Zeknova Carboniacup 2024 this Sunday, April 7th.

Full starting lists attract spectators to the first race of the Zeknova Carboniacup in 2024.

After the winter break, we will welcome the opening event of the Carboniacup again at the Most autodrome and we can look forward to full starting grids and maximum possible capacity. Not only domestic racers will come, but also neighbors from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Poland and even France. A total of 125 cars have been registered . Admission is free for spectators, including entry to the depot and parking.

In Group A, the race will again be divided according to engine capacity into two separate races, Group A and A+, due to the great interest of the drivers. Not only fans of historic vehicles such as Dacia, Lada, Škoda 130 will have their fun here, but also fans of powerful racing specials over 3500cc, of which ten have registered here. In Group A1.3, we will see Uwe Hahn with a Zastava, Danny Teuber with a Dacia, or Lady Thomas Roth and Elvis Stamm. In the A1 16-car race, in addition to seasoned racers, newcomers Ivan Dobřanský with a Škoda 130RS, Petr Jeník with a Škoda 100, Jiří Volena with a Škoda Felicia or David Brousek with a Mini Cooper will also compete in the A1 16-car race. Miroslav Pešek will face them with a Ford Fiesta, and Jiří Mika will also pilot a very fast Saxo. In the two-liter A2 category, Jiří Zeman will drive a Honda Type-R in Most, Pavel Zeman in a Mazda RX8, Mirek Pribula in a Renault Clio, but also newcomers Martin Čábela in an Acura DC5 and Jiří Prantner in an Audi A3. The A3 group belongs to the three-liter cars, namely Miroslav Pešek Jr., the Hungarian Ivan Ivanov in a BMW 330, and against a host of German BMW cars with W. Forster, Handschke, Haeusner and Schäfer, Michal Adensam will also drive a BMW E36. This concludes the list of smaller-capacity cars and we move on to the starting list of the second race of group A+.

In A4, Martin Toth and Ladislav Šmucr from the Šenkýř Motorsport team will take to the start with BMW E46 GTRs, Bedřich Prokop Jr. with an Audi TT, Jan Šefrna with an Audi TT-S, or Austrian Drauch, Germans R. Müller and T. Krause, or Tomáš Zabloudil with a BMW M3. In A5, Gerd Forster will face newcomer Ralf Baumeister with a BMW Z3M Coupé. Group A6 belongs to the cup Škoda Octavia III RS, i.e. drivers David Kratochvíl, Josef Vágner, Bedřich Prokop and David Císař. A7, more modified two-liter cars will welcome in Most the Škoda Fábia of Oldřich Vojna, the Toyota MR2 of the German Andraczek, or Josef Dauerer on a VW Scirocco. A8 up to 3500cc has Ondřej Frič with a Lotus Elise on the starting list, and two Pragas R1s of Jiří Ruml and Alex Tlustý. The very busy A9 over 3500cc will be welcomed by the Most autodrome with Pavel Sovička's new Lotus Emir GT4, three BMW M4 GT4s from the Šenkýř Motorsport team, two Porsche 911 GT3 CUPs with drivers Jan Mareček and Radek Kolařík, or Josef Hrdlička's Porsche GT3 Cup and Dennis Waszko's Lamborghini EVO Tropheo.

Group B will once again host production cars in Most at the Panattoni Racing Day . In B1, not only last year's winner David Drugda will be competing with a Suzuki Swift Sport, but also Zdeněk Matas and Jiří Bárta with another Suzuki Swift in a Citroen C2. In the two-liter class, we will see German Christian Höffken with a BMW 318 Cup, Jiří Vaněček and Josef Vejs with Mazda RX8s or Michal Zimmer with a Toyota Altezza. In the three-liter class B3, Felix Hasenöhrl will compete with a Toyota Yaris GR, Milan Zubatý with a Ford Fiesta and Zdeněk Čurda with a BMW 330ci. B4 up to 3500cc has Kevin Štefančík with a VW Golf 4, Petr Koutský with a Mazda MX5, Silvestr Ulmann with a Nissan 350Z and Radek Zimmer with a Lotus Exige ready for the start in Most. B5 for cars over 3500 will be driven by Pole Tomasz Waszynski in an Audi S8, Lukáš Urban with an Alfa Romeo Giulia, Pavel Sovička with a Lotus Exige and Jan Vojtko with Zdeněk Šimoník in cars from the Munich brand.

Prototypes and special constructions will be brought to the start by group C. The strongest crew will be C1 up to 1400cc. There we will see the Swiss Neidhardts, their compatriot Phillipe Gerber, Austrians Ameseder and Hofer and German Daniel Hentschel with Performers and the only Pacemaker piloted by Sven Kahnt. In C2 up to 1800cc, Jiří Švec will start with a Funyo SP05 Peugeot, Jürgen Kapeller from Austria on a Radical and Friedrich Franz also on a Radical SR1. Above 1800cc in C2+, Pavel Sovička will drive with the new Lotus 311 Eleven and Hungarian Andras Kirschner with a Radical SR8. In group C3, Caterhams up to 1600cc will start with Simone Aglietti, Marek Svačinka, Marek Bláha and Jakub Kirchner. In C5, Miroslav Šimon's KTM X-Bow will drive.

Formula single-seaters belong to group D and there will also be something to watch. In D1 for motorcycle engines up to 1400 cc, Pavel Procházka will drive a Leastone F5, Jan Kapr, Robert Hanžl and Tom Flemming will drive Gloria C8F cars. Among single-seaters up to 1400 cc with car engines, Zdeněk Petan will start with Tomis against the German superiority of Klaus A. Zygar with Zagk 13/8, his colleague Hartmuth Heidick on Tark Kavor and Peter Benz with MT77. The 16-cylinder D3 will be driven in Most by Nils H. Wilms on a Melkus 90, Jeanette Siegert and Sven Steinbach with an MT77, and also Martin Kunze on an Estonia 25. The two-liter D4 will welcome Honza Rieger, Luboš Škarda and Melania Klausová on Formula Renault 2.0, the German Zängler with an Opel Lotus and three F3 formulae in the hands of Milan Vít, Nicklas Meisenzahl and Tsvetan Iliev from Bulgaria. Successful competition also gathered in D5 for F4 cars. Zbyněk Čurda, Miroslav Mikeš, Petr Kožíšek, Austrian Simon Schranz and German drivers Tim Rädlein, Frank Thalmann and Ralf Gläser will be on show here.

You can see for yourself that it looks like a very well-attended race in Most, so come support your favorites and take the first sips of burnt gasoline with us. We look forward to seeing you on April 7th at the Autodrom in Most during the Zeknova Carboniacup 2024.

The new main partner of the Carboniacup, Zeknova, replaced the Korean tire brand Hankook, due to problems in the production of racing tires. The guarantor of the race in Most will be Panattoni Czech, which builds large-scale development buildings, and the race in Most will be called Panattoni Racing Day. Spectators will again have free entry to the depot and parking, and they can also visit the stands. The organizers have ordered sunny weather in the sky, but we will see what it will look like in Most only on Sunday, April 7.

Text+photo: Vláďa Rožánek and PET for the Carboniacup 2024 team