F500 Slovakian racer Robert Hencz took an emotional victory here at the Europcar Swedish Grand Prix in Mora but it’s the defending World Champion Erko Aabrams who comes away still leading the UIM F500 World Championship.
Hencz had gotten the weekend off to the best possible start by winning the opening heat from his fellow Slovakian racer, Marian Jung, who then ran into mechanical issues in the second heat after he broke a cylinder due to a water-cooling issue. It would prove to be a very frustrating weekend for him after winning the previous round in Poland.
Victory in the second heat had gone to Hencz.
We knew it was working good but even I was amazed we could win two heats.
Marcin Zielinski had capitalised on Jung’s misfortune and would collect second place; they had worked over night to resolve the issue that had led to him running on just three cylinders in the previous heat.
I think we should all be happy every single cylinder was working perfectly.
The racer certainly making his way up the leader board was Aabrams who’s weekend had certainly started rather slowly. They had struggled to get the settings right with the injectors for the first heat so over Friday night they set about changing the carburettors, whilst at the same time replacing piston rings and to add to their list, they even opted to change the gearbox.
We just couldn’t work it out, so it meant for us it was going to be a long, long night.
For the final heat Hencz knew all he had to do was finish inside the top five to take victory, so he opted for a safe race which turned into a good plan. In the end he crossed the line in third place securing a successful weekend.
It was a long drive here to Sweden, but our return trip home will be an enjoyable one that is for sure. Last year I missed the whole season, so this year is going to be my ‘comeback from hell to hero.’
The third and final heat was won by Aabrams who admitted that they had finally figured out what the issue was.
It was all good but just too late. My mission was really not to win here but to come away still leading the championship, so I consider that mission accomplished.
Polish driver Zielinski who had challenged Aabrams all the way throughout the second heat was looking to put in an identical performance for the third, but his start was far from perfect, and he immediately found himself almost at the back of the pack. He would eventually catch up with Hencz but by then he had run out of laps to mount a significant challenge and settled for fourth across the line.
This weekend has been good as we have collected more championship points and now the whole team is motivated for Dunaújváros and the European Championship.
