The return of the Mičánek Motorsport team to the ESET Cup was accompanied by the launch of a junior program for talented drivers Jáchym Galáš and Matěj Pavlíček, who aimed for the title in the GTC category from the beginning of the season.
When the new season of the ESET Cup opened in April at Oschersleben, Jáchym Galáš and Matěj Pavlíček were the fastest with their Lamborghini Super Trofeo EVO2 cars. The reigning champion of the GTC category, Dennis Waszek, who had more racing experience, couldn’t compete with his older generation Lamborghini, at least in some cases. Waszek is a very fast driver and he managed to challenge Galáš and Pavlíček in several internal battles. He even achieved a victory at the Slovakia Ring, but throughout the year, it was the drivers of Mičánek Motorsport who occupied the top step of the podium.
Before the season reached its final event in Brno, Galáš had five wins to his name, while Pavlíček had four. Galáš was leading the standings by ten and a half points, and the champion of the GTC category was to be decided in the final moments. Galáš, who made the transition from touring cars to sports cars this year, left nothing to chance. He won both the first and second sprint races and became the champion. Pavlíček finished second and then third.
As a result, the Mičánek Motorsport team dominated the 2023 season, with the only team to challenge them being GT2 Motorsport thanks to Dennis Waszek. The Lamborghini brand consequently occupied the top three positions in the driver’s standings. Galáš, Pavlíček, and Waszek were so dominant that they only missed out on a clean sweep of the podium in a single instance. It happened in the second sprint race at the Red Bull Ring when Waszek retired due to technical issues, and local driver Franz Lahmer from the Kogelbauer Motorsport team finished third with a Porsche 992 Cup.
Lahmer also secured fourth place in the final championship standings, becoming the most successful Porsche driver. Petr Brecka from the Czech team GT Sport Technology finished fifth, also driving a Porsche. Perhaps if Brecka had participated in the final event, he could have overtaken Lahmer in the points and finished fourth. However, there’s no point in dwelling on “what ifs,” and at least Brecka can celebrate the endurance title. But that’s a different story. Bob Bau and Richard Woschitz, teammates from Kogelbauer Motorsport, secured sixth and seventh place, respectively, in the sprint races with their Porsche cars.