The Douro Royal Valley Hotel & Spa is said to offer a relaxing and welcoming environment, surrounded by Douro’s ancestral vines, in a region that was classified as a ‘World Heritage’ site back in 2001. Modern and elegant, the hotel, which is a little over one year old, allows each guest to relate intimately with the natural world, mirrored by the calm waters of the Douro River. This weekend though that same stretch of water will be far from calm, when the region plays host to the final round of the UIM Formula Two World Championship.
Ribadouro is no stranger to staging international powerboat races, as throughout the 1990’s it was a regular fixture on the UIM Formula Three World Championship, F850 and Formula Four European Championship calendars. The Formula Two European Championship last visited this course back in 1999, when Colin Jelf beat Jari Honkala into second place.
Amongst those F2 competitors’ racing back then was the local hero Duarte Benavente, who had previously dominated the Portuguese F-850 Championship throughout the entire 1990’s. “I love racing in Ribadouro the place is amazing” said Benavente. “The circuit hasn’t really changed much; it’s fast and flows well around the valley, which I think the drivers will like.”
Along with Benavente, the start grid should comprise of eighteen drivers, two of whom will be battling it out for the UIM F2 World Championship Bronze medal and one of them has already stood on the winner’s podium in Ribadouro. Back in 1997 Austria’s Rupp Temper had to settle for third place, when he was beaten by Rudy Mihaldinecz and Steve Hill in a UIM Formula Three Grand Prix held there. Now the Austrian, who took fifteen points in Zarasai, arrives at the final round of this year championship tied in third place on thirty-two points with the man that won that very race, Uvis Slakteris.
The Latvian driver, who fresh from winning the 2016 UIM F2 European Championship just two weeks ago, now feels that he has re-discovered the form that saw him win the 2012 F2 British Grand Prix and secure enough points that year to take the UIM Bronze medal. After his recent success Slakteris said that he was thoroughly up for the fight with Temper and Palfreyman for that third place in the World Championship.
That fight has now become a little easier though, as following the European Championship race weekend, in which Palfreyman crashed heavily during the Sunday morning warm-up, the young British driver has decided to withdraw from the Grande Premio de Portugal. “When I went into work on Monday morning I wasn’t feeling great” he said “so I took myself off to the hospital and they gave me an MRI scan. When they got the results back I was diagnosed with concussion and told to rest for a minimum of four weeks. Naturally as an out and out racer I’m disappointed that we are not making the trip, but I have literally just started working on getting everything in place, so that when the 2017 season starts the team will be in the best shape possible and I will be both physically and mentally strong enough to win the world title. ”
Just five and six points behind Temper and Slakteris in the championship table are Johan Österberg and Owen Jelf, both of whom are capable of collecting enough points to be in the mix come Sunday night. “We will go for it” said Osterberg. “I haven’t really counted how many points I need but if there is the slightest chance of a bronze medal I will soon hear about it over the radio because my team will certainly try to grab third place.”
The Official Opening Ceremony takes place at 09:15 on Saturday October 8 and that will be followed by ‘Free Practice’ at 11:00. F2 Qualifying (Q1-Q2-Q3) gets under way at 14:30 and once that’s concluded we should have a clearer picture on the destiny of that Bronze medal.
