The 6th round of the PATA European Junior Cup got underway earlier today at the Nurburgring in Germany with Spain’s Javier Orellana posting the fastest time in free practice a fraction ahead of multiple Pole Position setter, Guillaume Raymond from France.
Orellana, along with current series leader Jake Lewis (New Zealand) made the initial front running but in typical EJC fashion, the final ten minutes saw a number of riders posting their personal best lap times, benefiting from circulating in a group to gain a time advantage through slipstream.
As the chequered flag fell less than a tenth of a second separate the top two with Robin Anne, also from France moving into a credible 3rd position in the final moments of the session.
4th went to Augusto Fernandez (Spain) ahead of Britain’s Josh Harland who looked smooth and confident, especially in the technical part of the circuit. 6th position was eventually claimed by Assen winner Bo Bendsneijder who is making his second appearance in the series this weekend.
Ilya Mykhalchyk (Ukraine) started the session slowly but improved dramatically with 6 minutes to go to claim 7th, while Hungarian Peter Sebastyen and Italian Michael Canducci (Italy) were 8th and 9th respectively.
Jake Lewis decided to ride alone and dropped to 10th just clinging on to a top ten position ahead of Estonian Hannes Soomer and Belgium’s Charly Eberhard.
Marcel Schultheiss gave the home crowd something to smile about with his best performance to date in 16th with wildcard rider Michael Gerstacker making his debut in the series finishing 34th.
Brazilian Sabrina Paiuta was once again the top female, ending the session a very respectable 20th, while Amelie Demoulin the other female in the series was 32nd at the flag.
James Flitcroft (UK), Connor London (New Zealand), Jesper Hubner (Sweden) and Miguel Aranda (Spain) all crashed out without injury.
Official qualifying will take place tomorrow afternoon in a revised schedule at the iconic German circuit.
