Unlucky Vallelunga. Formánek and Basz were knocked out of the fight for the podium by unfortunate incidents.
Every race is an emergency. This was the result of the first of three racing events that await the Mičánek Motorsport powered by Buggyra team at the Vallelunga circuit in just ten days. In the first pair of races, Bronislav Formánek and Karol Basz managed a best finish of seventh place.
The Mičánek Motorsport powered by Buggyra team faces a difficult starting position in Italy— for the first time, they are starting on a track that is familiar to a large part of the starting field. "We are up against extreme competition from home teams who know Vallelunga perfectly. We are here for the first time, with data from a single test. On the other hand, we have more days ahead of us, so we will try to improve as quickly as possible and erase this advantage of the other teams as much as possible," said team manager Jiří Mičánek Jr. after the first pair of the six races.
From the beginning of the weekend, the whole team focused on getting the data as quickly as possible and comparing their pace with the competition. "The results from free practice were good, Karol Basz did well in qualifying, but the differences between the crews are minimal. In our case, two tenths decided that we were not able to start from the top ten in the overall standings," added Mičánek.
It was the fact that Basz started the race from the middle of the starting field that backfired on the team—due to a collision with his rivals, the Polish driver had to leave the track and was penalized by Race Direction with drive through penalty. "I reacted only to the situation on the track; I didn't gain any advantage. From my point of view, it was a very strict evaluation and meant the end of our chances for a good result," commented Karol Basz. Bronislav Formánek, who took over the Huracán ST EVO2 from his teammate, brought it to the finish in seventh place in the Pro-AM class.
It was Formánek who bore the biggest handicap of the unfamiliar track— he sat in the cockpit of a race car for the first time on the Italian track only this weekend. "On the one hand, I like the track; it combines speed and technical passages. I believed it would suit me, but I'm having a hard time getting used to it," admits the Mičánek Motorsport powered by Buggyra driver. He still managed to get the second race off to a good start, avoiding any incidents on the crowded track and handing the car over to Karol Basz with a real chance of making the top five.
However, the race ended ten minutes before the end of the race when Basz was sent by the Art Line team's car off the track. Unfortunately for the team, the rear suspension was damaged in the collision, and the Polish driver had to retire. "I wasn't in a bad position; I had three Pro-AM cars in front of me that we could realistically overtake. Unfortunately, we couldn't continue. This weekend was very unlucky for us, but we have clear points to focus on to be able to move forward in the following days," said Basz.
The second crew of the Mičánek Motorsport powered by Buggyra team, Libor Dvořáček and Kurt Wagner, scored sixth place in the LC Cup class.
The team now faces a two-day break before the event, which is formally the last event of the European branch of the Lamborghini Super Trofeo series. It will then be followed by the World Super Final. "We will try to gain as much experience as possible and improve race by race and get results. I believe that by the Superfinal, we will have a better starting position, and we will be able to capitalize on it with an interesting result," concludes team manager Jiří Mičánek.
