Polish driver Kriystian Korzeniowski, with his Ferrari 488 GT3, emerged as the winner of the second sprint race at Slovakia Ring. The Olimp Racing team driver led the race from start to finish without any threats and secured his first victory of the season. In the overall classification, Miro Konopka claimed the victory with his LMP3 prototype.
The LMP3 prototypes, led by local driver Konopka and Skočdopole, started from the front row. Behind them were the GT3 category cars, with Korzeniowski setting the best qualifying time, followed by Saturday’s sprint race winner Zdeno Mikuláško. Starting from the third row were Jesse Krohn with BMW and Libor Milota with Mercedes.
Korzeniowski and Mikuláško had the best starts. However, Matěj Pavlíček with the Lamborghini SuperTropheo showcased an even better start, securing the overall third position among the GT cars. Although he dropped a few positions shortly after, it was important for him to stay ahead of his teammate Jáchym Galáš.
In the overall race order, Dan Skočdopole and Miro Konopka led the LMP3 prototypes. Korzeniowski held the top spot in the GT3 category ahead of Mikuláško, with Krohn pushing hard to overtake him. Milota and Leutwiler circled in fourth and fifth positions, behind them emerged battle for first place in the GTC category.
Waszek caught up with Pavlíček, and the three drivers were in close pursuit. In the fourth lap, Galáš moved ahead of Waszek and made his presence known to his teammate Pavlíček. Galáš was clearly the fastest among the trio and in the fifth lap, he overtook Pavlíček in a slow right turn, taking the lead in the GTC category.
Waszek was also faster than Pavlíček but struggled to find a way to overtake. However, with a minute and a half remaining in the race, Piotr Wira spun in the opposite direction on the track, causing the deployment of the safety car. This was bad news for the battling drivers. Waszek had to settle for third place in the GTC category, while Krohn, who couldn’t find a way to overtake Mikuláško, finished in the same position in the GT3 category.
However, the safety car had the biggest impact on Dan Skočdopole. Due to a false start procedure, where he overtook Konopka before the red lights went out, he received a fifteen-second penalty. Despite that, Skočdopole was posting fast enough times to build a comfortable lead over Konopka and didn’t have to worry about losing his first position. However, all his efforts were nullified by the safety car, and the local driver Miro Konopka became the absolute winner, benefiting from the equalized gaps between the drivers.
It’s worth noting that even though Filip Salaquarda couldn’t participate in the race due to technical issues of his Audi, he was crowned the ESET GT GT3 champion ahead of time. Libor Milota would have had to win the second sprint race to maintain a mathematical chance at the title. However, finishing fourth in the GT3 category dashed his hopes for the championship.