The weekend at the SLOVAKIA RING belonged to Kiss once again.
Orechová Potôň, 9.6.2024 - The action-packed weekend full of thrilling battles at the OMV MaxxMotion Goodyear FIA ETRC Truck Race of Slovakia was dominated by the Hungarian champion Norbert Kiss, who won all four races in the 2nd round of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship. In addition, the packed grandstands could witness the triumphs of Maťo Homola in TCR Eastern Europe and the Konôpka family from the ARC Bratislava team in the Eset Cup Series.
In the truck races, whose season started two weeks ago in Misano, Italy, the defending champion from Hungary, Norbert Kiss, continued his grand slam (first place in all training sessions, qualifications, and races) driving his MAN truck of the Revesz Racing and T-Sport team. After two rounds, he is well on his way to defending his European Champion title.
In the ESET Cup Series sprint races, Miro Konôpka dominated in the Ligier LMP3, while his son Adam was the fastest in the GT3 category in the ARC Bratislava team's Lamborghini. However, Adam was disqualified after a technical inspection, so the victory went to Antal Zsigó in his BMW M4 GT3 of the Trevor Racing team.
In the endurance race, we saw an hour-long battle for the lead between the ARC Bratislava and Trevor Racing teams. Antal Zsigó, along with his German co-driver Max Hesse, won with a lead of less than 19 seconds ahead of Miro Konôpka, who was teamed with Zdeno Mikulášek in a Lamborghini Huracán GT3. The GTX class was won by Adam Konôpka in a Lamborghini, ahead of two KTM X-Bow GTX teams: RTR Projects from the Czech Republic (Koffler/Miniberger crew) and the Slovak Carin Racing team of Viktor Mráz and Maťo Homola.
The Slovak champion Maťo Homola, driving his Hyundai Elantra N, dominated the first race of the TCR Eastern Europe series. Starting from pole position, he controlled the lead and managed tire wear in the Saturday heat. His teammate from Janík Motorsport, Adam Kout, held second place for a long time but had to retire a lap before the end due to a puncture. Maťo Homola was lucky to win the race ahead of Hungarian Bucsi, despite suffering the so-called slow puncture in the final lap. On Sunday, Maťo Homola drew a starting position of 9th, which meant he had to handle a lot of battles on the track. Georgian Kadžaja took the lead due to a false start and, despite receiving a 10-second penalty, fiercely defended his position. Ultimately, only Hungarian Attila Bucsi in a Hyundai i30 N managed to pass him, escaping Maťo Homola. Even so, the Slovak racer strengthened his lead in the championship, three rounds before the end, with a narrow 6-point margin.
In the battle of GT cars and Division 5 in the ESET Cup on Sunday, the dominant Miro Konôpka won again driving his Ligier, Adam Konôpka triumphed in GTX with the Lamborghini, and Antal Zsigó won in GT3 with the BMW M4 GT3.
In the TCC Clio Cup, we witnessed exciting battles for the top spots all weekend. On both Saturday and Sunday, Slovenian Nik Štefančič from Lema Racing celebrated victories, narrowly beating Polish driver David Dziwok by just 0.007 seconds in the second race. In the Clio IV subclass, Slovak Tomáš Kazárka won on Saturday. On Sunday, he was among the fastest on the track but crashed into the barriers two laps before the end, allowing his brother Marko Kazárka to take the victory.
The rich racing programme also featured excellent races of the Formula 4 Central European Trophy Championship, where we saw two victories by Austria's Oscar Wurz and one by Czech Max Karhan.
Tens of thousands of spectators came to Orechová Potôň to enjoy a weekend full of action and accompanying events, including an aerobatic show by Hungarian flying ace Gyula Vári and the Grandees dance group. The next major event at Slovakia Ring will take place in two weeks: the FIA KARTING EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP at the Slovak Karting Center.
Photo: Tibor Szabosi
