The fifth race of the ESET Cup this year was held last weekend at the Most circuit in the Czech Republic. Seven-time champion Tim Gábor was once again in the field, which this time had 31 entrants. He caught attention in the GTX category with a second-place finish.
The field grew stronger again for the fifth race of the championship, with drivers from nearly every country in the Central European region coming to test their strength in the ESET GT Sprint Championship. Vanyarc-based driver Tim Gábor once again took to the track with the Lotus Exige V6. He was in second place in the GTX category before the round, with the goal of maintaining that position, knowing that his car was by far the weakest in the field.

„The team made significant improvements to the car over the winter, but this is still just the beginning of a project. The suspension is already very good, and we reduced the weight, but in terms of engine power, we’re far behind everyone else, looking at the entire field. The engine in the car has 370 horsepower, and I believe everyone else in the field is much stronger—especially in my category, GTX. We have almost everything ready for the new engine, which will be a significant step forward, but we’re not there yet. Nevertheless, I feel we can have a strong weekend on the technical Most track,” Tim said before the weekend.

In the first qualifying session, Tim secured fifth place in his category, taking the 19th spot on the grid for the first race, which was not without its challenges.
„At the start, there was a lot of chaos due to a three-car collision. I stayed on the normal racing line, but several others took the escape route. There was still a green flag, and I overtook my main rival, who leads the championship, legally. At the end of the lap, we had to stop on the grid because the race was red-flagged. At that moment, I thought my time had come. Koukola, who races in a KTM GTX, is much faster in the straights, but I’m better in the technical sections. I thought that no matter what, I would keep him behind me. However, when the race restarted, he overtook me easily under the Safety Car. I couldn’t react to it, but I trusted that such a blatant violation would be noticed, not just from the moon, but by race control, which has dozens of cameras. I wasn’t worried; this had to be penalized,” Tim recounted his experiences from the first race.
However, despite the illegal overtake, Koukola received no penalty. Tim raced well, moving up to 16th place and finishing fifth in the GTX category.
„When I found out that my rival wasn’t penalized, we tried to notify the race director. However, he said he was too busy. Seriously, that’s what he said—he didn’t have time for it. Unfortunately, we should have submitted it in writing, but we missed the deadline, so I had to accept that I lost a position. Fifth place isn’t great in terms of the championship,” Tim concluded his thoughts on the first race.

The second qualifying session took place in wet conditions, which worked to Tim’s advantage since the lack of engine power isn’t as much of a disadvantage in the rain. The potential for a big surprise was there, but it ultimately didn’t materialize. Still, he secured 13th place, with the second position in GTX.
„Thanks to my new sponsors, AZ Cars and Flottaman, our budget was a bit stronger this weekend. It’s still minimal, but at least we could afford rain tires. I know it’s funny, but we didn’t have them before. Although, maybe that’s more sad than funny. Anyway, I tried to perform a miracle in the rain, where I drove on rain tires with this car for the first time. At one point, I was in 5th or 6th place. We made some adjustments to the car in the pits, and I planned to return to the track in the final minutes when conditions improved. However, three and a half minutes before the end of qualifying, the session was red-flagged and not restarted. Unfortunately, a big chance slipped away,” Tim lamented after the second qualifying session.
The second race also took place in dry conditions. Tim tried to maintain his position, but he had no chance against the much more powerful cars. He was flagged in 15th place but secured second in the GTX category, albeit by only 0.1 seconds.
„The race was going well for a while. I was holding onto second place in GTX. However, before the end, the Safety Car came out, and my advantage was gone. A Sin Car and another Lotus were chasing me to the finish line, both of which were much stronger in the straights. In the end, it was a photo finish, but I got second place. I’m really happy about that, but less so about the fact that I’m starting to get caught up in the championship standings. We will need to make some improvements to the car if we want to keep second place or challenge for the championship title. But unfortunately, that comes with a significant cost,” Tim concluded after the second race.

The championship continues on August 23-25 at Slovakiaring, followed by the final round in Brno on September 7-9.
