The Mahon-born driver supported by Triatges Menorca, Motorisa Renault Trucks Mallorca, Potencia Alquiler de Maquinaria and Pinturas R-M was crowned champion in TCR class and SEAT León Trophy in the Spanish Endurance Championship after the round four of the series. Salom, despite his youth, still remains in Clase 1 and Junior titles fight, which will be decided at Madrid´s Jarama next month.
Faust Salom secured title in both TCR class and SEAT León Trophy of the Spanish Endurance Championship with one round to go after his achievements at Circuit de la Comunitat Valenciana Ricardo Tormo last weekend. Menorca´s driver arrived in Valencia with a healthy points lead and he managed to secure points to be crowned champion. The driver of Baporo Motorsport, teaming up with Jaume Font, made rivals´ efforts unsuccessful and proved to be a worthy winner showing speed and consistency.
On Saturday, during free practice sessions, Faust reigned in the first practice session with a lap time of 1:43.878, almost a second quicker than his closest rival. Following this stunning start to the weekend, the driver born in Mahon stormed to pole position – his fourth of the season- with his SEAT León Cup Racer lined up by Baporo Motorsport by clocking a time of 1:42.357. On Saturday´, in race 1, Salom built a solid lead in TCR class before he pitted and handed over the car to Font. With all signings pointing to another podium finish, Font experienced mechanical issues with his SEAT León Cup Racer and it dashed their chances. Even so, they still took 6th place and scored valuable points for Sunday.
On Sunday, Salom´s teammate took 2nd spot in class on the grid and finished second in race 2 with fifty minutes into the race, being beating by a mere 5 seconds. At the end of the 3-hour race counting towards the Long distance classification, Salom and Font emerged as winners one lap ahead of 2nd.
Round (and final) 5 will be held at Jarama on 15-16 October.
“It was such an amazing weekend at Circuito de Cheste, as we won the 2016 Spanish Endurance Championship title in the main class, the world renowned TCR and also claiming triumph among SEAT León Trophy for Cup Racer cars. We were rather strong throughout the season and we achieved our goals as a result of our compromise between speed, reliability and team staff helping us.”
“I made a nice start to the weekend as I qualified on pole once again, something I managed to secure in all four qualifying sessions this year. We were aware about how difficult win was, because we had to serve a 30-second time handicap. I pulled away from the rest of field and built a solid lead. With Jaume at the wheel, mechanical issues ruined our podium chances. Finally we finished 8th but inherited 6th when two rivals were disqualified. On Sunday, we pushed from the very beginning taking advantage from second on the starting grid. Despite our 15-second handicap we secured a second place in race 2. Later, we made it to an incredible race win in Long distance. It brought us title in 2016 season!.”
“We still have a fifth round to contest and considering we sit first in Clase 1 and Junior classes, I will give 100% to make this season even greater. I would like to thank the support granted by my family, friends, fans and of course my sponsors, Triatges Menorca, Motorisa Renault Trucks Mallorca, Potencia Alquiler de Maquinaria and Pinturas R-M. We are champions!.”