Petr Fulín’s 2018 season: Multiple competitions with plenty of successes

The result of agreement with team partners was a clear schedule – calendar – with four race weekends. Team was supposed to appear twice in TCR Germany, there was an aspiration for guest appearance in WTCR and in the final weekend of TCR Europe. Petr Fulín entered the season with CUPRA TCR racecar. During the year, Petr appeared, beyond any expectations, in ESET V4 Cup, Czech championship and in the end of the season in renewed Škoda Octavia Cup as well.

TCR Germany

In series full of competitors, Fulda spent no time in acclimatization, even in pre-season testing. In all sessions he got into Top 5. Team kept great mood and form for three weeks into April, when first two races in Oschersleben offered two opening races. Fulda regretted cautious setup for the first race, but seventh place had to be considered a success. In the Sunday race, team knew how to work with weather, so Fulda fought onto second place where he took chequered flag, closely following the winner.

Second race weekend took place on Autodrom Most and Fulda wanted to shine in front of his home crowd. And he managed to do it! Times across the field were almost levelled, but whole team under the leadership of Jaro Krajčí didn't tremble and Fulda took fifth place in Race 1. "In Saturday race, we had problems with tires," said Fulda about conditions. His team was, after all, getting experience with Hankook tires, used in German series, for the second weekend only. Sunday race was decided at start, which worked out for Fulda very well: "It was all about aggressiveness, but I managed to take first corner. Race was great, thanks to awesome crowd support!" Victory in front of (not only) home audience was one of the highlights of Fulda's season.

WTCR

Since the announcement of his schedule, Petr Fulín’s year was full of expectations of May competitions with world’s elite in the WTCR series. In the past, Fulda already had the opportunity to start in the world championship, but n the lower car category only. He won back then, but this time, there was a chance to fight for the absolute victory! Competition was expected on the Nürburgring track, where in theory, Fulda could erase guest starters’ handicap with his fearless style. Unfortunately, despite FIA confirmation of his start, promoter decided to cancel Fulda’s invitation and "top league" start seemed to be unreachable. Luckily, after troubles of Argentinian organizers, Slovakiaring reappeared in the calendar and near Bratislava, Fulda finally got the green light.

Despite the fact that part of mechanics and engineers was together with five drivers of FULLIN RACE ACADEMY heading into Lausitzring, weakened team "expedition" with Fulda in Slovakia did not disappoint. Fulda was able to reach times comparable with Top 5 and in the last race, he managed to get into Top 5 in the results, too. Czech driver left many of WTCC / WTCR regulars behind and lost less than a half second to former world champion!

ESET V4 Cup

After July start on Slovakiaring, Fulda had few months of seemed free time ahead. Apart from the racing itself, Czech driver was co-commentating Formula 1 championship or world touring car cup in the television and was – obviously – travelling with his trainees in FULLIN RACE ACADEMY. During one race weekend, all of a sudden, option to race appeared. One of ESET V4 Cup series drivers was looking for a colleague for hour-long Endurance race. By coincidence, Fulda jumped behind the wheel of his 2017 ETCC winning car and after good qualification and starting stint, he reached podium position in Slovakia.

Fulda visited International series of Central European Zone in the beginning of September, on Masaryk circuit in Brno. Cooperation was planned ahead this time, but Fulda managed to get another racing experience again: "I went to Brno to help Carlo Wittke with the setup of his Cupra TCR, but on Friday, option to drive a few laps in Audi R8 GT4 of Stefan Wieninger appeared. I guess that times corresponded with the expectations of all of us, so we decided to compete in Endurance race with him as well." Fulda’s result of two closely followed stints in two completely different cars, different crews and different categories? Two trophies… In two scheduled weekends, Fulda managed to get into second place in Endurace races in his category and he even won in the separately rated Czech championship!

Škoda Octavia Cup

Petr Fulín has paid attention to renewed Škoda Octavia Cup since its beginnings, a week prior to his departure to Barcelona he took part in the last weekend as the special guest driver. He managed to dominate the entire field, including his trainees in FULLIN RACE ACADEMY and in the end, he won both races on Nürburgring! "In both races, we had the pace and after the first race, I stood on the podium with my son, which is a very special moment. Last year in Most, we lost it by a fraction, but this time, we did it," could not Fulda hide his joy after the successful weekend.

Evaluation of Petr Fulín’s performances was done by the FIA WTCR promoter as well. Within rating of the finished season, guest starters, appearing only once as wild card entries, were ranked as well.

This single weekend happened for Fulda on Slovakiaring and after gaining fifth place in the third, main race of the weekend, Fulda became second-best rated driver in this group. It contained sixteen drivers in total and Fulda managed to beat several renowned competitors. He lost to Daniel Nagy only, who drove on Hungaroring with the winning Hyundai car. Overall ranking of guest starters can be found here.

Video review of the season can be watched here. Racing schedule of Petr Fulín for the 2019 season is being organized, final timetable will be revealed in March.

Petr Fulín’s 2018 season in numbers:

TCR Germany

Oschersleben      Race 2               2^nd place    CUPRA TCR

Most                 Race 2               1^st place    CUPRA TCR

WTCR

Slovakiaring       Race 3               5^th place    CUPRA TCR

Season              Wild card entries 2^nd place    CUPRA TCR

ESET V4 Cup

Slovakiaring       Endurance race   2^nd place    CUPRA TCR

Brno                 Endurance race   1^st place    CUPRA TCR

Brno                 Endurance race   2^nd place    Audi R8 GT4

Season              -3500 category   2^nd place    CUPRA TCR

Czech championship

Season              -3500 category   1^st place    CUPRA TCR

Škoda Octavia Cup

Nürburgring        Race 1               1^st place    Škoda Octavia Cup III.

Nürburgring        Race 2               1^st place    Škoda Octavia Cup III.