Rain, disaster but also elation. Formánek and Záruba moved up to 2nd place in Lamborghini Super Trofeo series
Heavy thunderstorms caused havoc in western Europe, and they also visited Zandvoort where Mičánek Motorsport powered by Buggyra team raced in Round 3 of the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe series. The team had to deal with technical issues and a flooded tent, but in the end, all the bad luck was broken on Sunday by 2nd place. Formánek and Záruba have now moved to 2nd place in the championship standings.
The race weekend offered two very different days for the team: on Saturday, Bronislav Formánek and Josef Záruba struggled behind the wheel of the Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo EVO, as the car suffered from issues connected to a fuel pump. In the end, they finished only in 19th place overall. But on Sunday, it all changed. And they almost took their second win in the prestigious Pro-AM category.
“Considering everything that happened, I think we can feel good about it. And we’ve moved up through the standings and that’s the most important thing,” said the team manager Jiří Mičánek jr.
All the bad luck came on Saturday. First, it was a flooded tent in the morning, following a storm in the night – in an area with the cars and other equipment was 15 centimetres of water. Even the entry tunnels to the track were flooded. Luckily, all the key equipment survived the mayhem.
“It was an extremely difficult day for the team, and they deserve our thanks. First, the situation in the morning, and then they worked hard until the night fixing the fuel pump, that caused us issues in the first race,” described Jiří Mičánek.
In the first race, the team had to settle for only 19th place overall in the finish. Then the mechanics spent about 4 hours just looking into a fuel tank and the whole fuel system, just to make sure, that the car is fully prepared for Sunday’s programme.
The first driver to take the car was Josef Záruba, who said: “I just tried to avoid any accidents, not to go into risky battles. Thanks to that, I managed to build a 30-second gap for Bronislav. Unfortunately, then came out a Safety Car and we lost that gap.”
In the second half of the race, Bronislav Formánek had to defend from repeated attacks from Karol Basz, who is together with Lewandovski the biggest rival of the Czech team in the Pro-AM category championship.
“Unfortunately, we’re still not as fast. There were two contacts during our battles, I even broke the car’s doorstep. We all also struggled with tyre overheating. About two laps before the end, I hit the brakes too late and went out of the track, and that’s how Basz got ahead of me,” described Formánek the dramatic race.
But despite this error, the Mičánek Motorsport powered by Buggyra finished the race in 2nd place. And according to the first calculations, it looks like they cannot finish the championship in a worse position than that.
Both drivers also had a chance to be one of the first in the world to test the new Zandvoort layout, that was built for the Formula 1’s come back after 36 years. This opportunity led to several changes and now features two banked corners.
“Those banked corners are beautiful. The whole track is so different in comparison to the previous race I had here in 2019. And areas that have not been changed, they now feature a new surface, so it was like driving there for the first time,” said Josef Záruba.
And Bronislav Formánek had his first-ever experience at Zandvoort.
“It’s like a roller-coaster,” described the Mičánek Motorsport powered by Buggyra driver.
The Lamborghini Super Trofeo series is now in its half. The next race is scheduled for the end of July and the beginning of August at the legendary Spa-Francorchamps, which will be a part of the prestigious Total Energies 24 Hours of Spa.
