Champions! Mičánek Motorsport celebrates another title, charms Brno with three victories and a sprint duel
Jakub Knoll and Josef Záruba are the champions of the Czech Republic in the endurance circuit championship. They confirmed their title at home in Brno with second place. The only ones who managed to beat the newly crowned champions were teammates Bronislav Formánek and "guest" Filip Sládečka. Formánek and Záruba also had two exciting duels in the sprint races.
"After a year in Brno we are celebrating the title again, this time in endurance. Congratulations to Kuba and Pepa, they showed great results all season and they deserve the title. The performance of Broňek and Filip was also exceptional," said the team manager Jiří Mičánek Jr. He also praised the performance of the other drivers who took part in the colours of the Mičánek Motorsport powered by Buggyra team at the last round of the FIA CEZ Championship.
Knoll and Záruba travelled to Brno as the championship leaders and confirmed their position. Their biggest rival was Broněk Formánek, who was competing in Brno in preparation for the upcoming fifth round of the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe. He took turns behind the wheel of the Huracán with Filip Sládečka from Slovakia. The duo, which was formed only for the Brno race weekend, turned out to be the dark horse of the race. The two-second lead for Sládečka was secured by the skilled Slovakian pilot, who had started the Huracán five years ago also in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe, without any difficulties. However, second place was comfortably enough for Knoll and Záruba to take the title.
"Of course, before the race, we were keen, but we knew that we had to focus on our own race and concentrate on the title," explained Záruba, the newly crowned champion of the Czech Republic, who took over the car from Jakub Knoll. "Of course, I am happy about the title, I am proud that we managed to win it. From Jakub's performance, I could see his determination to give me the car in the best possible position," added the second of the new Czech champions representing Mičánek Motorsport powered by Buggyra.
One of those Knoll would have preferred to see behind him was undoubtedly Bronislav Formánek. But the veteran of Jiří Mičánek's team showed incredible form in Brno. At the beginning of the race, he even considered attacking the LMP3 endurance car of Miro Konopka, but was thwarted by the safety car. Filip Sládečka, who returned to racing mode in the Lamborghini Huracán after several years, had the task of "just" finishing a great race. But the quotation marks around "just" are deserved. "The tyres suffer terribly on the old surface in Brno, and this weekend the heat contributed to their destruction. Broněk showed a great aggressive drive, but he didn’t leave me much tyre," laughed Filip Sládečka after the race. In the end, he comfortably defended his lead over the pursuing Josef Záruba.
Who's with whom? Formánek finally humbled his teacher
Formánek also showed his exceptional form in a pair of sprint races in which he faced Josef Záruba. In the first race, Formánek got ahead of his friend and coach with a great manoeuvre in the first corner, while Antal Zsigo in the much faster BMW GT3 was also driving between the two Huracáns in the colours of Mičánek Motorsport powered by Buggyra.
"At the first corner, I put everything on the line and got to the front on the outside," Formánek described the key moment of the first race. Josef Záruba, who had to chase his teammate for the entire 25 minutes, did not hide his relief at the finish line that he had finally surpassed him. "If it hadn't worked out, I would have heard about it for years," laughed the newly crowned endurance champion of the Czech Republic.
But his laughter lasted only until Sunday, when they repeated Saturday's duel, but with the opposite result. The audience at the Masaryk circuit watched a breathtaking duel between the two Huracáns, from which Formánek emerged victorious this time. "Broněk gave an incredible performance here, which shocked us in the best sense of the word. I hope that this form will last until Barcelona," said team manager Jiří Mičánek, referring to the penultimate round of the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe season, in which Formánek and Štefan Rosina are leading the Pro-AM category and are eyeing the first title for the Mičánek Motorsport powered by Buggyra team in the fastest cup series in the world.
The triumph of the Mičánek Motorsport powered by Buggyra team in Brno was witnessed by several thousand spectators, including hundreds of partners and fans of the "home" team. The successful final battle for the title in Brno was celebrated by Jiří Mičánek alongside presenter Lucie Borhyová and this year's world hockey champion Jakub Flek. "We wanted to make the Brno race a real feast of motorsport and to show our team, which has won more than 20 Czech championship titles in its modern era, in the best light," said Jiří Mičánek, recalling the history of the team, to which he himself contributed four championship trophies from 2004 to 2010.
