Enge’s another podium for Czechs - 11.12.2005

Tomáš Enge scored the third position in the sprint race at Dubai Autodrome and for the second race weekend in a row tasted the feeling on the podium. The Czech driver was fighting high also in the feature race but his car was damaged with two incidents.

Dubai offered a nice weather for the whole weekend and both races provided spectacular action with a lot of fights. Enge was seventh on the grid for the sprint race and he held the position for first few laps. The experienced Czech driver was able to avoid mistakes and the team gave him reliable car and the combination allowed climbing up the order. The last lap move on the Ireland car put Enge on the podium.

The Czech car was on the clean line on the grid for the feature race but Enge’s start was not the best one and he lost few positions. He managed to avoid trouble in the tight first corner but had no chance to prevent contact with the Robbie Kerr who used the Czech car as an aid for slowing at the corner. Enge continued even with damaged steering and was fighting with the Canadian car for the seventh place. Unfortunately, their fight ended with a touch that resulted in a long pitstop and that ended any chance of scoring points.

The Czechs are currently 12th in the championship standing but the performances in the last two races are highly encouraging and promising for the feature. Enge set the third fastest lap in both races today and combined with improved qualifying speed there is every chance that the Czech car will fight at the front again in the feature. Dubai was the last race of the year 2005 and the whole Czech team wish everybody Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. See you in 2006.

Tomas Enge: “It would have been nicer to finish the second race on the podium but the points are the same in each race. The sprint was good, my car was working perfectly. Of course, we had some luck because others had problems or made mistakes but it is part of the game. I am happy that our team regularly give me reliable car in the races. The feature race did not start so well and the contact with Kerr damaged my steering. I think that he did a bit stupid move because I left a lot of room for him but he was not able to make the corner and used my car as a brake. Anyway, the car was still driveable and I was able to fight for the points. I was fighting with McIntosh and I had better exit and tried to overtake him. I thought that he knew about me because he left some room but suddenly he turned. There was contact and that was it. It is a shame that we lost opportunity to score more points but at least we have shown that we are on pace. We closed the gap in the qualifying and confirmed that we are strong in the races.”

Antonin Charouz, Seat holder: “We are happy with another podium but we should have scored points also in the feature race. I have not seen the accident with the Canadian car, so I can not comment it. The positive thing is that we are quick in both qualifying and races.”