20 May 2012

The SEAT driver’s two victories in Austria mean he now has a lead of 12 points in the Super 2000 category going into the final pair of races at Imola on June 24. Third overall and second in S2000 was Petr Fulín in a BMW, who has narrowed the gap to the driver ahead of him in the Championship standings, Peter Rikli, to just one point after Rikli’s Honda Civic finished 5^th overall.
In the Single-Make Trophy, Stian Paulsen took maximum points by finishing second overall behind Monje, but with one win and one second place apiece this weekend for Paulsen and Andreas Pfister, it was Pfister who took 21 points away from the Salzburgring compared to the 20 for Paulsen thanks to setting pole position in the SMT. Despite making the best start and leading the field into Turn 1, Urs Sonderegger failed to finish after hitting the tyre pile at T1 on the seventh lap and parking his SEAT in the barrier.
There were also incidents aplenty in Super 1600, with Paolo Necchi taking the maximum 10 points after passing category leader Kevin Krammes on lap 8. Ulrike Krafft then also passed Krammes, but contact between her Ford Fiesta and the Chevrolet Aveo of Vadim Meshcheryakov on the penultimate lap allowed Krammes to retake second place in the category and so leave Austria with a lead of 17 points over Necchi.
Nikolay Karamyshev took his second win of the day in Super Production, but despite the fact that there are only two competitiors in the category, that too had its share of dramas. A series of incidents involving Karamyshev and Aleksandar Tošić saw Tošić eventually coming off worse and having to take to the gravel. The pair are now separated by 11 points with only the two Imola races remaining.

Key moments
Start – Sonderegger is first into T1, ahead of Paulsen
Lap 1 – Contact between Gáspár and Pfister at T1, the latter spins
Lap 1 – Paulsen passes Sonderegger for the lead at T11
Lap 2 – Monje is up to 3^rd; Biter passes Rikli for 6^th
Lap 3 – Monje passes Paulsen and Sonderegger to take the lead
Lap 5 – Krafft onto the grass at the exit of T2
Lap 5 – Fulín passes Sonderegger for 3^rd; Gáspár passes Biter for 5^th
Lap 6 – Rikli passes Biter for 6^th
Lap 7 – Sonderegger hits tyre pile at T1 and crashes
Lap 8 – Contact between Tošić and Karamyshev
Lap 8 – Necchi passes Krammes to lead S1600; Krafft passes Meshcheryakov for 3^rd
Lap 9 – Lukas spins at T2 and rejoins
Lap 10 – Pfister passes Biter for 6^th; Krafft passes Krammes for 2^nd in S1600
Lap 11 – Contact between Krafft and Meshcheryakov, the latter spins off at T10
Lap 12 – Monje wins from Paulsen and Fulín; Necchi wins S1600