The mechanics with support trucks departed to Misano in Italy on Tuesday evening. They arrived to the circuit during the night from Wednesday to Thursday. Santa Monica circuit is located 20 km south of well-known seaside resort Rimini. The track is 3,488 metres long with minimum altitude differences. It is driven 'on the left hand'. Friday was reserved for journalists, who could enjoy being driven on co-pilot’s seat.
The teams could use this opportunity to extend testing of trucks and the racing track alike. Gerd was making splendid times with Buggyra, but after about ten laps one of the paired turbochargers failed and the truck had to go to paddock to have the turborcharger changed. After having returned to the track the engine started to overheat and team manager Martin Koloc decided to take Buggyra to the paddock and to make a thorough check. Until 4.30 a.m. the mechanics were thoroughly adjusting the cooling system. The results of their night work materialized not later than on Saturday morning during three free practices. Gerd was making excellent times around sixth place with losses to fastest pilots in the range between several tenths to one second. In the measured practice of Saturday afternoon our pilot ranked seventh after half of the assigned time. During a short break Martin decided to change the tyres on front axle and to increase engine performance by five per cent. The decision proved to be correct, because Gerd’s results were immediately improved and he climbed to rank six, overtaking also the Mercedeses of Faure from France and Parrish from the UK. Much to the disappointment of the team and Buggyra fans Gerd had to start from the last row of the qualification grid. After three hours of discussions in the evening FIA Technical Commission did not recognize the time achieved during the practice because of exceeding the speed limit of 160 km/h. "We checked telemetry records and found out that Gerd indeed exceeded the speed limit, namely by mere 0.16 km/h over the period of 0.2 second. Moreover this happened during the formation lap", said Martin with considerable disappointment. "Nevertheless in fact we have broken the rules and there is nothing else to do but continue to struggle. We are good enough to attempt reaching sixth place in the final race."
On Sunday Gerd started to fulfil this statement right from the beginning of the qualification. Step by step he was making his way forwards and in the middle of the race he was already ranking sixth. It seemed he would try to attack the leading group, but then suddenly his truck slowed down and went out of the track. After a thorough check it was found that his efforts were stopped by deformed valve in one of the cylinders. The mechanics started to work immediately and succeeded in changing the valve. Gerd decided to fight against the odds once again in the final race. This time, however, the hopes were gone even prior to the appearance of the green light on start. During the formation lap the truck started to release thick grey smoke and instead of attacking front positions Buggyra had no other chance but to retreat to the paddock without a chance to score any points.
In two weeks we will try to improve the results at the A1 Ring in Zeltweg in Austria. Do not forget that we will meet at the home circuit of Most already in 96 days!
