Better than expected

Europe’s Indian summer has reached the Czech Republic where the cool and misty start to the day is predicted to clear away, with temperatures in the high 20s to follow today and tomorrow. The European Rallycross Championship too is enjoying a late blooming with a large entry assembled for this weekend’s final round on the Autodrom Česká Lípa at Sosnová. With all three titles in the series settled in the Polish event a month ago, there was a possibility that this would be a quiet end-of-season event, but the popularity of the track and the relative ease of access for many drivers has combined to produce a full paddock.

A welcome name on the list is that of Morten Bermingrud, but the Norwegian is not at the wheel of his own Citroën C4 Supercar, the Mtechnologies version usually driven by Marc Laboulle sitting in his awning instead. “My car was ready, everything is repaired, the car is painted and we could have been here but Oreca were not able to get an engine ready for me because there is a delay with some parts,” said Bermingrud. “I broke an engine in Holland and then there was a problem with the one that was in the car when it caught fire, the fire did not cause this problem, it was something else, but without an engine it looked like we would not be able to race here.”

Bermingrud’s sponsors came to the rescue and the deal to rent the Mtechnologies car was done. “I have to thank the sponsors because I would not be here. When I told them we had the engine problem and would not able to race, they suggested we should rent a car to do this event, it’s fantastic to have that kind of support. I’m very interested to drive this car because it has a transverse engine. It looks like that is the way things will change so it’s good to try it now,” said Bermingrud.

As expected there are several additions to the entry, the most notable being the already mentioned appearances by David Binks, Steven Bossard and Marc Basseng – the latter the fourth car in the Münnich Motorsport squad here. Elsewhere Zdeněk Čermák’s CB Motorsport team is up to three cars for its home event; Čermák in his new Fabia, Pavel Vimmer in the Fabia he raced in Belgium and Poland and Jaroslav Vančík joining the team in the second of its ‘Mk1’ Fabias. Also doubling up on home ground, Pavel Koutný is fielding both his own Fiesta VII and his older car which will be raced by Marek Zeman. Among the more unusual cars in the paddock is Standa Brunát’s Seat Leon Supercar, set to become the first diesel-powered car to race in the class.

The timetable for the event follows the usual pattern; free practice from 1030 this morning, timed practice at 1400 and the first heats at 1600. After an 0830 warm-up tomorrow, the second day begins in earnest at 1000.

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