Weekend on the water: Jiří Mičánek's team dominated the sprints in Most and dramatized their way to the title
A dominant performance in the fourth round of the FIA CEZ Championship in Most turned the Mičánek Motorsport powered by Buggyra team's sprint races into a winning campaign. On the other hand, the previously flawless journey to the title in the endurance category was dramatized by a technical fault.
Two wins and a step towards third. This is the result that Jiří Mičánek's team is taking away from the Most racing circuit. Josef Záruba, who filled in for the injured Libor Dvořáček, dominated the GTC class in a pair of sprints. He and Jakub Knoll were after the same result in the endurance class. Jakub Knoll started the race very well, but just before the changeover, a technical fault ended the race.
"Pepa showed in both sprints that he is clearly one of the best riders in Central Europe. Apart from the result, we have to highlight how he was able to adapt to the unpredictable weather and at the same time very well avoid all the critical moments we saw during the weekend," says team manager Jiří Mičánek Jr.
He is referring in particular to the start of the first sprint, where several cars collided in the first corner. Because of this, the race was stopped by a red flag. And it was thanks to Záruba's experience that the team's Lamborghini Huracán ST EVO2 came out of the critical situation unscathed.
"I saw Dennis Waszek braking on the grass, and in my mirror, I saw another car flying behind me, so I drove straight through the chicane and avoided the collision," Záruba recounts the dramatic start to the first race. He escaped the dramatic incident unscathed and was able to benefit from the fact that the collision took out his biggest rival in the restarted race.
In the second race on Sunday, Josef Záruba's performance was even more sovereign. Already in the wet qualifying, thanks to his technical driving, he slipped into second place in the overall standings, just behind Petr Fulín, who started in a GT3 class car. Right after the start, however, he took the lead.
"I saw Petr was behind me, and I didn't want to risk us getting into a collision, so I didn't go into a fight with him and moved up to second place. At the end, I had a chance to give it back to him, but we had agreed with Jiří Mičánek that we would not go into risky situations. Even so, second place overall and two class wins is a success," says Josef Záruba.
If he enjoyed countless dramatic moments in the sprint races, Záruba did not ride in the endurance race. A technical fault put an end to a very good race in which he and Jakub Knoll wanted to build on their 100% performance so far.
"It's probably the gearbox; we've repaired it recently, but it can happen. It's just racing; it's nobody's fault, Kuba drove great," said Jiří Mičánek, praising Knoll. In fact, Jakub Knoll held his position in the race, finishing in the top seven overall and leading the GTC class in which the Mičánek Motorsport powered by Buggyra team is competing for the title.
However, the driver himself was not satisfied with his performance. "The weather affected the free practice sessions on Friday, but I didn't manage to tune up for Saturday. Pepa did a great job in qualifying, and I held on to plus or minus two positions in the race, but especially at the end of the stint, I was not satisfied with my performance," says Jakub Knoll.
He didn't have the chance to hand over the car to Záruba because of a technical fault. The race ended prematurely after a heavy collision between the rivals. "It made our journey to the endurance title more dramatic, but that can happen. I believe that we will be 100% again in the next two races," concludes team manager Jiří Mičánek.
