EuroCup title fight still open after DNFs

2010. szeptember 5. 12:07 | még nem szólt hozzá senki.  szerző: Viktor Adorján

Gábor Wéber and title rival Michael Rossi both retired from Race 2 of the SEAT Leon EuroCup in Oschersleben due accidents in the early stage of the race. The title fight remains open Murray closes the gap on the leaders. Diego wins ahead Larini but results remain provisional.

The field of the SEAT Leon EuroCup produced a quite messy Race 2 once again as several accidents outnumbered drivers aiming for top positions of the championship. The situation was looking promising even before Race 2 was started as top three drivers of the championship started the race from 7th, 8th and 9th on the grid following Gábor Wéber's victory and Michael Rossi's 2nd place on Race 1.

We didn't know then that their battle will last only for the first few hundred meters as Gábor Wéber was hit twice before he even got to Turn 1 and therefore he was forced to retire again from Race 2 right at the beginning of the race.

Then it was looking disastrous for Wéber and Zengő-Dension Team's title ambitions as Michael Rossi managed to continue the race after making contact with Wéber. The French driver was running 5th behind the leaders including Marcos De Diego whose car crashed into Wéber's strongly.

Zengő-Dension Team's Andrea Larini was leading the race in the early stages but towards the first tierce of the distance he was overtaken by Marcos De Diego who cruised to take provisional victory on Race 2. Diego along with Wéber and fellow drivers have been put under investigation by the stewards for their role in the accidents at the start.

Larini had a tough race as he was attacked from behind on a regular basis and a reasonably large pack was formed behind him. In this carnage Rossi and Fulin made contact which caused a puncture for the French driver. It means that neither Wéber nor Rossi was able to score points on Race 2, they will head to the final weekend of the season on equal points.

Photos from Race 2 of the SEAT Leon EuroCup

Race 2 didn't bring success for Duarte Félix da Costa either. The Portuguese driver was aiming to improve his championship situation to have better chance to take 3rd but his diffuser damaged early before he had to retire. Da Costa completed 10 laps with a limited pace but eventually he didn't finish the race.

As a result of the many accidents and retirements Imre Birizdó came close to score points in Germany but he finished 9th on the provisional timetable which might change later as some kind of intervention by the stewards is likely following the damaging incidents at the start.

While the results stay provisional it is already possible to draw a conclusion regarding the title race; Murray closed the gap significantly and kept his title hopes alive but the race is mainly between Wéber and Rossi. Both drivers have scored 42 points but with a completely different way, this makes it possible for Wéber to have three race wins over 5 rounds and 5 DNFs  or disqualification.

The field is now heading over to Valencia for the final round of the 2010 season where everything will be decided between Wéber and Rossi in two weeks time.

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