Archive

SR3 RS Wins 12-Hour Czech Enduro

4th November 2009

A Radical SR3 RS has taken victory at the Brno 12 Hours, rounding off a successful season for Radical Czech & Slovak Republics. On Dunlop road tyres, the distributor team battled through treacherous conditions to take the win, as described by driver Zbynek Passer:

“The Brno 12 Hours was probably my toughest-ever race. Our SR3 was up against larger endurance racers such as the BMW M3GTR and Porsche 911RSR and- like the Le Mans Series- even several diesels.

I stepped out for the driver’s briefing at 06:30 and slipped on ice. It was -3°C and by the start of the race at 8am had only climbed by a degree. Despite our randomly-selected grid position of ninth, by the end of the first lap we were first. The lead was built over the next two hours, the car felt excellent and used very little fuel.

A lengthy stop-go penalty dropped our team to ninth, thirteen laps down on the leaders with nightfall approaching. With third driver David Palmi in the car, that deficit was rapidly reduced to only four laps from the leaders. I then took over the car for the final two hours after the refuel, chasing down the leader through freezing fog.

With our night-time pace some 13 seconds a lap faster than every other car, we were still in with a chance. The track was extremely slippery and all remaining drivers slowed down as nobody wanted to risk retiring in the last few minutes of the race.

The leader and his team started to celebrate, while I pushed as hard as possible on the icy circuit. With less than three minutes to the end of the race I recognized the tail-lights of the leading car. He was so surprised to see our Radical again, that he didn’t even defend the lead! As a result, we took first place on the penultimate lap after twelve hours of racing…“

The win at Brno brings Radical Czech Republic a hat-trick of victories, following success at Most in May and October’s endurance events. The next race for the team is at Brno in March next year.