Semerad Rally team crew awaited final race in the category of production cars, which decided, whether Martin Semerad together with his navigator Michal Ernst reach the wished –for third place in the overall ranking of  the PWRC in 2011, which they have set at the beginning of the season.

After the race in Sweeden, Portugal, Argentina, Finland and Spain, followed by grand Rally finale in Britain, where the Smerad-Ernst started form 4th place with eight point loss to Patrik Flodin. Thanks to the Kosciuszka problem Martin Semerad crew moved in the third stage to the second place, which he retained until the end of the race. But the joy didn’t last for long. After the closing ceremony and handing over the trophies, their car was subjected to very thorough inspection, where among the other things, wheels in the gear box were measured and weight, but also the imposition of upper shock, which become a problem for Martins EVO IX. Technical Commissioners concluded that the imposition of upper shock is not homologated for Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX. Instead of triangular pad, rounded pad was used and it is in contrary to photo in homologation form. The joy of victory evaporated as steam over the pot, because Semerad team lost a very valuable points throughout the championship and it dropped them from the podium.

Josef Semerád ( Head of Semerád Rally team):

After consultation we decided that it makes no sense to appeal against the decision. We know how similar cases fell in the past. The picture on the homologation form is actually triangular pad. SO it is.

Whether if it could bring some benefit does not make sense to speculate. The part we got was from a renowned supplier of racing cars and unfortunately no one has checked if there is a right pad. I regret the efforts of the whole team and especially the crew who made the excellent performance and drove as needed to get to the third place in overall ranking of PWRC. Everything came to nothing. Does not make sense to comment it more."