The Mičánek Motorsport powered by Buggyra driver Josef Záruba became the first ESET iSeries champion ever. But the winners of the last two races in Brno were Bartlomiej Mirecki and Petr Fulín.
The premiere ESET iSeries season culminated on Sunday, June 28. The last two races took place at Masaryk Circuit in Brno, Czech Republic.
It was Josef Záruba (130 points) who had the best position before the start of this round. The Mičánek Motorsport powered by Buggyra driver scored 130 points in the previous events and his lead before the second Petr Fulín (96 points) was 34 points. But there were 50 points in the game before the races in Brno and Záruba´s overall victory wasn´t certain. With the exception of Záruba and Fulín, the third Bartlomiej Mirecki (92 points) and the fourth Pavel Gellner (90 points) also had the chance to win the title.
The qualifying already indicated Záruba still didn´t have the title in the pocket. He was the worst from all candidates for the title. He set the fifth fastest time. Bartlomiej Mirecki was best in the battle for the starting positions and he ended the season with a fantastic qualifying record – he gained four pole positions in five cases. Petr Fulín took the second place for Race 1 and Antonio Citera finished third. Pavel Gellner was fourth.
The beginning of Race 1 went best for Petr Fulín and he moved to the front. Mirecki dropped to the fourth place. Expect Fulín, Citera and Gellner also passed Mirecki in the first meters. But hopes for good results dashed already in Turn 1 for Citera and Gellner, because they collided and went off the track. Citera retired after that incident. Gellner was able to continue. Mirecki returned to the second place after that clash.
But the Pole figured even higher in the final results. He overtook Petr Fulín later and finally could celebrate his first race victory. It is also worth mentioning the fact that Mirecki became the seventh different race winner of 2020 ESET iSeries season. Fulín had to settle for silver.
Initially, Michal Makeš went for the third place. But he found himself in trouble later and it was Dávid Němček who took the bronze position.
The championship leader Josef Záruba finished fourth in Race 1. The Czech driver dropped to sixth position after the opening lap. But he surmounted Keijo Keke Platzer soon and the problems of Michal Makeš also helped him.
Platzer crossed the line as the fifth. Tom Beckhäuser was sixth, Pavel Gellner finished seventh despite the accident with Citera at the beginning, Michal Makeš finally finished eighth, Matěj Kácovský was ninth and Jakub Knoll took one point for tenth position.
Before the last race, only Josef Záruba and Bartlomiej Mirecki stayed in the fight for the title. But Záruba had significantly better position. He was 25 points ahead of Mirecki. That meant Mirecki needed another victory for the title and in addition, he had to hope Záruba didn´t score any point.
But it didn´t take long and this scenario didn´t look so unreal. Záruba collided with Dávid Němček at the beginning and fall to the bottom of the field followed. After Lap 1, Záruba was only fourteenth.
But he still held the title in his hand, because Mirecki dropped to the second place behind Petr Fulín. The Fullinrace Academy driver had the best start again and took the lead.
In Race 1, three-time European touring car champion lost the battle for the win. But in Race 2, he wasn´t defeated by Mirecki and took his third victory in the season. Mirecki finished second and didn´t gain the championship title.
Fulín and Mirecki were completed by the third Michal Makeš on the imaginary podium. The Renault Clio Cup champion from last two seasons improved his mood after the unlucky Race 1.
Pavel Gellner finished fourth, Keijo Keke Platzer fifth, Tom Beckhäuser sixth and Dávid Němček took the seventh place. Josef Záruba crossed the line on the eighth place. But he could be more happier than anyone else, because he became the first ESET iSeries champion ever. Matěj Kácovský finished ninth and Tomáš Liedl tenth.
Záruba achieved overall victory with 146 points. Petr Fulín (139 points) eventually became the vice-champion, but he scored the most victories of all drivers. He lagged behind Záruba by seven points. Bartlomiej Mirecki took the overall third place (135 points).
Mičánek Motorsport powered by Buggyra can celebrate also in the team standings. They won with 232 points there. Fullinrace Academy (139 points) finished second and Vekra Racing Team (136 points) took the third place.