Europa Cup 4 Man Race ? Igls, Austria

The first Europa Cup 4 man race of the 2006/07 season was held in Igls, Austria on Sunday 3 December 2006. 29 crews started the race and 28 completed the 2 heat race. 3 British crews were entered into the race. The highest placed British sled was the GB1 sled piloted by Neil Scarisbrick. His crew consisted of Matthew Roberts, Glenn Kerr and Richard Sharman. In the first heat they had a start time of 5.24 seconds and completed the run in 52.59 seconds. This was good enough to place Neil and his crew in 10th position after the first run. The crew had a slightly slower start time in the second run of 5.27 seconds and after Neil negotiated the 14 corners of the track, they finished with the 8th fastest time of the second run in 52.93 seconds. This gave the GB1 sled a combined finish time of 1 minute 45.52 seconds (0.63 seconds behind the winner) and a final position of 10th place.

The GB2 sled piloted by Martin Wright and his crew of Ryan Freckleton, John Jackson and Deen Lamin had a start time in the first run of 5.27 seconds. Martin had a slower down time than Neil and he finished his run in 52.67 seconds which placed the sled in 12th place after the first run. The team had a second run start time of 5.32 seconds and Martin drove the sled down the track in 53.03 seconds which was again the 12th fastest run. The GB2 crew finished in 12th place overall with a combined time of 1 minute 45.70 seconds. This was 0.81 seconds behind the winning sled and 0.18 seconds behind the GB1 sled. The winner of the first 4 man race of the Season was the Switzerland I sled, with the Austria I sled in second place and the Germany I sled in third position. The teams now move onto Konigssee in Germany for the second race of the season.