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One of the most visible drivers in the opening round of the season at Grobnik was Maťo Konôpka. The rookie, who is racing for ARC Bratislava, brought his Hyundai i30 N TCR to the finish line in 3rd place in both races. How does he rate his performance in Croatia? And is he going to return in other races? He answered all those questions in this interview.
Maťo, you had your TCR Eastern Europe debut at Grobnik and it went perfectly. You managed to finish 3rd in both races. How much testing in a TCR car did you do before?
I did no testing at all! I’ve decided for a TCR on the very last minute. Originally, I and my dad (Miro Konôpka) wanted to run LMP3 cars. However, we would be the only competitors, so my dad went for a GTC category with a Lamborghini Super Trofeo, and I decided for a Hyundai i30 N TCR. We got that one borrowed by Mr. Kouřil. While it’s a car with last year’s specification, it worked perfectly well. And I’d like to thank Mr. Kouřil and his mechanics for that. Mr. Kouřil was really professional throughout the whole weekend and he couldn’t have set up the car better.
How would you explain those results in Croatia? Was there any secret ingredient?
Not at all. It just worked out for me.
You were racing with GT cars in the past. How would you compare a GT car with a TCR car?
Well, TCR is something completely different. It has a front-wheel drive, and you brake much later… I’d say that racing with TCR cars is a bit like racing in karts.
Do you intend to take part also in other races this season?
I’d like to race at Slovakia Ring, too. I think that the TCR Eastern Europe is a very interesting championship. The starting grid features 18 cars and all of them are on the same level. There are also many great drivers like Borkovič or Vesnič, who have a lot of experience with these cars. It’s a good place to learn. So, I’d like to do at least Slovakia Ring. Then, we’ll see, maybe we would do also the two remaining events.
