The third endurance race of the 2023 season was dominated by Czech driver Filip Salaquarda of the I.S.R. Racing team, who overcame two yellow flag periods at the beginning and end of the race in his pursuit of victory.
Salaquarda held onto the lead after the red lights went out. While Piotr Wira in his Mercedes attempted to attack him on the long straight leading into the second turn, the Czech driver managed to maintain his first-place position and headed towards another win.
Wira couldn’t keep up with Salaquarda’s pace and instead had to defend himself against third-place driver Libor Milota, also driving a Mercedes. Wira eventually lost his silver medal position, which was soon taken by Peter Baron in his Ferrari. Soon after, the safety car appeared on the track due to a stationary Cupra vehicle driven by the Wiesmeier-Lemmerhofer team.
After the race restarted, fifth-place driver Konopka overtook Wira, and Baron quickly moved up to second place ahead of Milota.
Halfway through the race, there were the traditional pit stops and driver changes. Salaquarda remained behind the wheel, and even after the pit stop, he maintained his lead over Ernst Kirchmayer, who replaced Peter Baron. Milota circled in third place, but Daan Pijlem, who replaced Wira in the Mercedes, began to catch up to him and immediately began to set very fast lap times.
In the sixteenth lap, Pijl overtook Kirchmayer in second place and began to pursue Salaquarda in first. However, the Czech driver circled in the lead with almost a half-minute lead, and since there were only fifteen minutes left in the race, he only maintained a pace that wouldn’t put him in danger from Pijl in the end.
Towards the end of the race, there was still a battle brewing between third-place Kirchmayer, who was being chased by Milota. However, with seven minutes remaining, Milota stopped at the second turn with a damaged left front tire. The safety car was brought out, and the race was restarted for only one remaining lap.
Filip Salaquarda secured his third endurance race win ahead of the Wira-Pijl team. However, after the race, the Mercedes team received a thirty-second penalty for overtaking under yellow flags, which meant they dropped to ninth place overall and fifth in the GT3 category.
As a result, the Kirchmayer-Baron team was classified in second place, with Miro Konopka in third place driving a Lamborghini Huracan GT3. The Zsigo-Waszek team came in fourth place in the GT3 category, with the penalized Wira-Pijl team rounding out the top five.
In the GTX category, Bernard Löffler driving a Lamborghini Huracan finished first, followed by Antonín Herbeckin a Pagani Zonda in second place and Alexander Ober in a Lamborghini in third. Denis Liebl in a KTM GTX and János Santa in an Aston Martin came in fourth and fifth, respectively.
The Kurt Wagner-Josef Záruba team dominated the GTC category in their Lamborghini, with Manuel Süssenguth taking second place after a three-second penalty was applied to Petra Brecky and Karel Neffeho. Franz Lahmer and Bob Bau finished fourth and fifth, respectively.
In the GT4 category, Zéno Kovács won in his BMW M4 GT3, followed by his Racing teammate Trevor Antal Zsiga, also driving a BMW M4 GT3, in second place. The Lah-Kosič team came in third place with their Mercedes.