Antonin Herbeck took part in three ESET Cup events with a Pagani Zonda. Although that was enough for him to become the overall winner of the GTX category, he values partial successes the most, such as overall second place in the sprint at the Red Bull Ring.
What is your relationship with your car, which you have been racing for several years?
Very warm. It’s more or less a car that we’ve built ourselves, tested what works and what doesn’t, and even after almost twenty years since its inception, we’re giving the factory teams a run for their money.
In previous years, you often missed the finish line due to technical difficulties. You have obviously solved your car problems this year…
This year, we had only one technical problem – the gearbox stopped working, because a small stone got into the pneumatic shifting system and the piston did not close. We had no other problem. In the past the engine was very problematic, because we were pushing it to the performances, that were too brutal for the stock Mercedes block, but as soon as we reduced the output, everything calmed down. I have to thank our mechanics for a perfectly prepared car for this season.
You won the opening and final sprint races of the season in your category. Which of those wins do you value more? At the Hungaroring or in Brno?
The biggest joy this year was the third place in the overall qualification of the water sprint at the Hungaroring – even among Le Mans prototypes. I always think I’m awfully slow and careful on the water, but strangely, even when the Zonda slides all over the place, I’m always surprised that me and the car aren’t too bad on the water.
At the same time, you won the GTX classification in the ESET Cup. What does this result mean to you after all these years of racing?
I don’t want to blaspheme, but this year we entered only three races, so I’m more interested in how we do in the overall standing than in the class. So I was most excited about the overall second place in the sprint at the Red Bull Ring.
When was the worst time for you this year? And when the best?
The worst thing for me was when, in the very first lap of the endurance race at the Hungaroring, I was knocked out from the first place by Dennis Waszek, who outbraked his BMW in the fifth corner. He broke my rear wheel suspension; the car became undrivable and I flew into the barriers. I had to slowly count to a thousand in my mind, otherwise I could already be in prison for the crime. The worst thing about racing is when you get crashed by an over-motivated driver who doesn’t care how much work and money it costs to put the car back together. As I mentioned, I felt the best at the end of the sprint at the Red Bull Ring, where I finished in second place in the overall standings.
And what are your plans for next year?
Next year we need to tune the Zonda’s chassis for the dry condition, as we are not as fast as I would have imagined in the slower sectors. At the same time, I need to be in perfect physical condition, which I neglected a bit this year. We will also work on the further development of the engine, which we make ourselves.
