ETCC Finale: Dramatic fights and the title for Petr Fulín, supported with the victory on home soil

Unpredictable conditions accompanied whole racing weekend in Northwest of Bohemia, since Friday sessions it was clear that any work on setup will be very hard. Even Saturday‘s Qualifying was influenced by changing weather and in the end, Petr Fulín missed front row for Sunday first race by one thousandth. In the race Fulda managed to gain the lead, then a hit from another title competitor came. Although Igor Stefanovski was penalized for this accident, Fulda lost his position and had to settle with third place. Thanks to penalty of another racer in front of him, Czech driver took second spot. With regards to the hit‘s power, podium spot was a good result.

Into the second race Czech driver entered with one less title contender, Norbert Nagy and Christjohannes Schreiber were close, however. Shortly after the start, Fulda fought up to the third place and controlled position securing him the title. After collision of drivers in front of him, Fulda took advantage of the situation and let nobody to get ahead of him until the end: „The weekend was perfect, but I must say we enjoyed the season as a whole. Sometimes it was heart-attacking, especially here in Most, but we managed it. I must thank to the team, which did amazing job through the year, and I definitely must thank to fans, who came here regardless of bad weather, they were numerous and we felt their support.“

Fulda‘s title wasn‘t underlined only by his victory in the last race, good performance showed also his son Petr junior, who excelled with sixth and fourth place during his ETCC debut: „Weekend was complicated, because until very few days to go I didn‘t know for sure I would race. Changing conditions were far from ideal to get some knowledge about the car, I had to explore limits of the the track rather than limits of the car. I knew who was driving the same specification of the car, so I tried to compare myself with them. During the Race One it was good, I gained four positions. I definitely didn‘t want to start on a pole position for the second race, so I wanted to be as far as possible from the eight place. In the Race Two I took fourth place, which I would take happily before the weekend, but considering how close the front of the race was and that pace of the frontrunners was in few tenths, I thought it was manageable to be on podium with dad. I am, however, very satisfied.“

„I really must take off my hat for my son, he drove older specification, which should be in theory slower by a second per lap, but regardless of it and regardless of his long pause he drove perfectly. We had no deal before races, but still we were able to suit each other, it was simply a special moment for me: We raced at home, with my son on the track, successfully for the title,“ adds Petr Fulín to his son‘s performances. During the races, two drivers of Fullin Race Academy appeared: Petr Čížek and Maciej Laszkiewicz took 10th and 11th place respectively in their ETCC debut.

Forty-year old Fulín is back on the European throne after two seasons, after last year‘s bitter defeat due to rival team orders, he could celebrate his third title this time. „We had weaker moments like Hungaroring, where we couldn‘t make a proper setup, but overall it all worked like a well-oiled machine and I am very happy of it,“ sums Petr Fulín his feelings.