Attractive races and successes of Czech drivers offered last weekend at the Racing Journal SpeedFest at Autodrom Most.
The Most circuit hosted a varied starting field of Central European championships across various categories from sports and touring cars to Formula 4, where a new generation of drivers is being born. It was in the F4 CEZ series that the spectators in the stands witnessed the triumphs of two local teenagers. Although the leader of the standings and the overall favourite is Oscar Wurz, the youngest son of former F1 driver and 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Alex Wurz, the young Austrian came up empty this time. Miroslav Mikeš and Max Karhan had the home track advantage.
Mikeš of the Czech JMT Racing team held on to the lead after starting from first place in the first race to claim his first Formula 4 victory. Karhan of the Swiss Jenzer Motorsport team finished close behind. He had his moment of glory in the third F4 race when he took the lead after starting from fourth place with just a few laps to go. Karhan achieved his second victory of the season and sealed the success of the Czech colours in F4, which are now also represented in the championship by the F4 CEZ Academy team (Marek Mičík and Michelle Jandová).
The biggest attraction of the Saturday and Sunday programme was of course the GT sports cars, in which the matador of touring cars Petr Fulín appeared. The European champion, however, switched to the more aerodynamic Audi LMS GT3, and although he took the whole weekend as a test, he achieved victory in both races on his debut with the German machine. ESET Sprint GT has a diverse field of several categories and Czech names were also heard in the others. Josef Záruba won his category on both Saturday and Sunday in his Lamborghini SuperTrofeo. On the other hand, Slovak Gregor Zsigo and his Czech colleague Dennis Waszek triumphed in the one-hour endurance race.
The biggest favourite ahead of the start of the weekend was, of course, Tomáš Pekař in the Clio Cup. The multi-time champion of the Renault Clio Cup Series got behind the wheel of his orange car after undergoing surgery on his collarbone, which he broke at the previous round in Slovakia. The medical indisposition did not restrict him in his podium finishes and Pekař dominated both races by 25 minutes.
Adam Kout broke the wait for his first win of the season with his Hyundai Elantra in the TCR Eastern Europe championship. Kout has recorded four second places this year and has often come very close to victory, but has so far failed to cross the finish line first. All he needed was a perfect start from ninth place, a few overtakes and by the end of the opening lap he was already first. Neither the safety car nor the red flags waved due to a barrier repair after a crash of one of his rivals were the issue for him. Kout, like Karhan, is a representative of the Autoclub of the Czech Republic and both will take part in this year’s FIA Motorsport Games. For the first time in the history of TCR Eastern Europe, a young lady took pole position. Jorden Dolischka gained the most advantageous position at the start of the second race thanks to the lottery draw and eventually finished in ninth place.
Last but not least, there was also a race with a small Renaults Twingo. Although they are not technologically impressive machines like the GT3 cars, the Twingo Cup has a lot to offer in terms of sport. Tight sheet-to-sheet, bumper-to-bumper battles are a typical hallmark of these Cup races. Martin Knápek and František Němec, members of the F4 CEZ Academy, made their debut in Most. The best result was achieved by the winner of the academy, Knápek, who started with a Twingo for the first time, and in the wet. In a few laps he worked his way up from 11th to third and if it wasn’t for the long time behind the safety car, he would probably have moved even further ahead.
Racing Journal SpeedFest thus offered a very attractive event from early morning to late afternoon. Racing Journal motoring magazine was a partner of the race weekend.
Text: Aleš Sirný
