The Orlen Janík Motorsport team is once again competing with the KTM X-BOW GTX in the ESET Cup, however the third round at Slovakia Ring, was not without its challenges for the Czech team.
At the Slovakia Ring, drivers Petr Koukola and Václav Janík took turns behind the wheel of the white-and-red KTM. Koukola competed in the sprint race, while he and Václav Janík shared the cockpit for the endurance race. In Saturday’s sprint, Koukola finished second in the GTX category.
Unfortunately, during the second half of Saturday’s endurance race, the engine of the Koukola-Janík team started having issues. Despite these technical difficulties, they managed to finish in fourth place. The mechanics worked overnight to fix the problem, and Koukola secured third place on Sunday.
“It was another challenging weekend. Unfortunately, the engine performance dropped after I took over from Petr, which affected our result in the endurance race. Until then, the KTM was running perfectly. It’s a shame because we aimed for the best possible position. Huge thanks to the mechanics for quickly identifying the issue, replacing the necessary intake parts on the engine, and restoring its performance. Petr was able to take full advantage of this on Sunday, finishing seventh overall and easily beating even the cup Porsches,” said Václav Janík, both the driver and team manager.
Petr Koukola was ultimately pleased with the weekend’s racing in Slovakia. “I had a great race both days. In the endurance race, our KTM gradually started losing power, which became evident during Václav’s stint. It’s a pity. But we made up for it the next day, and I really enjoyed the sprint. We’re taking home valuable points from the Slovakia Ring, which is also important,” the racer stated.