Fulín dominated, Semerád took the lead in the championship
Petr Fulín, with a Cupra, dominated the opening race during the final weekend of the season at Most. The Fullinrace Academy team finished one-two thanks to Petr Čížek, who came in second place. Coming in third, Petr Semerád has taken the lead in the driver standings by just one point.
As the red lights went off, the penultimate race of the season began. Petr Fulín led the starting field into the tricky first chicane and, as he drove out of it without any trouble, his mission was accomplished. He immediately started to create a gap between himself and Sebastian Steibel, who was defending his position from Petr Čížek and Bartosz Groszek.
Petr Semerád started from the back of the grid, but he moved up to the front very quickly and, after overtaking a couple of opponents, including his teammate Václav Janík, he found himself right behind the fighting trio of Groszek, Čížek, and Steibel. Semerád’s first serious attempt to overtake Groszek happened in the first chicane of the eighth lap, but Groszek successfully kept his position and Semerád lost a little bit of time.
Steibel was defending second position and Čížek was trying to find a way around the German driver. The opportunity came in the ninth lap while braking into the first chicane. Čížek overtook Steibel and that opened up the opportunity for Groszek, who also passed Steibel’s Cupra.
Time was ticking for Semerád. He also had to overtake Steibel in order to keep in touch with Groszek. Semerád succeeded one lap later and was soon behind his championship opponent again. The Hyundai driver made a move while braking into the chicane. Groszek had been keeping the lead, but Semerád made a slight contact with him in the chicane, which unbalanced Groszek’s Audi and allowed Semerád to go through.
As these exciting moments were happening, Petr Fulín was making the absolute fastest laps of the race and claimed an easy victory for him and the Fullinrace Academy team, whose members were also cheering for second-place Petr Čížek. In third, finished Petr Semerád; fourth was Groszek. That means Semerád has taken the lead in the driver standings from Groszek by just one point.
Steibel finished fifth after a great defensive drive. In sixth, was Václav Janík, who also received a five-second penalty for an incorrect starting position, but that didn’t change the result for him. He had a solid gap between himself and seventh-place Adam Rzepecki. Žarko Knego took eighth, ninth was Vít Smejkal, and tenth was Radim Adámek.
The Trophy category was won by Semerád, in front of Groszek and Steibel. Semerád has also won the Junior category.
After the podium ceremony, Petr Fulín drew the number 10, so he is going to start from tenth position in tomorrow’s race. The two championship contenders will be starting from positions seven and eight. Pole position was given to Radim Adámek.
UPDATE: The team Aditis Racing filed a protest againts the contact of Petr Semerád with Bartosz Groszek, but the collision has been ruled as a ‘racing incident’ by stewards. However the Aditis team used its rights and announced the intention to appeal to the jury. The rules say, that the team has 96 hours to make its decision.
