the drama left Julius Martin and Nicolas Hillebrand battling it out for the last two places on the Sprint podium, a battle which Hillebrand won with a clever move two laps from the end.
The feature Race was much calmer after the frantic Sprint, with Devin Braune taking a commanding lights-to-flag victory, his 40th in the RCCO World eX Championship.
Nicolas Hilllebrand kept the pressure on front row starter Jarno Wiese throughout the race, but the young German was able to hold on and finish second to Braune, repeating his result from the season opener at Watkins Glen.
Callum Crips overtook Steffen Walter to finish fourth after an uneventful race.
Walter was unlucky when his battle for P4 with Julius Martin ended in contact with team-mate Chris Overend, sending Walter spinning into the gravel. Later, Overend made a braking mistake and crashed into Julius Martin, allowing Bodo Kräling to take P5.
Further back in the field, Patrick Winzenick earned himself a yellow card when he gained a position and forced Markus Martin off the track. The third yellow of the day went to Bodo Kräling for contact with Jennifer Schamey in the sprint.
