Hard lesson drawn from the WTCC

Michal Matějovský is well accustomed to fierce battles fought at circuits in the Czech Republic and abroad. Determined to struggle for the best possible result in his first FIA WTCC race, he got into the cockpit of his SEAT car shortly before the noon on Sunday. However, it is very difficult to make a good start from a spot in the middle of a grid of thirty drivers. This was the case on Sunday. That is, immediately after the start, there were several minor collisions right away in Turn 1. Michal Matějovský did manage to avoid them, but than, a few moments later, his car's left side was hit by one of his rivals. Michal's vehicle run off the track and almost remained stuck in the gravel of the escape area. After a short while, Michal managed to return on the track, and started chasing the drivers ahead of him. After several laps, he passed Russian driver Alexandr Lvov, with a Honda Accord, and came 22nd in this 10-lap race, with a time of 22:48.704.

At half past three in the afternoon, Michal was prepared at the eleventh row of the grid of the second race. He made a good start and immediately moved up by overtaking several cars. In the middle of the first lap, in one of the fierce battles, Michal attempted to pass Oliver Tielemans, of the Netherlands, with a BMW 320si. Unfortunately, a collision occurred and Michal had to retire from the race due to the damaged steering mechanism of his car. The Dutchman had to retire as well.

'Our objective for this race was to allow the driver to gain the maximum possible amount of experience. On Thursday, just before this racing event, Michal for the first time took the wheel of a WTCC race car. He kept improving his lap times gradually up to the level approximately corresponding to the middle of the grid, which is a very fine result. This proved true in the Saturday qualifying, which saw Michal claim the 19th place overall, with a time of 2:11.232. In the category of drivers not supported by the respective carmaker, he was fourth. His gap to the top ten drivers was less than two seconds. FIA WTCC races are hard fought, which is a well-known fact. I think that Michal has proved that he is well capable of contesting the WTCC races and that he will be able to move up to the top positions gradually. Now, we will focus on the SEAT Leon Eurocup again. I hope that Michal will soon qualify for some of the upcoming WTCC races by winning a race of the SEAT Leon Eurocup series,' Joan Orus, head of the Spanish team, said after the WTCC racing event.