Three-hour race won by Mercedes from DTM

Saturday's three-hour endurance race - the national championship of passenger cars within the Česká pojišťovna – Škoda Octavia Weekend - meant laurels for the favoured crew of Antonín Charouz, Tomáš Enge and Stefan Mücke in a special Mercedes DTM. The marathon was accompanied by dramatic moments, crashes and safety car interventions. Many vehicles left the race after incidents and technical problems. This was a very long race, all in all.

Mercedes vehicles with a specification of DTM were in the front row of the roster. However, after a flying start another special from the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters brand Audi took the lead in the very first bend. The Swedish pilot Thed Björk proved his mastery in brake-driving when he overtook Tomáš Enge and German pilot Stefan Mücke. He defended the lead position for the entire initial stage of the race, but then he had to go to the pit with a flat tyre. He returned to the battle with a replacement tyre, but his Kevlar special experienced technical problems, and the crew of the Bohemia Racing Team had to withdraw.
The road to victory was thus open to the Mercedes, and the three experienced pilots made one hundred per cent use of the opportunity. Quite understandably, they came first after three hours, with 113 laps behind them. Second place was nominally taken by the crew of Jiří Mičánek and Martin Jerman in a Porsche 997, which did 100 laps, and third, with the same number of laps, was taken by Marek Fried and the pilot from Most, Michal Dolák in a BMW M3 GTR.
Perhaps the most dramatic situation, apart from smaller incidents during the race, took place at the very end in the bend on post 12, i.e. in the rear part of the circuit, where there is a right-angle curve aiming back to the home stretch. An attractive light-blue Lamborghini flew off the track, and after hitting the crash barrier of tyres it landed behind the safety fence. Austrian racer Josef Piribauer was, fortunately, only stunned, and taken for a thorough medical examination to the Most hospital, from where he returned to the paddock the same evening.
"Considering the lower number of vehicles compared to Brno three weeks ago, when this year's championship started, this was a remarkably dramatic battle," Michal Marek, director of the race, declared in the evening. "We were dealing with some protests, that happens, but still it's a pity that racing isn't settled on the track, but at the table instead. The spectators definitely enjoyed the thrill. There were countless fights, overtaking and jostling," added Marek.
However, there were other races and qualifications before the three-hour venue. The timed training of the Česká pojišťovna – Škoda Octavia Cup was won by Aleš Jirásek in front of Jiří Jupa and Mateusz Lisowsky from Poland. The first race of Superracekarts was a success for the German trio of Guido Kleinemeyer, Daniel Hentschel and Martin Knauder. Michal Barták, the only Czech racer in the field, ended up in fifth place. The first race of Division 3 was won by Zbyněk Pazder, followed by David Palmi and Tomáš Kašpárek.
Sunday's racing programme starts at 9.00 am with warm-up drives and the first race will begin at 10.00 am.

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