Křenek Motorsport Team's Drivers Moving at Fast Speed but Running out of Luck!
Fortune was not on the Křenek Motorsport team's drivers' side on the weekend of the third round of the ETCC series. After the two days when Petr Fulín and Michal Matějovský clearly dominated the racing field hard luck struck in the Sunday's race taking form of bumps and accidents. Just one shinning moment is bronze that Michal Matějovský gained carving his way through to come to the finish behind Dušan Borkovič and Maťo Homola.
Petr Fulín, who was keeping at the top at the beginning, paid for a collision with Jordi Oriola after which he bumped with his BMW 320si into a crash barrier while driving at fast speed. Fulín escaped with "only" bruised back; nevertheless it will require a lot of time and money to repair his car. "From the very start procedure I was sure that light drizzle would change into lashings of rain. The back sector of the track was getting slightly wet as early as in first lap. Those were spots where the rear-wheel drive was losing over rivals due to worse traction. It's where Pfister got in front of me, but I made get my first position back on the dry final sector. The whole story didn't change in another lap when also Borkovič got in front of me. I started overtaking both of them on the long lee straight. When I got back to the top, the right rear corner of my car came into that crushing contact. At that moment I began being just a passenger spinning out of control by barriers at 200km/hour speed. Finally, it was Oriola drafting behind me who was punished for that incident. Personally, I have no idea whether it was Oriola or Borkovič; I want to see it from outside. Anyway, I'm glad that I and Andreas survived the moment when both cars finished rotating; I saw just smoke, mud and carbon pieces on the track, and felt silence for a while. It was as if after a battle ..." commented on the accident Petr Fulín.
The fate alike met also the team's another driver out of three, Jiří Štádler. He was eliminated in the first chicane, four laps before the finish, as a Turkish racing driver, Aytaca Biter, had knocked him. The races in the ETCC are in quick succession so only Michal Matějovský, one out of the three Czech drivers, entered Race 2. He was fighting a battle with a Slovak driver Maťo Homola for title and seemed quick enough to stand on the podium top after the race. Unluckily, he drove over a slippery kerb, and spinning out he would go off the track. The weekend of the FIA ETCC series brought the only and one Czech team more worries than pleasure. What all has agreed is: That is the racing! and we need confront a new challenge, which is the circuit in Pergusa, Sicily, in the mid-July.
Michal Matějovský: "It's for the first time I've driven on this track. Everything was new for me and I had to learn a lot. Free practices and tests were keeping out of troubles. It started raining in first race; but, I guess, I made it well. If there had been one or two laps more, I think, I would have moved one position ahead. While competing with Maťo Homola in second race I drove over a slippery kerb during one of the battles, and ended up spinning."
Petr Fulín: "I, naturally, feel disappointed. I made win all practice sessions, and than the race - such a shock! We must bring our cars together, calm state of mind, and fight again. To hold our cruel luck, neither Michal, who was going along well, was lucky in Race 2."
Jaromír Štádler: "Salzburgring, perhaps, is not that lucky one for me. I didn't finish the race last year, nor did now. Biter bumped into me from behind in first chicane, and knocked off a wheel; so no great shakes, no pleasure; however, that's the racing."
Josef Křenek: "Accidents belong to racing, today we've met with not one but three. First, Salzburgring was no success, finally we made it, as proved by Petr Fulín's results in all time practices, as well as Michal Matějovský's third place. We've lost loads of points this week, nevertheless we must prepare ourselves for Pergusa as if it was the first race of the season." Results: Standings after the Salzburgring Round: 1st Petr Fulín 45pt, 2nd Maťo Homola 41pt, 3rd Peter Rikli 27pt, 4. Michal Maťejovský 23pt.
