{"id":6168,"date":"2026-05-02T11:57:51","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T11:57:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xavierlazaro.com\/?p=6168"},"modified":"2026-05-02T12:07:45","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T12:07:45","slug":"fim-de-semana-para-esquecer-em-valencia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xavierlazaro.com\/en\/fim-de-semana-para-esquecer-em-valencia\/","title":{"rendered":"A Tough Weekend in Valencia"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Xavier L\u00e1zaro is out of the final day of racing at the Valencia round of the Champions of the Future, an event organised by RGMMC that precedes the second round of the CIK-FIA Karting European Championship. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Portuguese driver and DR factory driver, representing five-time world champion Danilo Rossi, was unable to convert the pace and performance shown in practice into results over the two race days. As a result, he did not secure a place in today\u2019s Super Heats, which would have determined a potential spot in the OK Junior Final.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the first time since becoming a factory driver for DR, Xavier L\u00e1zaro failed to reach a Pre-Final at an international event, making this a result clearly below his objectives and ambitions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is still much work and reflection ahead for DR in order to raise the level ahead of next week\u2019s return to the Kart\u00f3dromo Internacional Lucas Guerrero for the second round of the CIK-FIA Karting European Championship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Strong Showing in Practice Sessions<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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The Champions of the Future event in Valencia was well prepared by DR and Xavier L\u00e1zaro. The driver and team spent several days testing at the Kart\u00f3dromo Internacional Lucas Guerrero in the week leading up to the event, and L\u00e1zaro had also competed at the circuit in a recent race.\nThroughout the test days\u2014where he rejoined most of his rivals in the category, including all the main contenders\u2014the Portuguese driver was consistently among the fastest on track, a level of performance he maintained during the official practice sessions held earlier this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Qualifying, the Portuguese driver was unfortunate on his best lap, but still posted a respectable time, ending the session in 51st place, around seven tenths off pole position (55.198s).\nBased on the pace shown and data analysis, L\u00e1zaro had the potential to set a lap time in the 54-second range, which would have placed him among the top 25.\nIt is also worth noting that a total of 96 drivers were entered in the OK Junior category for this Champions of the Future round in Valencia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everything Changed in the Heats<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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With such a large field\u2014where only 36 drivers advance to the Final\u2014it is to be expected that the heats often resemble a true battle, as everyone is fighting for the same objective and the level of competitiveness in the OK Junior category is exceptionally high.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Xavier L\u00e1zaro is regarded as one of the benchmark drivers in the category, and as such, he is always expected to be present in the decisive moments and in the most important race.\nIn Valencia, however, the Portuguese driver once again failed to reach the Final\u2014and this time did not even secure a place in the Super Heat (Pre-Final).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The young driver from V\u00e1rzea de Sintra contested five heats, struggling to be competitive on track in each of them and, in most cases, being involved sooner or later in contact with other drivers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the first heat he contested, Xavier L\u00e1zaro made a strong start but was quickly pushed off track by a rival. He managed to continue, but could only finish in 27th position, ten places down from where he had started.\nIn the following heat, he recorded one of his better results, starting 17th and finishing 19th. However, it became clear that his race pace did not allow for a significantly stronger result.\nIn Heat 3, he once again made a good start and climbed as high as ninth, but with the drivers ahead locked in an intense battle, he became trapped behind them. Shortly afterwards, he was hit by another competitor, losing several positions and ultimately finishing 19th once again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rain arrived in Valencia to further complicate matters, and in Heat 4, Xavier L\u00e1zaro was hit by another competitor, forcing him to retire with six laps remaining, which resulted in a classification of 26th out of 30.\nIn the final heat, already aware that a place in the Super Heat was no longer achievable, the Portuguese driver once again struggled for pace, losing ten positions from the start and eventually finishing in 28th place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photos: Sportinphoto Kart Photo-Agency<\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Xavier L\u00e1zaro est\u00e1 fora do derradeiro dia de provas na etapa de Valencia do Champions Of The Future, prova sob a \u00e9gide da RGMMC e que antecede a segunda ronda do CIK FIA Karting Campeonato da Europa. O piloto portugu\u00eas e oficial da DR, do pentacampe\u00e3o mundial Danilo Rossi, n\u00e3o conseguiu materializar nos dois dias […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6169,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[165,168,31,30,169,161,7],"class_list":{"0":"post-6168","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-noticias","8":"tag-champions-of-the-future","9":"tag-cik-fia","10":"tag-danilo-rossi","11":"tag-dr","12":"tag-kartodromo-internacional-lucas-guerrero","13":"tag-okj","14":"tag-xavier-lazaro"},"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xavierlazaro.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xavierlazaro.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xavierlazaro.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xavierlazaro.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xavierlazaro.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6168"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/xavierlazaro.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6168\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6184,"href":"https:\/\/xavierlazaro.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6168\/revisions\/6184"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xavierlazaro.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xavierlazaro.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xavierlazaro.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xavierlazaro.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}