Janík Motorsport scored twice in the opening round of the Virtual GP

On Tuesday, 12th March, the first race of the Mercedes-Benz Virtual GP championship took place, where our Janík Motorsport team is starting its second season. From the opening race of the season our team took double points.

The Virtual GP Championship season kicked off at the tricky Mount Panorama circuit. Our drivers Tomáš Hora and Petr Hermoch set a goal for this season to be at least in the TOP 3 in the final points, so they entered the opening round with the best possible results in mind.

Tomas Hora had a good qualifying session and after the first attempt he set the seventh best time. Since he could still go out and try to get a better position, he didn't hesitate and tried to attack the TOP 5. Unfortunately, he didn't turn the corner and ended up in the wall. In the end, he started the race from eighth place. Petr Hermoch had to settle for ninth place because his fastest attempt was disrupted by the slow car in front of him.

Both drivers had a good start to the race and even managed to gain better positions. At the end of the first lap there was a collision between cars from other teams and both Tomas and Petr jumped ahead. In the race it was important for both of them to finish on points, and they did. Tomáš finished in sixth place and scored ten points. Petr was right behind him in seventh place with nine points. Janík Motorsport is thus in fourth place in the team standings at the start of the season.

Tomáš Hora is dissatisfied with the result despite his sixth position. "The race was a bit better. I jumped to seventh place at the start and tried to catch up with the Lenovo Legion driver. At the end of the first lap there was a collision and I jumped a place ahead. Sixth place was good, but still a disappointing result for me. Míra Svoboda from Lenovo Legion had a very good pace and it can be said that it was identical to mine. I was making small mistakes on the track, but they were enough to keep the Lenovo cars away from me and the change didn't come even after the pit stop. Although I was hoping that an early stop and tyre change would help, it didn't and the pace was still the same. The final result after crossing the line was sixth place."

"I'm not too happy with the result due to some minor mistakes and a messed up qualifying, but I hope to rectify that in the next race," he added.

"I held my position at the start, but I pushed the drivers in front of me and due to a mix-up at the end of the first lap I moved up to seventh. The plan was to catch up with Tom, save fuel and try to fight with both Lenovo Legion cars after the stops, but the car didn't work at all like in practice and I struggled a lot with the steering. After a couple of laps I decided that it would be better not to push and rather keep the lead on the cars behind," said Petr Hermoch.

"We brought it home on sixth and seventh place, which is a pretty good start, but we'll have to look at why the Lenovo Legion team was suddenly so much quicker. The next race is at Daytona, where I think the odds will be more even."

Daytona will be the next race track. This race will be held on Tuesday, March 26 and our drivers will once again try to place in the top positions.