The Portuguese 1:8 National Championship got underway in the Algarve recently where Team Serpent Portugal enjoyed a strong start to their campaign with double podium result.

Competitors were greet by beautiful weather for which the Algarve is world famous making for a nice weekend but a dirty track on the Saturday made practice difficult. Come Sunday, race day, the track was up to grip with Ricardo Nogueira and João Sousa placing their Mega ZX powered Serpent 960 \'08 in top 3 after the heats.

With no direct qualifiers to the main final, both drivers had to run in the Semi Finals from where they both progressed easily to the Main Final. With a fast pace, tyre wear would be a problem during the long 45 minute race. Both drivers went for a no tyre change tactic, resulting in a very low car near the end but the pairing could still manage 2nd and 3rd spot on the podium as Nogueira headed home Team Serpent Portugal team-mate Sousa for a strong start to the 2008 season.

Also in the final for Serpent were Jorge Azinheira and Manuel Romão who finished 6th and 8th respectively.

[b]Portuguese 1:8 National Championship
Round 1, Algarve
Main Final Result[/b]

1. Bruno Coelho
2. Ricardo Nogueira (Serpent 960 \'08/Mega ZX)
3. João Sousa (Serpent 960 \'08/Mega ZX)
4. Frederico Ribeiro
5. Pedro Praça
6. Jorge Azinheira (Serpent 960 \'08)
7. António Maximiano
8. Manuel Romão (Serpent 960)
9. Raul Prata
10.José Félix