The first race of the season on home soil ended in a triple victory for Mičánek Motorsport powered by Buggyra. Jakub Knoll and Josef Záruba reaffirmed their dominance in the GTC class of the Czech Endurance Championship, while Záruba went on to claim two more wins in the sprint races. Team principal Jiří Mičánek’s drivers also received a special boost of support in Most from Lucie Borhyová, and on Thursday, the only Czech rider in MotoGP, Filip Salač, made his track debut behind the wheel of a Lamborghini Huracán ST EVO2.
„I must thank the entire team for doing an absolutely professional job and not allowing any surprises. Our goal was clear: to win all three races, and we did just that,” said team manager Jiří Mičánek, reflecting on the fourth round of this year’s GT Cup Series in Most.
For the opening round of the Central European Championship held in the Czech Republic, dozens of team partners and fans turned out, including presenter Lucie Borhyová. “Most is almost like a home race for us, so we really enjoyed it. It’s a kind of warm-up ahead of Brno, where we aim to close out the championship with the title,” added Jiří Mičánek.
For the first time this season in the Central European Championship, the team fielded two cars. Josef Záruba, who usually competes in endurance alongside Jakub Knoll, was given the same opportunity as last year to take the start in the sprint race — and, just like last year, he was dominant. He ruled the GTC class and spent most of the race running among the GT3 cars and the “open” GTX-class vehicles. “You always have to stay alert among these cars. With open engines, it’s hard to overtake them in a ‘cup’ car — you have to wait for the other driver to make a mistake. On the other hand, I really enjoyed it; you’re constantly in some kind of battle,” Záruba explained.
Záruba then took an important step toward defending the Central European title alongside Jakub Knoll in the endurance race. They dominated that race as well, but the evening hour-long event delivered several dramatic moments. Jakub Knoll got off to a flying start, overtaking several GT3 cars at the line and holding the lead ahead of them for a long stretch.
Fifteen minutes into the race, however, the BMW M4 GT3 of the Slovak Aries Racing team ended up in the barriers, prompting race control to display the red flags. The car went off while battling Jakub Knoll in the Huracán. “I had a missed shift and unexpectedly slowed down. The driver behind me couldn’t react in time and ended up in the barriers,” shrugged Knoll. After the driver change, Josef Záruba put on an impressive charge, overtaking several GT3 cars and even the Praga R1 special. He took the GTC class win and finished sixth overall thanks to his precise driving.
„With the victory, we’ve more or less done what was expected, but what’s far more important is that we’ve improved compared to last year. Kuba went under the 1:34 mark with a 1:33.6 lap. He had an excellent start and then defended his position very well against theoretically faster cars. On top of that, we had a perfect setup — the car worked flawlessly right to the end, while others began to fade,” Záruba explained. Knoll was also pleased with his qualifying time. “We’ve made progress compared to last year. I’m a bit disappointed that after a good start I couldn’t really find my rhythm, and defending my position didn’t allow me to focus on a fast lap. Still, the result is positive,” Knoll concluded.
The Central European Circuit Championship will move to Slovakia in the second half of August, with the season finale traditionally scheduled for early September in Brno.
