The endurance races of the ESET Cup had much in common with sprints, as some drivers consistently topped the charts in certain categories. For instance, Filip Salaquarda and Antal Zsigo claimed the titles in the GT3 and GT4 categories, respectively.
Filip Salaquarda could have turned all his starts into victories if it weren’t for technical difficulties at the Slovakia Ring. He was consistently the fastest and, even if he occasionally dropped a few positions at the start, he quickly made up for the loss and settled at the front until the checkered flag waved. He led in Slovakia until his Audi gave up on him, but he still managed to celebrate. That’s where he became the crowned champion one race to go ahead of Libor Milota and Piotr Wira.
Antal Zsigo took home three wins out of five starts in the GT4 category with his BMW M4 GT4. Although he missed the opening event and his teammate Zénó Kovács emerged victorious in the next two races, Zsigo triumphed in the remaining three endurance races and secured the title ahead of Kovács and Andrej Lah with their Mercedes.
The situation was relatively clear-cut in the GT3 and GT4 categories, but in GTC, the outcome was decided only in the final event in Brno. The current leader of the standings, Petr Brecka, driving for GT Sports Technology with a Porsche 911, did not participate in the last race. This gave the crew of Kurt Wagner and Josef Záruba from the Mičánek Motorsport team a unique chance to surpass Brecka in the driver rankings. They only needed to finish no worse than third. However, the result was determined just a few minutes after the start. Wagner and Petr Lisa in the KTM GTX had an accident in the last corner of the circuit, causing Wagner’s Lamborghini to flip in mid-air. The car came to a halt in the run-off area with its wheels stuck in the gravel, and track marshals immediately rushed to Wagner’s aid. Záruba didn’t even have a chance to get behind the wheel, and the zero points they gained from the home event meant that Brecka held onto first place and claimed the title.
Petr Lisa and his teammate Pavel Sovička also lost all hope of the title. Before the start, they led the GTX category standings by just two points ahead of Václav Janík. However, after Lise’s accident with Wagner, Janík had an easy path to the GTX title, which he confirmed with his third endurance victory of the year.
In the TCX category, the Audi RS3 LMS TCR crew of Bartosz Groszek and Radim Adámek from the Aditis Racing team was dominant this year. And in the Proto category, Miro Konôpka triumphed with his Ligier LMP3.
