Albatec Racing continued its bid for FIA European Rallycross Championship honours in the third round of the nine-round series at the Nyirad Motorsport Centrum in Hungary today. The fledgling team fielding a pair of identical Peugeot 208s for Michael De Keersmaecker and Andy Scott, saw its chances of securing a place in the semi-finals ruined when De Keersmaecker suffered a heavy crash on the last lap of his final heat. There was disappointment too for Scott, who was forced out of his final heat with a brake issue, ending his hopes of a semi final slot.
The team had worked through the night to repair Scotts badly damaged Peugeot 208 after the three-car crash in heat two, and undertook some modifications to the car of De Keersmaecker in time for the morning warm-up around the 1.2km track. A solid pace netted the sixth fastest time for De Keersmaecker, who once again joined Scott in the line-up for heat three.
De Keersmaecker made a superb start from pole, however on the entry to turn one, he was passed by both Peter Hedstrom and Scott. With the Dumfries Scotsman electing to take his joker on the first lap, this promoted De Keersmaecker to second and over the next two laps, he sat right with the leader until Hedstrom took his joker lap. Retaking the lead, De Keersmaecker pushed hard to extend the gap but on the final tour he too had to take the longer lap, handing the lead back to Hedstrom.
The final heat saw Scott start second alongside Alexander Hvaal, with Petter Solberg, Attila Mozer and Andreas Bakkerud completing the line-up. At the lights, Scott made a good start to place third into the first corner but a brake issue on the final lap ended his race, and with it the chance of a place in the semi finals.
With all hopes now pinned on De Keersmaecker, laying eighth overall, the team had high hopes for the Belgian, who was happy with the pace of his JDK-backed car. Running second De Keersmaecker elected to take his joker lap early, and when he rejoined he was hit by Zoltan Vass, the contact resulting in a puncture. For three laps he held on to second place but as he approached a left hander, the tyre came off the rim and he was pitched into a dramatic barrel-roll. Although De Keersmaecker was stretchered to the medical centre for a precautionary check-up, he was later released with nothing more than a sore neck.
Andy Scott, Albatec Racing Driver car #26:
My car was rebuilt overnight, and in the first heat I had a reasonable start. I took the joker on the first lap, pushing hard on the second, but made a mistake before the crest which leads up to the joker section, and if Id tried to connect to the normal lap, Id have had an accident so I ended up taking the joker lap for the second time. But the two laps on the normal track were very fast.
In the second heat I had a good start, there was no point fighting into the first corner so I conceded, and the race was going well until I had brake issues in the joker lap which resulted in me retiring.
I think the positive we can take from the week-end is that once Michal became accustomed to the car, and wed made some adjustments that suited him, he was putting in some very respectable times. However we have some negatives; we have two cars involved in two big crashes, so weve got a hell of a lot of work to do and at the moment we are not sure when we will get two cars back out.
Albatec Racing Driver, Michael De Keersmaecker #9:
Im OK just a small problem with the neck. Game over though, the car is very damaged of course, I think I turned over maybe four or five times at 130! I had a good start and a small touch in the first corner, but that wasnt the biggest problem. We take the joker lap and a local guy pushed me inside the corner, I thought it was just smoke at first so I pushed really hard to stay at the front for the finals, but then I could feel it was a puncture and when we came to the left hander, the car slipped a little so I came off the throttle, I touched the wall a little bit, not hard, but then it turned over, five times I think.
Its a shame, as after the work done we have more speed today for sure, weve found a better way than Saturday and we have more speed at the end of the corners, so I think we can work a lot more now.
Marc Laboulle, Albatec Racing Team Manager:
After Portugal Michal explained that he felt he needed more power. It wasnt simply a question of power, and I think now we understand where we are, and proved today that those adjustments have worked, as weve been able to give him the tools he needs.
We always take a good base set-up with Michal, so our job was to understand and translate exactly what he wanted, it wasn't exactly the level of power, it was the timing of the power. Michal is always fast at the start and in the speed traps, but he seemed to lose time exiting the corners, especially on tarmac, so we adjusted our package to give him the best level of power when he needs it and he managed to make it to eighth overall after heat three, with more and more pace.
Unfortunately his crash in heat four ended his chance of going through, but at least he is OK. Now we have to take the car back to its technical base and then we can be more precise on our future calendar.
"Its been a hard two days for Andy, but once again he proved that he can stay strong, positive and focussed. He made a good start into the corner where he had a big crash, which is always very difficult. Today he had a few small technical problems and after the huge amount of work from the whole team, I am happy that Andy's car finished in good condition."
