Panattoni Racing Day in Most will start its thirteenth season with more than a hundred cars

This year's Hankook Carboniacup season starts again at the home racetrack in Most, where we will see more than 100 cars. Admission for spectators to the depot area and the stands is once again free.

Carboniacup has been on the racetracks for the thirteenth season. This year it has a new name, Hankook Carboniacup, the brand cup of the tire manufacturer. Panattoni has invested its resources in the Most competition, which opens the thirteenth season.

The winter break was long, but fans of fast machines have already prepared their equipment over the winter and would like to go to the first races of the year. This year, we are waiting for a significant change in the calendar, as Automotodrom Brno has been included, replacing the German event in Lausitzring.

Minor adjustments to the Hankook Carboniacup regulations were also announced, primarily the dusty A6 group, i.e. the possibility of racing with the Škoda Octavia III RS from the circuit cup of the same name, or the expansion to include the D6 group, where large formulae over 2000cc will be moved and drivers with formulas with only F4 specifications will remain in the entire D5.

But let's take a look at the Most race, which takes place on April 2nd at the Autodrom in Most and, as every year, opens the racing season on circuits. In total, over 110 racing cars have registered, so let's take a look at the starting lists, who awaits us in Most and what cars they have prepared for our fans over the winter.

Hankook Carboniacup races will again be divided into basic groups A, A+, B, C and D, with individual subgroups and their technical regulations found here. On the promoter's website you can also find rules and other interesting facts about the races, start lists and the 2023 calendar ► www.Carboniacup.cz

Due to full capacity, some groups were closed before the deadline, and in group A there was an adjustment to two racing races, i.e. A and A+.

In the A1 group of touring cars up to 1600 cc, Jiří Mika will drive a Citroen Saxo against a German-speaking enclave of cars, such as the Audi 50 of Josef Turban, or the VW Derby of Stefan Scheiber from Germany. In the A1.3 subgroup, which has its own rating, Petr Zelenka will come to Most to race with a Suzuki Swift, against a strong German force, where the Dacia of Danny Teuber, the Zastava of Uwe Hahn, or the Lady of the RAS Motorsport or HMC Wünschnedorf drivers will especially attract attention. In the two-liter class, Jiří Zeman improved his equipment over the winter with a Honda CRX, Pavel Zeman with a Mazda RX8, Gusta Niedelský on a Honda Civic Type R, or Christian Heinz from Germany on a BMW 320, which will also be driven by Jan Rypl from the F-Drive team.

In the joint race with these cars, even more modified two-liter A7s will join, i.e. newcomer to the starting list Oldřich Vojna with a Škoda Fábia, home team Matěj Chabr with a VW Golf 3-B, or two VW Sciroccos driven by drivers Dauerer and Stubenrauch.

The second race of group A+ will welcome only BMW cars to the starting grid in Most in the three-liter group A3, where Schäfer, Haeusner and Fellner will drive, Tomáš Zabloudil will bring a BMW 130i and Dalibor Vopat his Audi A3, the newcomer of the three-liter class is Patrick Blömecke with his BMW 328. In the A4 group up to 3500cc, Martin Toth will bring his metal darlings with a BMW M3, Michal Vítek and Christoph Drauch will also drive the same equipment. Nicklas Witteborn will drive an Audi TT, as will newcomer Josef Vejs from Enjoy Motorsport. In group A5, Walter and Gerd Forster will show off with BMW cars. Three Škoda Octavia III RS cars have entered the first race, namely Josef Vágner, David Kratochvíl and Bedřich Prokop. The newcomer in group A8 was prepared by Ondřej Frič. He will drive a Lotus Elise against Petr Krejs. The strongest racing touring cars will be brought by two drivers in Group A9 with Corvette Z06s, namely Pavel Sovička, who created his own Blue Garage Racing team over the winter, and Jens Mischke. Jan Mareček will then drive for RTR with a KTM X-Bow GTX.

Group B of production cars will also look forward to seeing you. In the A1 group of 1600s, Jiří Zeman st will drive in Most with a Honda CRX, Jiří Bárta with a Citroen, or David Drugda with a Suzuki. In the two-liter class, Libor Šajner with a Toyota GT86 and Tomáš Zahrádka with a Fiesta ST150 will compete for points. In the three-liter class B3, Martin Hanzl with an Alfa Romeo, Milan Zubatý with a Ford Fiesta and Zdeněk Čurda with a BMW 330ci will compete for points. In B4, German Hasenröhl with a VW Golf, Radek Zimmer with a Lotus Exige and homegrown Silvestre Ulmann with a Nissan 350Z will try their luck after the winter. The strongest B-class will be B5, i.e. over 3500cc, and Pavel Sovička with his Lotus Exige Cup, Jiří Urban with his Alfa Romeo Giulia, Pole Tomasz Wazynski with his Audi S8, Zdeněk Šimoník with his BMW and Jiří Skula with his Corvette ZR01 from the Shadows team, and newcomer Václav Novozámský with his Mercedes C63 AMG will bring their gems.

Group C for prototypes and specials will welcome a nice field of real flats, Performers and Caterhams, which have decreased compared to previous seasons. In C1, Sven Kahnt will arrive with a Pacemaker and Christian Müller from Austria will demonstrate its evolution, then Ameseder, Hentschel and Hofer will race with Performer cars. The unprecedented competition in C2, or flats, is something other series can envy. Both Peter Kormann and Andreas and Jasmine Fiedler will bring their PRC cars. Friedrich Franz will bring Radicals with his Austrian colleague Kapeller, Jiří Švec his new Funyo and Karl H. Matzinger will show his Wolf GB08. In C3 for Caterhams we will see Marek Svačinka and namesake Bláha, in C4 for the more powerful versions Jakub and Martin Křečková have entered and the only KTM X-Bow will be piloted in C5 by Miroslav Šimon.

Formula D groups will also welcome a full grid. In the new group D6 we will welcome Henry Clasnitzer with the new Dallara Renault WS 3.5ltr technology. D5 belongs to the F4 formulas, where the newcomer Bulgarian Martin Stoyanov is racing with the Germans Thalmann, Gläser and Bürger. The competition in D4 up to 2000cc has not been idle and Honza Rieger bought a Renault 2.0 formula and will race with it against Luboš Škarda, Radek Kroup, Jan Wagenknecht, Melanie Klausová or the newcomer Falk Schwartze. D3 up to 1600cc will bring Jan Kapr with a Renault Campus, NH Wilms with a Melkus 90, or Jeanette Siegert with an MT77. D2 for car engines up to 1300cc has Heidicke, Hähner or Schultz from Germany in the field, but also Zdeněk Petan on a Tomis from Chabrmotorsport. In D1 for motorcycle engines up to 1300, Gloria has left Jan Rieger and this time Robert Hanžl will take the wheel, his rivals being the Germans Flemming and Walther.

If you've read this far, you can see that you have something to look forward to after the winter. Admission for spectators is free again this time and the Panattoni Racing Day in Most can kick off the Hankook Carboniacup into the new season on April 2nd. We look forward to seeing you.

Text+photo: Vláďa Rožánek and PET, Hankook Carboniacup 2023