Brno opens the 2nd half of SEAT Leon EuroCup

2010. július 28. 21:41 | még nem szólt hozzá senki.  szerző: Viktor Adorján

The 2010 SEAT Leon EuroCup is about to enter its 2nd half as the Automotodrom Brno will host the 7th and 8th race of the season. Three major title contenders have emerged so far including Gábor Wéber whose task is to regain the points he lost in Brands Hatch two weeks ago.

Nobody has been able to claim more than one victory so far this season as the second half of the 2010 SEAT Leon EuroCup is about to begin in Brno. The big question is whether any of the main title contenders will be able to take their first wins of the second half in the Czech Republic.

Whoever can do it, he will make his position stronger in the run for the championship as the competition is tight on the timesheets and on the point table as well. Thanks to his consistent performance French driver Michael Rossi is leading the championship with 29 points ahead Eoin Murray (24) and Zengő-Dension Team's Gábor Wéber (22).

Wéber has thrown away three races so far due an exclusion in Monza, a crash with Rossi in Brands Hatch and a non point scoring finish on Race 2 of the UK which means that his 22 points were collected via his victory on the season opener in Monza and the two outstanding third places in Zolder.

It is certainly a situation which has got room for improvement because Wéber is clearly up to speed but his main rival Michael Rossi has been more consistent therefore collected more points that the first ever Hungarian winner of the SEAT Leon EuroCup.

It could be worse

Following his DNF in Brands Hatch Wéber had to try to recover from the back of the grid on Race 2 and he was looking certain to score a few points but Francisco Carvalho's frightening accident stopped Wéber on his way to join the point scorers as the race was stopped.

Race 2 was not restarted which meant that Wéber finished outside the points but the drivers didn't complete the 75% of the race distance which meant that they were given only the half of the points they collected. As a result of this Rossi scored only 4 points for his 2nd place instead 8 so Wéber is still in the game but he is 7 points behind the leader which is a considerable gap.

Brands Hatch brought the opposite for Duarte Félix da Costa who finally took 2nd place on Race 1 after many disappointments in 2010. The Portuguese driver was able to convert his pace into points on Race 1 but his fellow countryman's accident resulted that he ended up 8th on Race 2 which gave only 0.5 points for him.

It is now too late for Duarte to have a say in the championship but with 6 races to go there are chances for successes especially if the frontrunners start to play the waiting game and begin to settle for the good points instead going for the victories at all costs.

Hoping for a better continuation

So far the season hasn't worked out quite well for Andrea Larini and Zengő-Dension Team's young driver Imre Birizdó. Larini has scored 13 points but all of them were collected in Monza on his home race which means he couldn't get into the top 8 in Zolder and Brands Hatch.

The situation is similar for Imre Birizdó who is showing the signs of improvement but not experienced enough yet to break into the very competitive first segment of the field. In Brands Hatch he was a victim of racing in the extremely tight field as he made a considerable step towards the frontrunners but at first glance the results didn't show it.

Brno and Zengő Motorsport

Despite this being the 2nd occasion when the SEAT Leon EuroCup is visiting the Czech Republic, the circuit is not unknown for Zengő Motorsport. Last year Norbert Michelisz claimed an pole position and retired from the lead just a few kilometers from the checkered flag but recovered with an astonishing drive and took 2nd on Race 2 on Sunday.

That was the first time when the team operated two different squads in two different championships in two different countries in the same time with Gábor Wéber racing then in Hungary along with fellow SEAT Leon Cup drivers while Norbert Michelisz and his team mates were in action in Brno.

Endurance races hosted by the Automotodrom Brno have been preferred destinations for team principal Zoltán Zengő over the years when he was working as the head of the circuit racing division of Hungarian motorsport federation (MNASZ) and was looking for possibilities to race.

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