Brno - Cars.cz Charouz Racing Team grabs pole position for both weekend races of Dision 4
(24.04.2010)
The official programe of the opening round of 2010 Czech Touring Cars Championship started at Brno Circuit today with qualifying for Saturday’s Endurance Race of Division 4 and Sunday’s Sprint Race of Division 4 over 2000cc. Tomas Kostka with Cars.cz Charouz Racing’s Mercedes-Benz C AMG DTM was the fastest driver in qualifying for sprint and he will start from the pole position on Sunday. Saturday’s endurance race will both black-red-silver cars start from first row of the grid.Cars.cz Charouz Racing Team will enter two cars Mercedes-Benz C AMG DTM into both weekend’s races. On Sunday in Sprint Race of Division 4 over 2000 cc they will be driven by Tomas Kostka and Rudolf Machanek. Young Czech driver Tomas Kostka took part in DTM championship last season and today he fully demonstrated his abilities: only one quick lap was enough for him to grab pole position. He was almost two seconds faster than all his competitors. Experienced Slovak driver Rudolf Machanek will start from sixth position on Sunday.
Cars.cz Charouz Racing Team was even more successful in afternoon qualifying for endurance race of Division 4. The team will enter both cars also in the endurance race on Sunday. Behind the wheels of both Mercedes-Benz C AMG DTM cars will be the same crews: Antonin Charouz, Lukas Lichtner-Hoyer, Tomas Enge and Tomas Kostka. All four driver participated in Friday’s qualifying and they all succeeded yet in the qualifying: both cars will start from first row of the grid.
Tomas Enge: „It was great day for our team. We succeeded in boht qualifying, for endurance race and for the sprint race. I was really enjoying driving Mercedes-Benz DTM again.It is great racing car and the team had prepared the car really well. I am looking forward for tomorrow’s race.“
Lukas Lichtner-Hoyer: „The car is better balanced with a lot better aerodynamic than GT car. Maybe little bit less power than GT1 car, but still a lot of power. Thanks to the aerodynamics, the DTM car is maybe 7 seconds faster than GT1 car, that I was driving. It is completely new for me, it took me few laps, but I am very happy, because I am closing to the professionals. I have to say, I also like this circuit. Brno is one of my favourite racing tracks.“
Tomas Kostka: „I am really happy, that I have the opportunity to race for Cars.cz Charouz Racing Team. I would like to run whole season with DTM car again. I like this car, although there are some differences between this car and the car, that I drove last year. But I really like the engine and gearbox of Mercedes.“
Antonin Charouz: „This was really nice day for our team and I want to say thank you to all members of the team. I hope, that whole the weekend will be so successful for us. But we will see. In the race is everything possible.“
The endurance race starts on Saturday, April 24 at 4:10pm.
Sprint Race Division 4 over 2000cc qualifying results
| 1. | Kostka | Cars.cz CHRS | Mercedes | 1:51.684 |
| 2. | Sládečka | BRT | Audi | 1:53.599 |
| 3. | Daniš | BRT | Audi | 1:55.294 |
| 4. | Rosina | TopCar | Porsche | 1:57.938 |
| 5. | Konopka | ARC | Saleen | 1:58.805 |
| 6. | Machánek | Cars.cz CHRS | Mercedes | 2:01.308 |
| 7. | Herbeck | Rock Media | Pagani | 2:02.498 |
| 8. | Liedel | AutoSportTeam | Audi | 2:02.728 |
Endurance Race Division 4 qualifying results
| 1. | Cars.cz CHRS |
1 |
Mercedes | 1:49.520 |
| 2. | Cars.cz CHRS |
11 |
Mercedes | 1:51.107 |
| 3. | TopCar Machánek |
10 |
Porsche | 1:57.627 |
| 4. | Rock Media Motors |
93 |
Ferrari | 1:59.338 |
| 5. | Greyhound Star Motor Racing |
3 |
Ferrari | 2:00.258 |
| 6. | Menx s.r.o. |
101 |
Ferrari | 2:02.461 |
| 7. | G-Private Racing |
16 |
Porsche | 2:04.475 |
| 8. | ARC Bratislava |
7 |
Porsche | 2:04.869 |
PHOTOGALERY
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Photo: BPA/Milos Rybar
The schedule of Round 1 of 2010 Czech Touring Cars Championship
| Friday | April 23 |
| 11:35-12:05 | Qualifying - Sprint Race D4 over 2000cc |
| 18:00-18:40 | Qualifying - Endurance Race D4 |
| Saturday | April 24 |
| 12:20-12:30 | Warm-Up - Endurance Race D4 |
| 16:10-19:25 | Endurance Race D4 |
| Sunday | April 25 |
| 09:20-09:30 | Warm-Up - Sprint Race D4 over 2000cc |
| 13:05-13:55 | Sprint Race D4 over 2000cc |
Drivers line-up of Cars.cz Charouz Racing Team
Endurance Race, Saturday, April 24
| 1 | Mercedes-Benz C AMG DTM | Antonín Charouz (CZE) |
| Tomáš Enge (CZE) | ||
| Lukas Lichtner-Hoyer (AUT) | ||
| Tomáš Kostka (CZE) | ||
| 11 | Mercedes-Benz C AMG DTM | Antonín Charouz (CZE) |
| Tomáš Enge (CZE) | ||
| Lukas Lichtner-Hoyer (AUT) | ||
| Tomáš Kostka (CZE) |
Sprint Race, Sunday, April 25
| 1 | Mercedes-Benz C AMG DTM | Rudolf Machánek (SVK) |
| 11 | Mercedes-Benz C AMG DTM | Tomáš Kostka (CZE) |