The Czech team Šenkýř Motorsport participated in the International GT Open season finale at Barcelona, Spain last weekend. Just like at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium before, the team has left its mark as Richard Gonda – Mikkel Jensen duo finished 5th in both races against more than 30 other cars in the GT3 category.
Since the first Thursday practice sessions, it was clear that BMW M6 GT3 of Šenkýř Motorsport is very well prepared. A Slovak driver Richard Gonda and a BMW Motorsport junior Mikkel Jensen from Denmark were amongst the fastest drivers using these German cars. The team principal Robert Šenkýř said: “As always, we gave everything into preparations for this race. The GT Open championship is all about details. You can have even 15 cars in just one second. We can’t afford to make a mistake.”
On Saturday, Richard Gonda managed to secure 8th place on the grid for the first race. Then he and Mikkel Jensen finished 5th in a dramatic race. And it could have been even better according to the team principal Robert Šenkýř: “We’ve been given a 10-second handicap for finishing 2nd in Belgium, which cost us time in the pits. Without that, we could have been fighting for the win. But these are the rules. Both drivers did well on the track and huge thanks goes to the whole team.”
And on Sunday it was a similar story with a well prepared BMW M6 GT3. Another 5th place for Šenkýř Motorsport in the end but once again, it was possible to fight for the podium. Danish driver Mikkel Jensen said: “The team has done a great job. The car was always well prepared, it’s just a shame we lost some time in the pits.” And his team principal Robert Šenkýř added: “Unfortunately we lost some time in the pits, which was crucial in our fight for the podium. However, the drivers and all the mechanics did a great job again. I think, that it’s going to take a while before we realise what we’ve achieved this year. We’ve managed to finish all four races in TOP 5 against such a big competition.”
Results from Barcelona just shows how successful year it was for Šenkýř Motorsport. In the international series ESET V4 Cup, it has won with Tomáš Erdelyi the GT3 Trophy Sprint championship using BMW Z4 GT3. Erdelyi also finished 3rd in the endurance races in GT3 Trophy. In the main GT3 category it was Jakub Knoll who finished 3rd in the M6 GT3 car prepared by the Czech team.
