Dramatic Endurance race won in GT3 by Richard Chlad jr.

Dramatic Endurance race won in GT3 by Richard Chlad jr.

Saturday saw a very dramatic battle in the Endurance race which had to be decided in the stewards meeting. In the end, Richard Chlad jr. from K&K Racing was declared as a race winner in GT3 category. Winners in GTC were Filip and Samuel Sládečka.

Qualifying went especially well for Olimp Racing which took the first row. Stanislav Jedlinski started the race, with Mateusz Lisowski, who was much faster throughout the weekend, replacing him in the middle of the race. On the other hand, Marcin Jedlinski decided to do a one-hour long race completely on his own. However, all the plans were thrown away right at the beginning as Richard Chlad jr. made the perfect rolling start and put his black Audi R8 LMS ultra right between both Olimp Racing’s driver with Audi R8 LMS. And Chlad jr. went into the lead.

The opening lap of the race saw also some accidents. First, Marcin Jedlinski hit a Lamborghini Huracan of Sládečka Motorsport.  Then Stanislav Jedlinski sent Daniel Skalický‘s white Audi of Duck Racing team into a spin. Despite such a hectic first lap, a race control did not send Safety Car on the track. Just yet.

After the first lap, Richard Chlad jr. led the race ahead of Marcin Jedlinski, followed by a duo Sládečka-Konopka. Both pairs then started battling, with Chlad jr. and Sládečka defending their positions, while Jedlinski and Konopka were looking for any opportunity how to get ahead of their competitors. 

It was not all fun for Jedlinski though, who began to struggle with tyre wear. That meant additional time at the pits for changing the tyres. Drivers were supposed to pit in the middle of the race, but then the situation got complicated. After Libor Milota had to stop his Mercedes in the first corner due to a broken brake disc, the race control sent out the Safety Car. At that point drivers decided to pit early, not realising the rules do not allow pitstops under the Safety Car.

That is why there were several penalties handed over after the race and the race results changed dramatically. In the end, Richard Chlad jr. took the winner’s trophy after finishing ahead of Miro Konopka and Marcin Jedlinski. A duo Mateusz Lisowski–Stanislav Jedlinski finished 4th.

In the GTC category, Filip and Samuel Sládečka won ahead of Robert Zwinger, all in Lamborghini Huracan. Black SEATs of Zengo Motorsport then dominated in the TC category, with Gábor Kismarty-Lechner adding his first win of 2019, ahead of his team mates Klaus Kother and Tamás Horváth in 2nd.