Czech driver Filip Salaquarda is dominating this year’s ESET GT season. He has a solid points lead in both sprint and endurance championship, and if everything continues to work as it has been, nobody should be able to knock him out of first place.
Driving an Audi R8 LMS GT3, Salaquarda has been at the top of every race so far in 2023. Both he and his team, I.S.R. Racing, deserve credit for this success. “The car is working well for us, we’re doing well, and everyone is happy,” Salaquarda evaluates the first half of the season.
Out of six sprint races, he won five. Only in the first race in Oschersleben was he beaten by Neil Verhagen in a BMW M4 GT3. “Neil is a factory driver for BMW, and we had some really nice races together. Whenever he starts, he definitely pushes me to my maximum,” adds Salaquarda, who raced against Verhagen twice (Oschersleben and Hungaroring).
Salaquarda has an even better score in endurance races. So far, he has found no one to beat him in this category. “Of course, I’m working on myself. Driving an hour-long race alone is not easy, or it’s more demanding than a sprint,” Salaquarda continues.
There are still three events left in Most, Slovakia Ring, and Brno until the end of the season. None of these tracks pose a particular challenge for the Czech driver, and he is not worried about his performance. Salaquarda’s Audi R8 is ideal for these tracks, and he knows the Czech and Slovak tracks very well.
“I think all three tracks are ideal for our car, so we’ll see how we do. We tested in Slovakia at the beginning of the season, which was actually our only test. Personally, I like all the tracks. I did well in Brno, Most, and Slovakia, and I managed to achieve some success on each of them.”
The first half of this year’s season has been excellent for I.S.R. Racing, and it can be assumed that the remaining half will be the same. “Everything is working great, and we’re collecting important data. We have another Audi in the garage, so we’ll see if we bring it out next year and try something else. But that’s still far away, so we’ll see,” concludes the leader of the ESET Sprint and Endurance standings, Filip Salaquarda.
