Czech Pilots Strike It Unlucky with Grand Finals 2013 Timed Practice Sessions

- 13. 11. 2013, New Orleans, USA -

Prior to the Grand Finals 2013 Qualifying on Wednesday were two free practice sessions. In the Senior Max category, Petr Běžel took third place in the first of them; the 22nd place went to Jiří Forman. The only Czech representative in the Junior Max category, Tomáš Salva, finished in 52nd place. The final series of the free practice sessions came out well for Petr Běžel as he got the third place in overall, that means in both groups standings. Jiří Forman finished in 27th place. Owing to some technical problems, Tomáš Salva got no better but 65th place in the Juniors.

As to the afternoon's timed practice sessions, the Czech representatives were full of hope, since the times the pilots had been clocked at in the morning's sessions were nearly equal. Another group of pilots acted tactically in their timed practice sessions during first laps not to drive to the full until five minutes before the finish. After the first fast lap, however, two of those drivers collided while leaving the straight, and two pilots driving behind at 120km per hour bumped into them. Unluckily, one of those was our pilot Jiří Forman. The timed practice session prematurely ended, therefore the times would be far slower than in Group 1.

What this ill luck had delivered was Petr Běžel's 27th place, and the 50th place that went to Jiří Forman, who had not driven any of those fast laps. What is more his kart was badly damaged; therefore tomorrow he has to start with a new chassis, which has not been tested and run yet.

"I was going just a few meters behind two pilots who had been among the first ten in the morning, and during that lap I was slowly closing on them. At the end of the longest straight I was nearly behind Frenchman Cousin, but while trying to overtake he collided with a competitor before him. What followed is a collision at high speed; my kart is completely destroyed, and my body is all bruised," Jiří Forman, the first unlucky pilot out of the Czech drivers, depicts that fearsome accident.

"I was planning to be among the first five pilots in the timed practice in total; I was still leading the group in the middle of it. However, the collision occurred, and the session untimely ended. Unfortunately, just at the moment I was driving the fast lap," Petr Běžel, another unlucky man in the Czech expedition, bitterly complains.

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