The Most Rally: A Porsche between Two Fabia R5 Cars

02.11.2016 07:21

The crew of Martin Hudec – Petr Picka driving a Škoda Fabia R5 emerged triumphant from this season’s final sporting event taking place at the Autodrom Most motor racing circuit, the Most RALLY #1, held as an exhibition race on Saturday 29th October. The pairing defeated the runner-up couple by more than twenty-eight seconds. Using identical machinery, Zdeněk Pokorný and his co-driver, Jiří Skořepa, took the third step of the podium coming home thirty-five seconds down the winners. It was David Nešpor and Martin Neoral in a powerful and smart Porsche 997 GT3 car who wedged themselves between the two up-to-date rally specials made by the domestic car manufacturer.

The race was run as a free sporting event, which means that no championship points were awarded to the crews. All the same, the event taking place at Most was entered by a fair number of thirty-seven participants. Admittedly, the organisers decided that nothing could be left to chance and so they did maximum in their power to motivate the teams. They exempted all the entrants from the entry fee while the first three crews in both the four-wheel drive and two-wheel drive categories were offered a financial award amounting to 15,000, 10,000 and 5,000 crowns respectively.

Apart from Hudec–Picka and Pokorný–Skořepa, it was also the couple of Filip Ballek and Tomáš Fallada in a Subaru Impreza that rubbed their hands at a financial bonus in the four-wheel drive car class. Although they finished fifth overall, they were classified third in their category. Nešpor and Neoral dominated in the two-wheel drive category ahead of Egon Smékal and Petra Němcová in a Citroën DS3 R3T Max. The 5,000-crown prize for the second runner-up spot in the two-wheel drive class was carried away by Jiří Navrátil and Josef Král who finished seventh overall in a Peugeot 208 R2.

Part of this rally event was an inaugural closed circuit designed for drivers and journalist Jakub Rejlek. “I’m pleasantly surprised by how excellently the whole rally had been prepared,” Rejlek said. Summing up his impressions, he continued: “In spite of the fact that the circuit as well as the proving ground were used for the competition, everybody had fun without idle periods. I enjoyed the whole day on Saturday. I’m pleased to see that the organiser approached the competition proactively so that we didn’t pay any entry fee and the visitors, too, were given free entrance. I hope a classic rally sprint will take place here next year because it is my home rally and there is big potential at Most. We made a mistake of choosing a wrong setup in the morning but I raised my spirits finishing third overall on special stage three. I’d certainly have appreciated one more section. But it was great anyway.”

The rally included two three-lap special stages alternately on tarmac and gravel with each stage being run twice. From a safety point of view, the Most Rally has a huge advantage over routes leading through open terrain. The two special stage routes followed the track and service roads on the closed circuit. The visitors watched the race from dedicated areas. “Although it looked like it was going to rain and an uncomfortable wind was blowing at the beginning, the weather improved eventually. Besides the teams’ participation, we were also pleasantly surprised by the fans’ interest; their attendance was high,” said Jana Svobodová, the AUTODROM MOST Business and Marketing Manager.

The preliminary year of the Most Rally Sprint, hosted by the Most Autodrom in November of last year, was dominated by the crew of driver Antonín Tlusťák and co-driver Ivo Vybíral in a Škoda Fabia R5. Second-placed Jiří Navrátil and his co-driver, Josef Král, in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX lagged behind by almost forty seconds. Petr Nešetřil and Hynek Středa driving a newer Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X car came home another 12.5 seconds later and were ranked third.

Although the racing season is drawing to an end, the motor racing complex is here for the public all the year round. In the autumn and during the wintertime, for example, free runs intended for amateur drivers using their own cars continue on the main racing circuit. “The circuit is available to them in all weathers. We have two alternatives. Each of them is adapted to the climate conditions prevailing at the circuit at any one time,” said Jana Svobodová.

People interested can find the schedule of these runs on the website www.autodrom-most.cz. The earliest dates are Friday 4th November and Saturday 19th November. The runs start at 10:00 a.m. and end at 4:00 p.m. and proceed without a break.

 

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