Czech racing driver and well known simracer Gabriela Jilkova - aka Quick Gabi - joins the German-based series ADAC GT4 with Zakspeed Racing, together with GT Winter series teammate Robert Haub.
Gabriela Jilkova might be a popular name among sim racing enthusiasts: QuickGabi - the nickname of the Czech racer - has in fact made a name for herself in the online racing community and is often featured in some of the most competitive iRacing championships.
But Jilkova is obviously also a real-life racing driver - and a very talented one - that deserves much more attention.
Gabriela started karting at the age of 5 and became a multiple winner in karting championship, as well as the first woman to ever win an International Championship in her home country Czech Republic in circuit racing. She is also a known simracer and has specialized in the iRacing platform in the past two years: "Gabi" has previously competed in the 24H Series, in the Renault Clio Cup Central Europe and Formula Renault NEC series. She was part of the 2019 all-female F3 championship W Series selections, and went on to win a race in the W Series Esports League in 2020.
After a title-winning campaign in the first months of 2021, Gabriela has announced that she will remain with Zakspeed Racing - a historic name in motorsport - for the team's first participation in the ADAC GT4 championship with two Mercedes-AMG GT4.
Gabriela Jilkova and Robert Haub will in fact get behind the wheel of one of them. Together with her American co-driver, Gabriela won the class and overall titles in the GT Winter Series - a championship contested over three rounds in Portimao, Portimao and Aragon, and featuring prototypes, GT3 and GT4 cars. Jilkova quickly established herself as one of the leading drivers in the series and showed enough speed to often finish ahead of her GT3 competitors - sparking interest in further GT4 starts for the 26-year old Czech racer.
In recent days, Jilkova tested the Zakspeed Mercedes AMG GT4 challenger at Oschersleben and will join the official ADAC preseason tests next week.
"[They were] two really successful days of testing and I was really happy with the times I did. In a couple of days we have two official test days from ADAC, so I'm really looking forward" - she explained on her social media.
If you missed Gabriela's journey in the GT Winter Series, you can catch up with the action and behind the scenes - as well as to get to know her better - through a new youtube series she will be releasing on her "Two2Win" channel.
The 2021 ADAC GT4 season starts on 14th to 15th of May at Motorsport Arena, Oschersleben.
2021 ADAC GT4 calendar
Oschersleben, Germany - 14/16 may
Red Bull Ring, Austria - 11/13 June
Zandvoort, Netherlands - 9/11 July
Nürburgring, Germany - 6/8 August
Sachsenring, Germany - 1/3 October
Hockenheim, Germany - 22/24 October