ETCC in Imola: Disappointing result and moral reward for Petr Fulín

Czech racer arrived to Italy with the same amount of points as his main rival Kris Richard, after the Qualifying session he gained one-point advantage. But during the first race he found himself in the block of Richard and his colleague Aku Pellinen right after the start, so due to this and maximum compensation balast he ended fourth. For the second race Fulda had to catch up two points deficite.

Immediately in the race two, Petr Fulín started to fulfill his duty – not long after the start he went to the top position and kept it until the end. But Pellinen and Richard made themselves to second and third place, so in the end they could utilize their last spell: based on team orders, Pellinen left his second spot for Richard, which effectively meant championship title. The Swiss caught up with Fulda on points, in which case not even the amount of victories, but the higher number of second places decided. Irony of fate is the fact, that just this unsportsmanlike second place was the difference that decided the season.

"What to say to results, I am disappointed. Due to stewards' decisions in Slovakia and Portugal we had to fight till the very last race, just before the first testing in Imola we were shocked by the decision to slow down SEAT cars with increased ride height, which made our setup preparation useless. It was politics, strategy and directing, which had bigger impact than racing itself. I feel sorry for our partners, sponsors and fans, who stood behind us for the whole year. I don't wanna influence myself by this, racing is the thing which we enjoy and the reason we are here. I want to thank very much to everybody who was with us in Imola, I really appreciate the distance support by text messages and Facebook," says Petr Fulín.

Besides the final result, how were the races for the Czech racer? "In the first race I drove safely, I couldn't chase hondas on straights. Second race was open, during the opening laps I made it and I enjoyed the fight for fast laps and first place. Decisions made by others is something we can't influence. Life is short, so we will rather enjoy what it brought to us," Fulda reviews the past weekend.

The victory in the Race 2 was 21st success of Petr Fulín in the European Touring Car Cup. Whether we shall see him in the ETCC in the next season is to be decided.

Race 1 results in Imola (S2000):

1. Igor Stefanovski (MKD) SEAT Leon Cup Racer
2. Kris Richard (SUI) Honda Civic + 4.581
3. Aku Pelinen (FIN) Honda Civic + 5.096
4. PETR FULÍN (CZE) SEAT Leon Cup Racer + 5.780
5. Christjohannes Schreiber (SUI) SEAT Leon Cup Racer + 11.732
6. Norbert Nagy (HUN) SEAT Leon Cup Racer + 22.393
7. Claudio Truffer (SUI) Honda Civic + 23.015
8. Fábio Mota (POR) SEAT Leon Cup Racer + 24.198
9. Boštjan Avbelj (SLO) SEAT Leon Cup Racer + 35.739
10. Peter Rikli (SUI) Honda Civic + 53.148

Race 2 results in Imola (S2000):

1. PETR FULÍN (CZE) SEAT Leon Cup Racer
2. Kris Richard (SUI) Honda Civic + 1.837
3. Aku Pelinen (FIN) Honda Civic + 2.624
4. Fábio Mota (POR) SEAT Leon Cup Racer + 7.346
5. Andreas Pfister (GER) SEAT Leon Cup Racer + 7.552
6. Boštjan Avbelj (SLO) SEAT Leon Cup Racer + 7.774
7. Adrian Spescha (SUI) SEAT Leon Cup Racer + 8.590
8. Norbert Nagy (HUN) SEAT Leon Cup Racer + 8.811
9. Christjohannes Schreiber (SUI) SEAT Leon Cup Racer + 9.353

Final championship standings (S2000):

1. Kris Richard (SUI) Honda Civic 109 bodů
2. PETR FULÍN (CZE) SEAT Leon Cup Racer 109 b.
3. Norbert Nagy (HUN) SEAT Leon Cup Racer 58 b.
4. Peter Rikli (SUI) Honda Civic 57 b.
5. Manuel Fernandes (POR) SEAT Leon Cup Racer 40 b.
6. Mladen Lalušić (SRB) SEAT Leon Cup Racer 40 b.
7. Fábio Mota (POR) SEAT Leon Cup Racer 32 b.
8. Christjohannes Schreiber (SUI) SEAT Leon Cup Racer 28 b.
9. Aku Pellinen (FIN) Honda Civic 15 b.
10. Igor Stefanovski (MKD) SEAT Leon Cup Racer 14 b.