The Clio Cup will have a strong starting field in the second event of the season. Fourteen Clios are sing up for the popular and fast Red Bull Ring in Austria.
Of the fourteen cars, two models will represent the latest generation of the Clio V. Although it is a less powerful than the Clio IV, the experienced Tomáš Pekař at the Hungaroring showed that the car is able to fight for the top three overall. Pekař´s Carpek Service team will enter Clio V for both Pekař himself and junior driver Henrik Seibel.
The other three cars of the Carpek Service team are Clio IV. They will be driven by Richard Meixner, rally driver Libor Horák and young Austrian Tobias Poschik, who won one of the two races at the Hungaroring. The other winner from Hungary is another newcomer Szabolcs Lantos from NNR Team Hungary.
“I would like to see similar results as in the Hungaroring and I will do my best to win the championship,” Said Lantos after the first event.
Clio Cup entry list had also two well-known drivers from the past – Thomas Fischer from the MSC Rottenegg team and Lukáš Uxa from the Art of Racing. Both will appear behind the wheel after a long break.
“I mainly want to have fun. The time when I had a racing team, two mechanics, a team boss, the best cook in the paddock, a caravan and a big truck as a background is gone. So I’m going to drive a fun model with the fourth generation of Clio. I pull the car on my own, change the wheels myself, do the basic service and then I will hope that nothing goes wrong,” said Uxa.
Miha Primožič from the Lema Racing team took two third places in the opening event and he would certainly like to follow up on this result. Valter Nežič (AK Buzet Autosport) holds the fourth place in overall standings, however in the Gentleman driver category he leads ahead of Richard Meixner, Igor Tomljanovič (Becker Racing) and Ivan Gustin (AK Istra Racing Team Pazin). They´ll all show up at the Red Bull Ring. Jiří Zbožínek will also be there, while Michael Hulm from the Steibel Motorsport team will try the Clio Cup for the first time.
The first Clio Cup race will start at 15:25 on Saturday, the second will take place on Sunday at 10:15.