Sunday 20.09.2009
After finishing in second place in the final round of the International Formula Master Series at Imola in Italy, Josef Král gained overall third place in the scoring of the prestigious championship of two-litre single-seaters.
Starting from fifth on the grid, he drove with determination and his final position could have been even better except for technical problems that foiled four of sixteen races.
After finishing fourth on Saturday, Josef started fifth on the grid. As on Saturday, he had a rocketing start pushing through on the outside of the track in third position behind Alexander Rossi and Erika Janiš. “Erik was driving very carefully and braked early. So after a few laps Rossi passed him and then I did too. But there was no competing with Rossi. As our cars have the same performance and with his driving style it would lead to nothing good." said Josef ironically after the race.
The scores after the last race of this year formula series were soon in. Král in third place was seven points behind his team-mate Afanasijev in second position. Even if he won on Sunday and drove the fastest lap, he would not get more than those seven points. Afanasijev finished the race in third position and gained four points. This was decisive with Král on a total of 62 points in third position after Afanasijev’s second with a score of 68 points. “The important thing is that with Sergej we have won the title for our JD Motorsport team in the team cup. Looking back over the whole season I can clearly see the moments that influenced it negatively. Technology let me down in four of eight weeks, in Pau I made a driving error and yesterday’s unprecedented decision of the sports commissioners didn’t help me at all. But even then I am I am happy with my overall third position and under the circumstances it was the best I could do. Anyway I would like to thank all those who supported me and helped me this year. The mechanics, engineers and the entire team did an excellent job so I hope I have repaid them a bit.” adds Josef Král.
“We definitely consider Josef´s performance throughout the season as good” said Petr Najman, Manager of the Bohemia Racing Team which supported Král’s racing this year. “He proved that he was good enough to drive at the top and this was an unequivocal success in this prestigious series. Technical bad luck and the other things that happened to him are simply part of motor sport and can happen to anyone. Josef defended our colours in IFM with honour.” added Petr Najman.
