Track Focus – Hrotovice
Host – Mibo Sport
Country – Czech Republic
Location – Hrotovice
Venue – Sport-V-Hotel
Track type – Temporary
Surface – Carpet
Direction – Anti-Clockwise
Previous ETS races hosted – 6
The most visited venue on the Euro Touring Series calendar, the hosting of the opening round of the Season #10 is set to be its seventh but also its last with the Vienna Model Show expected to replace it. Only missing off the calendar once since joining the ETS in Season #3, it instead hosting in the inaugural round of the Euro Offroad Series in 2012, the venue while out in the Czech countryside has always proven popular with racers. The appeal of the venue is that the track, the restaurant, the bars and a bowling alley are all housed under the one roof – the V Sport Hotel. With racers completely booking out the hotel for the weekend, most international arriving via Vienna airport which is around 2-hours away, the low cost of the food & drink is also very popular with drivers. For many drivers racing this weekend’s ETS encounters will not be their first visit back to Hrotovice since last year as many have taken part in the popular multi round Michal Bok run Mibo Cup. Michal and his father are the kingpins of making this event happen and over the years have worked with the hotel to improve the venue with such things as the addition of LED lighting and most recently the addition of pit rooms which can fit 120 drivers freeing up the main pit area.
In terms of this year’s track layout it is once again built in an area 30 metres wide and 24 metres deep. Commenting on the layout, this being the place where he made his carpet debut 2-years ago, reigning champion Bruno Coelho said, ‘it’s very tight and technical so there is not going to be much difference between Modified and Pro Stock as you never use full throttle other than on the straight. It’s a fun layout’. Asked what he felt was the main feature of the track he picked out ‘the section in front of the driver stand’ describing it as ‘difficult’ because ‘you arrive super fast there’. Top Qualifier and winner here last year, Marc Rheinard gave the layout out a thumbs up describing it as ‘nice’ and adding the key to a good lap was ‘just stay away from the dots’.
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