After nearly a season-long dominance by Filip Salaquarda and the I.S.R. team, spectators of the sixth event of the ESET Cup had to get used to entirely new faces on the top step. In both the sprint and endurance races, the victories were claimed by Zdeno Mikuláško, Jesse Krohn, and Kriystian Korzeniowski.
Although Filip Salaquarda came up empty-handed regarded victory, he had a reason to be satisfied. He left Slovakia Ring as the new champion in the GT3 category for both sprint and endurance races. The question remains whether this success was enough to alleviate the gloomy mood in the team at that moment. After finishing second in the Saturday sprint, an evening endurance race followed, in which Salaquarda retired by just one lap. Technical difficulties with the Audi R8 LMS GT3 hindered him, and he didn’t even participate in the Sunday sprint. Nevertheless, it was enough for the title. Libor Milota, on the other hand, had to win both the sprint and endurance races to maintain a mathematical chance of securing the championship at the final event in Brno. However, the competition was tough in Slovakia.
Experienced Slovak racer Zdeno Mikuláško competed for the ARC Bratislava team with a Lamborghini Huracan GT3. He showed his competitors his back in qualifying and converted his speed into a victory in the first sprint. Salaquarda and Štefan Rosina with the BMW M4 GT3 simply couldn’t keep up with him.
On the other hand, the evening endurance race was conquered by the winner of the 24 Hours of Daytona, Jesse Krohn. The Finnish racer joined the Racing Trevor team, and instead of sharing the BMW with Rosina, the decision was made for Krohn to drive alone. Spectators were looking forward to the battle between Salaquarda and Krohn, but when the Czech racer retired after the first lap, Krohn escaped the pursuers and nothing could stop him on his path to victory, not even an additional twenty-second penalty for crossing the white line at the pit lane exit.
On Sunday, the driver lineup was slightly different. Olimp Racing brought a Ferrari 488 GT3 for the weekend, and while Stanislaw Jedlinski raced with it in the sprint on Saturday, the talented Kriystian Korzeniowski took the wheel on Sunday. The Polish driver won the qualifying and the race after 25 minutes. Thus, spectators could witness a battle for “only” second place between Mikuláško and Krohn.
Having three different winners in the GT3 category during a single weekend of the ESET Cup is something we haven’t seen for a long time. It shows that when a diverse grid of cars comes together, fans are in for a treat. The Slovak weekend provided a spectacle with a rich lineup of GT3 cars, including Audi, BMW, Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Porsche.
