Buggyra expands to GT racing
The Buggyra racing Zero Mileage lubricants alliance have brought yet another project. A GT3 racing campaign lead by Buggyra Zero Mileage Racing. The new team is set to race in Chinese GT championship with new Mercedes Benz AMG GT3 where it will gain crucial experience before its planned appearance at 24h of Le mans in three years time. Trio of drivers lead by Tomas Enge is planned for 2020 season.
“Tomas Enge will be our lead driver for those three years and we have also motivated David Vrsecky to come back from “retirement” and race for us again” says Buggyra team mentor Martin Koloc. “Tomas is real master of GT cars I don’t know anyone else who has achieved so much. But the greatest thing about him is that he isn’t just a driver. Yes he has a lot of experience driving GT cars, but also is aware of all the organisation and logistic that comes with GT racing and that is why we chose him. He is a real professional and I like that.” added Koloc.
Great challenge lies ahead of Enge as he has to build a whole team almost from ground up. The reason being that the GT campaign will be independent on Buggyra’s truck racing activities. "I am sure that thanks to Enge we will be able to catch up with our competitors very fast and will be able to fight for the top spots very early in the season" said the Buggyra mentor.
Enge the only czech driver to have ever raced in Formula 1 race isn’t afraid of what awaits for him though."It is real challenge for me to be part of this project. Creating a whole new team is never easy. However I have already driven in several race series in Asia such as formula A1 GP or GT cars in Thailand. We have raced in Malaysia, Indonesia and Japan so I am quite familiar with the environment and that should help us. I took my time to think about this offer from Buggyra. To be honest I am not used to be in the middle of the racing rush while having 25 race weeks in a year anymore ”said Enge.
The new opportunity to race and having a chance to teach and pass on his experience to younger drivers have however been stronger that the worries of unknown and have convinded Enge to accept the offer.
David Vrsecky will be the second driver for Buggyra Zero Mileage Racing. Even though he has ended his racing career in 2018 due to health issues. He decided to go back behind the steering wheel as he says it is a opportunity you simply cannot miss.
"My back pain was gone the minute I got this offer” says jokingly the double european truck racing champion and now a chief designer for Buggyra "In all seriousness I cannot imagine to let such a incredible opportunity down. And I am really glad that even “being retired” I have the chance to race in such a amazing machine. I will be more like a Tomas’s apprentice, him having such a vast experience driving GT cars and me having done mere three laps in Huracan ST last year in Brno. I am thrilled to be in one team with Tomas as I will have someone to help me learn the car much faster” added Vrsecky. However Buggyra Zero Mileage Racing won’t be just about as many top spots as possible for Enge and Vrsecky. Great part of this new project will be focused on Buggyra Academy and training new drivers mechanics and racing personnel overall.
"I am used to training younger drivers in my previous racing career at german Reiter Engineering so I am looking forward to work closely with Buggyra Academy drivers” said Enge. As part of Bugyra Academy involvement a soon to be 16 years old Aliyyah Koloc, daughter of team mentor Martin Koloc will take part in testing and exhibition GT series with Buggyra Zero Mileage Racing. Young and talented Teo Calvet is also considered for 2021 in the event of deploying a second car.
Exact date of the start of the 2020 season of the Chinese GT championship is currently unknown due to the Covid-19 epidemic, Martin Koloc remains optimistic though. “Current info from the organisers is that we should start racing in june in Shanghai. The real question is how will the situation develop in Europe. It is getting better every day in China, however it might not be over in Europe by that time.”
The team is now working on a testing plan B to use in the event of them not being able to race. The atmosphere is positive though. “We have one of the best cars in the field so I believe that when the time comes we will be able to set good result very early on” said Vrsecky looking forward to the first race.
