Bad luck set in at the ČP-ŠOC racing event in Brno

New tarmac, sunny weather and fantastic audience: these were the conditions at the Brno racing circuit at the beginning of the second racing event of this year of the Česká pojišťovna - Škoda Octavia Cup series. The VEKRA - ČSMS Racing Team arrived at full strength. The team's six drivers, that is, Petr Fulín, Mateusz Lisowski, Daniel Skalický, Laura Hájková, Tadeáš Martínek and Tiki Ivoševič, are ready.

FRIDAY: The team's manager, Petr Fulín, commented on the qualifying: 'Even though the atmosphere in the team was fine, and we took great pains to prepare the cars for the free practice and for the qualifying, the cars' setup did not meet our expectations.' The third place taken by Mateusz was only a poor consolation, as the rest of the team's drivers were to start into the first race from the second half of the grid.

SATURDAY, Race 1: Mateusz forged ahead right after the start and moved up to the first position. After a short while, however, he lost to M. Vorba, the winner of the qualifying, who took the lead again. Petr, within the first four laps, fought his way through the pack in a fantastic way and moved up the order by several spots. And, the rest of the team also managed well. On Lap 6, unfortunately, when Mateusz was driving through the 'Stadion' Section, the engine of his car broke down, and Mateusz had to retire from the race. To top it all, the oil track left by his car was fatal for Dan and Tiki, who run off the track. Petr, Laura and Tadeáš, on the other hand, moved up. The best result was achieved by Petr, who came fifth. Tadeáš, who had a great race, finished in thirteenth, ahead of Laura, who complained about a lack of her car's engine power after the race, and Tiki, who had been held up by the oil on the track. Dan remained stuck in the escape area after running off the track due to the oil from Lisowski's car.

SUNDAY, Race 2: Petr and Mateusz, whose car had been fitted with a new engine overnight, were pushing forward, and Laura, after starting from the end of the grid, was driving as if she had found a recipe for success. It was evident that all the faults of the cars had been eliminated. Tiki entertained the audience by showing off his fine driving skills, while Dan was trying hard to move up to a point-scoring position. On Lap 2, Tadeáš had to stop in the pits due to a failure of a minor component of his car. In the end, Mateusz claimed the fourth place. Petr was sixth, and Laura, owing to her fantastic performance, moved up from the end of the grid to the eleventh place at the finish. Dan, after starting from the end of the grid as well, took an excellent thirteenth place, and Tiki was fourteenth.

This was a luckless weekend, with a number of failures of our cars. In simple terms, the unlucky number thirteen was too frequent. However, the whole team have done their best to overcome the obstacles. We look forward to your visit at the next racing event. For photographs and other information, please go to www.vekraracingteam.cz.