FIA CEZ races at Austrian Red Bull Ring were actually very attractive because the entry list of this event was extended by the members of P9 Challenge together with a few guest racers and their very fast cars of LMP2 category.
The starting grid of the opening sprint welcomed 37 cars while for the second race, there were just 34. In comparison to the morning race, the second D4 sprint had ideal conditions, even though there had been some dark clouds threating with a solid storm.
Czech racing duo Jakub Knoll and Jakub Kubas with their Z4s exchanged their final positions so the latter one recorded his second gold this season. Knoll and his Šenkýř Motorsport Team could celebrate their second position. At the same time, they took overall fourth and sixth position in very strong competition of fast racing cars, including LMP2 category.
Even better, or in other words, bronze position in the overall ranking took Aleš Jirásek with his white Praga who was also a winner of FIA CEZ ranking and of division 5.
There were just two racers who were faster than Czech trio – overall winner Andreas Fiedler with PRC Audi Turbo and Siegmar Pfeifer with Norma BMW.
Within category up to 3500 ccm, Daniel Skalický with BMW M3 GTR and Martin Duras with BMW M3 E36 GTR swapped their final positions from the morning race. They achieved gold and silver in their class.
One-hour race, which concluded Saturday’s program, took place with beautiful weather. There were 37 cars. Special Porsche 997 GT2 and Porsche 991 GT3 R were having the lead. Behind them, PRC Ford, Audi R8 LMS and many other Porsches, Ferraris or BMWs were competing for better positions. Racing duos Knoll-Fischer and Kubas-Palmi were fighting for standings in FIA CEZ ranking. In both cases they drove their BMWs Z4 GT3. Both Jakubs wanted to beat Malchárek from Slovakia, driving his new production BMW M6 GT3 to get even after morning sprint. However, this did not come true. Jiří Malchárek, in comparison to his premiere with this car at Hungaroring, got substantially faster and he seemed to get into the right racing pace after 5 year break.
The race got dramatic when the racers had obligatory pit stops. Owing to a minor accident, a safety car set off on the track and all the racer had to go in a long line, faster cars mixing with the slower ones. Immediately after green flags, the race resumed. Cars of higher class were struggling through the others. Subsequently, a serious accident happened in the sharp curve of the upper track part. One of the supercharged Seats hit Austrian Porsche from the side, damaging it significantly. Fortunately, neither of them was seriously injured. Then, all of the racer followed the safety car again.
Dan Skalický, who used two different BMWs, took part in endurance race with his Alpina B6 GT3. However, he couldn’t keep up with his success from Hungary owing to a broken half-shaft.
Overall winner of one-hour race was Fritz on Porsche 997 GT2. In FIA CEZ ranking, gold was taken by Malchárek, who drove the whole endurance race himself. Duo Knoll-Fisher got silver and Kubas-Palmi reached bronze.
Aleš Jirásek with Praga won again in division 5. He and Dan Skalický started from pit lane.
Next race will take place in Most, located in the northern part of the Czech Republic, in half of June.
Pavel Jelínek, fia-cez.com
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