In what the XTCC drivers have called the best event of the season, Circuit Ricciardo Tormo played host to a return to form for XSR veteran Glenn Briden. At the start Briden took the lead from 3rd in the grid before reaching turn 1, and held on to it for some time as Spiegel and Hunter continued their season long battle behind. Eventually he gave way to their battle and ran 3rd for a while until series rookie, veteran driver Thomas Benham rolled his Toyota Corolla, bringing out the virtual safety car.
Once repairs were complete and he had rejoined the field, the pack readied themselves for a restart in the back straight, a restart that Briden timed perfectly. With a missed shift, Spiegel dropped from the lead to 4th before reaching the end of the back straight. As positions shuffled during the remaining 10 minutes, Spiegel chased Briden down, but Briden had put on a masterclass on gap management and crossed the line first in Race 9, just 3 tenths of a second ahead of Spiegel.
Race 10 started of just as wild with all positions up for grabs all the way to the back straight before things settled, but only for a moment. As the intense racing went on, it became clear it would be a fight between Spiegel and Hunter at the end, a fight that ended with our second closest finish of the season, Spiegel pulling out the victory, and grabbing the points lead in the process.
Entering the season finale, Spiegel's point lead is thin, just 11 points, and Tim, while not favored, still has a mathematical shot to win the championship if Daniel and Spike have bad races in rounds 11 and 12. It's going to take all 12 do determine the inaugural XTCC champion, and we wouldn't have it any other way!