Bartosz Groszek

This season you were very successful in virtual racing, you won the TCR Eastern Europe in Simracing. What are the main differences for you in real and virtual racing? For me, the main difference between virtual and real racing is the feeling of the car. In the real world, you feel with your whole body how the car behaves, and in virtual racing you have to rely on your eyesight and feelings from the steering wheel, which is not easy. In the virtual world, you don’t need to have such a large budget to achieve success and be able to race at the highest level. Where would you place this success in your racing career? “This is by far the greatest achievement in the virtual racing career as well as in the real world because 2020 was my first racing season. It's quite an achievement to win first ever TCR Eastern Europe Simracing series” With the same Team BTC Maszyny you have participated also in the endurance races. Your team mate Lukasz Stolarczyk was third overall, you fifth. Very impressive performance in the strong TCR competition. How do you rate the 2020 season? The 2020 season was our debut season in the TCR series and the beginnings weren’t easy. We considered this season as training and didn’t have very high expectations of the result. The result at the end of the season is definitely satisfying. Especially by winning the qualification with a big lead in the last race of the season at Hungaroring. Unfortunately, for personal reasons, I had to give up the Brno round which contributed to the 5th place in the general classification. I think that if not, our team BTC Maszyny would have a chance for 2nd place How coronavirus influenced your preparation for the races and season? Due to the coronavirus, my preparations for the season were mainly focused on driving on simulators because most of the tracks were closed at that time. Before the season I was not on any of the tracks that were in this year's calendar so it was the only option to learn them. Starts in the Polish Endurance Championship definitely helped in the preparation for the races in the ESET Cup

Bartosz Groszek in a new racing suit – winner’s prize from partner OMP Racing.

because I could get more time behind the wheel. Poznan is new in the TCR Eastern Europe and ESET Cup calendar for the next year. How important is a home race for you and your team? Home race is very important for me and our team and we can’t wait to present ourselves in the fight in front of Polish audience in our area. It is important because all tracks on which we fought this year in TCR Eastern Europe and ESET Cup were new for us and the track Poznań is our track, so we hope for a good result here. What’s the plan for next season? The plans are not yet known at this point. I would definitely like to fight for the title in the ESET Cup, but it all depends on the sponsors and the budget that will be raised for the next season. Our team is preparing something special for next season but you will have to wait until the first round to find out what it is.