The track at St. Paul hosted the fifth and last run of the Austrian Nationals.
On saturday, arriving at the track, I already had a crash almost immediatly at the beginning of the first practice heat, which forced us to repair the car and prevented me from driving the next two heats, making me easy prey for the other drivers.
However, I got my car to work again and from then on the weekend went pretty well, qualifying as fifth after the qualification heats.
Here is the top 5 after the qualification:
1. Manuel Huber Xray NT1
2. Gerhard Kandelhart Xray NT1
3. Leonardo Varga 4. Kurt Hubeny Xray NT1
5. Manuel Singer Xray NT1
The semifinals went by leading to following final starting grid:
1. Manuel Huber Xray NT1
2. Manuel Singer Xray NT1
3. Gerhard Kandelhart Xray NT1
4. Kurt Hubeny Xray NT1
5. Andreas Stiebler Xray NT1
6. Franz Engel Xray NT1
7. Gernot Baumgartner Xray NT1
8. Jochen KAtzmayer Xray NT1
9. Franz Brandner Xray NT1
10. Julian Schober
After the semi finals I was pretty pleased with my second position, but I made my tyres too big and ended up with grip rolling the first half of the 45 minute final.
So I already lost my second place after two corners into the final and ended up last after some minutes, leaving lots of space for the leader pack, which consisted of Kandelhart and Huber, to drive away from the field. But after twenty minutes I was finally able to start pushing and so I ended up second just before Kandelhart.
Also Kurt Hubeny and Franz Engel had a tough race, with both fighting for second position in the championship. However, in the end Hubeny took the lead on Engel, which resulted in him becoming vice-champion.
Race results:
1. Manuel Huber XRAY NT1
2. Manuel Singer XRAY NT1
3. Gerhard Kandelhart XRAY NT1
4. Kurt Hubeny XRAY NT1
5. Gernot Baumgartner XRAY NT1
6. Franz Engel XRAY NT1
7. Andreas Stiebler XRAY NT1
8. Jochen Katzmayer XRAY NT1
9. Franz Brandner XRAY NT1
10. Julian Schober
Overall results of the Austrian Championship:
1. Manuel Singer XRAY NT1
2. Kurt Hubeny XRAY NT1
3. Franz Engel XRAY NT1
4. Jochen Katzmayer XRAY NT1
5. Andreas Stiebler XRAY NT1
6. Leonardo Varga
7. Julian Schober 8. Gerhard Kandelhart XRAY NT1
9. Markus Berer XRAY NT1
10. Franz Brandner XRAY NT1
I want to thank Xray, Xray Shop Austria and last but not least my father, for their long lasting support over the last 10 years and providing me with the tools needed for my success.
