Enge to Make Racing Return in All-Czech China GT Entry

Photo: Buggyra

Long-time sports car driver Tomas Enge will come out of retirement to compete in the China GT Championship this year as part of a new program with a Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo.

The 43-year-old will drive for Buggyra Zero Mileage Racing alongside former FIA European Truck Racing Championship regular David Vrsecky, who had also hung up his helmet before this program came along.

Both drivers and the Buggyra racing team are from the Czech Republic, although the program will have support from Chinese-based Zero Mileage Lubricant.

Buggyra’s chairman is Martin Koloc, who says Enge is the perfect choice for his new program: “Tomas is a real master of GT cars; I don’t know anyone else who has achieved so much.

“But the greatest thing about him is that he isn’t just a driver. Yes, he has a lot of experience driving GT cars, but also is aware of all the organization and logistics that come with GT racing and that is why we chose him. He is a real professional and I like that.”

Enge’s previous experience includes almost two decades competing in GT1, GT2 and GT3 competition, and a number of 24 Hours of Le Mans outings.

He previously held a role with Reiter Engineering and worked for the German company as a driver coach for its Reiter Young Stars program, while also racing its GT3 and GT4 cars in European GT competition.

“It is a real challenge for me to be part of this project,” he added. “Creating a whole new team is never easy.

“However I have already driven in several race series in Asia such as A1 GP and GT cars in Thailand. We have raced in Malaysia, Indonesia and Japan so I am quite familiar with the environment and that should help us.”

In addition to Enge and Vrsecky’s race program, the project will also include a Buggyra Academy to train young drivers and racing personnel.

Aliyyah Koloc, the 15-year-old daughter of team chairman Martin Koloc, will take part in testing and other activities with the team, while Teo Calvet, the youngest ever winner of a major truck race, could also work with the team.

It’s not yet known when the China GT season will get underway, with no 2020 schedule yet released and a forced delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year, the series races at Sepang, Ningbo, Shanghai, Qinhuangdao and Tianjin.

Jake Kilshaw

Jake Kilshaw is a UK-based journalist. He is a graduate of Politics and International Relations.