Mini interview with Álex Valls, Catalonia 1/8 TT Gas champion

Mini interview with Alex Valls

Today we interview Modelix driver Alex Valls, two-time Catalonia 1/8 TT gas champion and already a top national driver, reaching finals in the fiercely contested Spanish 1/8 TT Championship.

Puntoracing – The 2018 Catalonia Championship has just started, with the first round already run and a great result — second behind the very fast Dani Batlle. What do you expect this year at regional level? Do you see yourself defending your Catalonia title? Who will make it hardest for you? Alex Valls – This year we expect to fight Dani for the championship again. Every regional round the two of us are very close and either of us can win. Right now I'd say Dani and I are a bit ahead of the rest, but we can't relax — Pol and Aleix are ready to pounce. Puntoracing – At national level there seems to be more and more depth; reaching an A final looks like an odyssey given the drivers you face. Who do you see as unreachable today? Alex Valls – The national is ideal for me — I think the level is very, very good. Clearly there are drivers like Robert, Canas or Ronnefalk, who is also racing this year, who are miles ahead, but with the overall level, just making a final is a huge reward racing against people like that. Puntoracing – MBX8: is it really a car nothing like its predecessor? Is the change as big as some drivers say? Alex Valls – After seeing Robert's and how similar it looked I didn't expect a big change, even with him telling me it changed a lot, but when I tried it the difference is huge. The rear sinks much less and even with little grip the car moves forward in a predictable way. Puntoracing – We've seen you at several Catalonia 1/8 GT rounds — will we see you at more this year? Alex Valls – We're looking at doing some, but it's tricky with the calendars. We overlap TT races and have few free weekends. Puntoracing – What do you think of this "new" category? More and more TT drivers are trying GT — do you think GT could reach the popularity TT has now? Alex Valls – I prefer TT, but GT is a super fun category. I wouldn't be surprised if it catches up, because everyone I've seen try it in front of me loved it. Also, being much harder to roll over makes it easier for solo drivers — most people — to run more calmly. Puntoracing – If a TT driver wanted to move to GT, what would you advise on equipment, reusing TT parts, etc.? What was that adaptation process like for you? Alex Valls – I'd tell them to try it — almost everything carries over. With the Mugen GT car the diffs are almost the same as TT... Even engines — I told Dani at BigBangHobbies we should try an Ultimate M3S or R because I thought it would work, and he's running one of those now. So you can even reuse your TT engine. Adaptation with the hardware is not hard; most things work. Puntoracing – EURO GT 2018 — a lot of eyes are on this race. Are you planning to enter? Alex Valls – This one we are looking at. We've seen the track and if it's as good as it looks in photos — wide with fast linked corners, which I love — if enough people enter we'll probably be there. Puntoracing – Which companies sponsor you on this journey? Alex Valls – Modelix across their product range, Ultimate Racing, Nitrolux, Procircuit...

Thanks Alex for taking a few minutes for this mini interview! See you at the track.

Here's a video of Alex Valls running his MGT7 at Santa Oliva:

Puntoracing.