Brno Spring Prix was a success |
- 29. 4. 2007, Brno -Last weekend, in beautiful, summer-like weather, the opening event of the International Racing Circuit Championship of the Czech Republic took place, by tradition, at the Brno Masaryk Circuit, attended by the ČESKOSLOVENSKÝ MOTORSPORT company's ALCATEL-LUCENT MOTORSPORT team. The team's drivers had at their disposal two Alfa Romeo 147 GTA cars for the Saturday endurance race and, furthermore, Škoda Octavia Cup, Alfa Romeo 156 S 2000 and Alfa Romeo 147 GTA cars for the Sunday sprint race. At the wheel of the first of the two Alfa Romeo 147 GTA vehicles involved in the Saturday three-hour endurance race was Jiří Nykodým, who took a turn with Michal Matějovský in the middle of the race. However, this car, as early as at the start, was affected by minor troubles, and Matějovský even had to retire from the race due to a motor breakdown, with one hour to go. The other Alfa car, with drivers Kubišta, Lepka and Forman taking turns at its wheel, fared better. Lepka started the race and managed to keep a position at the front of the field of the category up to 2000 cc. And, Miroslav Forman, the last of the tree drivers at the wheel, claimed the excellent second place in the end, with a time of 3:00:23.945 (average speed of 129.386 km/hour). Another success was achieved in the Sunday sprint race, which saw four of the team's cars contesting the category up to 2000 cc. That is, Laura Hájková and Šimon Kubišta were involved, each of them with the Škoda Octavia Cup car, Jiří Nykodým drove the Alfa 147 GTA, and, last but not least, Miroslav Forman, with the blue-painted Alfa Romeo 156 S 2000, even started the race from the first line of the grid. Unfortunately, Laura Hájková and Jiří Nykodým had to retire from the race because of technical troubles. Šimon Kubišta, on the other hand, was getting on well. After starting from the end of the grid, he fought his way ahead to take the fine 17th place in the end. Miroslav Forman, another of the team's drivers, had to deal with an unlucky collision that occurred after the start (see the video recording) and with the consequences - the front part of his Alfa car was seriously damaged. The race was interrupted for a period of 15 minutes, which allowed the mechanics to fix Forman's car quickly. After the race was started again, Forman, with the provisionally repaired vehicle, went through numerous battles in the remaining nine laps to claim the excellent third place. After the weekend racing event, Stanislav Matějovský, the team's general manager, summed up the team's first involvement. He said: 'I am satisfied with the work that the team have done, although there is naturally still something to improve. Our new team-mate, Šimon Kubišta, made a good impression, and the performance of other drivers was also excellent - Mirek Forman was on the podium two times. After we have scored the first valuable points within the opening weekend event, we lead the teams' standings, and I am very satisfied with this.' For the summary of all results and for further information, please go to www.automotodrombrno.cz. The next event of the International Racing Circuit Championship of the Czech Republic is held, along with the first race of the Česká pojišťovna-Škoda Octavia Cup, at the Autodrom Most Circuit at the second weekend in May. |
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