12H of Spa-Francorchamps: Buggyra celebrates its one year anniversary in the series with both Koloc sisters behind the wheel
A year ago, Buggyra ZM Racing made its debut in the 24h Series endurance championship at Spa-Francorchamps. This weekend they will return to the famous Belgian circuit much more experience and with some class wins in the GT4 category. The proven trio of Aliyyah Koloc, Adam Lacko and David Vršecký will get behind the wheel of the Mercedes-AMG GT4 during the 12-hour race which is divided into two segments of six hours each.
· Buggyra ZM Racing to return to Spa one year after their debut race in the 24h Series on this track
· Aliyyah Koloc, Adam Lacko and David Vršecký will form the driver line-up for Buggyra in a Mercedes-AMG GT4
· Yasmeen Koloc, who had an accident at last year’s race, to make a return to racing in the pratice session
Also returning this weekend is the 18-year-old Buggyra driver, Yasmeen Koloc. She had a serious crash at Spa-Francorchamps last year and will now get behind the wheel for the first time during the free practice sessions. "I'm really looking forward to getting back behind the wheel at Spa-Francorchamps. I've had a lot of time to recover and prepare over the year, so now is a great opportunity to get back on one of my favourite tracks," said the young driver.
The past twelve months have not been easy for Yasmeen. However, she were able to find a positive side to her unvoluntary absence from racing. "Of course, I'm nervous because it's been a long and not so easy year in which I missed a lot of races and had to recover. However, during that time I had the opportunity to learn more about racing by having a different perspective on technique and working with the mechanics on the cars," she explained.
"Spa-Francorchamps is always a big challenge. We are still learning in endurance racing, so every success is even more valuable. In addition, team work is very important. Drivers, mechanics and the rest of the race team are still gaining new experience. Competition will be fierce and our category is going to be the more challenging this year," said Buggyra’s Head of Communication, Jan Kalivoda, referring to the seven cars entered in the GT4 class.
Aliyyah Koloc continues her busy season, regularly alternating between off-road rallies and circuit racing. "Spa-Francorchamps is an amazing track. I enjoyed racing here last year, it's just a shame that it ended early. It is great that Yasmeen is now well enough again to get back behind the wheel. This year, of course, we want to finish the 12 Hours and fight for the best possible position. Given the competition, a podium finish would be excellent," said the 18-year-old racer.
Her mentor, David Vršecký, is ready to alternate his role of driver with that of an advisor to Aliyyah. "We are competing in the full 24h Seriesthis year for the first time which will be a challenge. We always learn something new with every race, and we have great drivers and a great team to rely on. I'm really happy to see Aliyyah improving race by race. She is fast and able to consistently put in a steady performance. This is perhaps even more important than pure speed," said the two-time European Truck Champion.
The Buggyra endurance driver line-up wouldn’t be complete without another European truck champion, Adam Lacko. "Racing at Spa-Francorchamps is a dream for every driver. I've done it several times now, but it's only with Buggyra that I feel I have a great racing team where we can all rely on each other . I'm looking forward to the 12 Hours," he said.
The race is traditionally split into two segments of six hours. Saturday's race starts at 11:50 a.m., while Sunday's race starts at 10:30 a.m.
12h Spa-Francorchamps time-table:
Friday, 5 May
13:00 - 14:15 Free Practice
15:15 - 16:10 Qualifying
Saturday 6 May
11:50 - 17:50 First part of the race
Sunday, 7 May
10:30 - 16:30 Second part of the race
