After the recent opening of this year’s race at the Hungaroring, the upcoming weekend will not only bring more points for the FIA CEZ but also for the Czech Circuit Championship. Next in line is another of the F1 circuits, the super modern Austrian Red Bull Ring in the picturesque foothills of the Alps.
The weekend ‘zone’ will offer a rich starting grid, which should be even more numerous than in the opening at Hungaroring. In addition, there will be a treat in the form of the BOSS GP series.
But not everything is perfect. The experienced organizers had underestimated to some extent the planning and the schedule included several serious mistakes. For example, the Endurance race should have started immediately after the sprint of two-litre D4s, which now brings an unsolvable problem, or rather several problems. At least for those vehicles whose drivers are planning to start in sprints as well as in the endurance races. Firstly, after the race the vehicle has to go to closed parking, secondly, it is necessary to refuel the car and finally, it is important to carry out a thorough check and to prepare the car for the start. It is therefore practically impossible to do two consecutive races. .
In addition, there is another considerable and so far unresolved problem with the incorrect classification of two-litre turbocharged vehicles among the two-litre standard ones. Zone officials have not solved this problem yet and the result is that the majority of teams with two-litre vehicles are boycotting the race. The green Lotuses from Brno Motorsport KT team have also joined the boycott and so this time they are not coming to race at Red Bull circuit.
Petr Mandelík explains it as follows: “I won’t be attending the race at the Red Bull Ring although I like this circuit very much, and I was really looking forward to it. The still unresolved problem with the technical regulations of FIA CEZ concerning the two-litre turbocharged vehicles in D4-2000 has forced us to join the boycott this weekend. Chaos on the part of the organiser (not included qualification for the 2nd race in sprint, the start of the endurance race immediately after the finish of the sprint without having at least the possibility to refuel the vehicle), did only confirm our decision. Also Petr Krejčí and Petr Levíček will be missing too.”
At this circuit, the European Championship of trucks has already taken place. The spectators could see two victories of the Czech Buggyra racing trucks. The DTM race is scheduled for the end of May, then the MotoGP races will take place here, and, of course, the already mentioned Formula 1 as well.
Pavel Jelínek
Česky