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Croatian race driver Žarko Knego and the Auto Klub Dubrovnik team are in full preparation mode for the 2025 season, with their first test kilometers of the new year set to take place at their home track, Grobnik.
“Currently, we are rebuilding our car and repairing minor damage from last season. We considered purchasing a new Hyundai Elantra for the 2025 season, but due to financial limitations, we decided to stick with our current car,” explained Knego, who is focusing on physical training during the winter break and spending time in the simulator.
Meanwhile, the team is working on securing agreements with sponsors to finalize the budget. Žarko Knego and Auto Klub Dubrovnik remain committed to their current Hyundai Elantra, which has featured some eye-catching liveries in the past. Can we expect something special again this year? “Our team designer has always some new ideas regarding the livery and he is working on several different options. In the past he always surprised us and I am sure that again he will perform a good job and our fans will be delighted. I don’t interfere in his job because I am not an aesthetic person and I don’t have so much imagination to create as interesting livery as he does,” said Knego.
As mentioned, the team considered buying a new Elantra, but it didn’t materialize. “The prices of new TCR cars have increased significantly and there was to big difference between value of my car and the new unit,” Knego continued. There was also an option to upgrade the current Elantra, but the team decided against it. “So in order to improve my performance they will work on several other set up options, but my opinion is that the car is good and only the driver should improve its (my) performance,” said Knego.
He is one of the most experienced drivers in TCR Eastern Europe, yet he continues to learn every season. So, what did he learn last year? “I definitely lack some positive aggression on the track while fighting with other drivers. As soon as I apply that, I immediately improve my position and performance. One of the reasons is our budget limitation, I haven’t been pushing a lot, in order to try to save the car from some potential damages. Hope that this year I will improve this and perform better,” he said.
Knego is still chasing his first victory. He has made it onto the podium multiple times, but the top step remains elusive. “I would like to try to have more than one podium per season and of course it would be nice to win a race finally. The competition is strong and it will not be easy to achieve all goals but that is the nicest part of racing. You have to be constant and perform all the time if you want to take the podium or a win. ” His chances of achieving the best result of his career are equal at all the tracks on the calendar, as Knego enjoys all the circuits in the 2025 season.
“I like Red Bull ring as nicest track with great infrastructure. I would say that most demanding track is Slovakia ring and this is one of my favorite tracks. Configuration is specific with very fast, but also technical parts. The driver that performs good there has to be good in both technical and fast parts of the track. Also both tacks in Czech Republic I like a lot as I scored two podiums there.”
With many seasons in TCR Eastern Europe under his belt, Knego also shared his thoughts on the championship: “I have been part of this series since 2019, and I can see how much it has evolved. At one point, the grid was full, and the competition was very strong. Last year, there were fewer cars, but the level of competition was one of the toughest ever, making the racing highly competitive and challenging. The experiment with TCR Europe grid in Brno showed that our drivers are as strong as TCR Europe drives and that we can fight for good result with them. It is pity that this year, we don’t have a joint race with them because our driver line up can make a good race among their grid. My opinion is that this is the strongest TCR competition with very reasonable costs. You can’t race at this level in Europe at affordable costs therefore, I can only wish to have some more cars on the grid in order to have as competitive racing as possible.”
