Gabriela Jílková and Robert Haub join the newly formed team zvo Racing - founded by Philipp Zakowski and Jörg van Ommen - and will compete in ADAC GT4 Germany and GT4 European Series in 2022.
Zakspeed co-owner Philipp Zakowski is set to establish his own brand-new racing team to enter three highly ranked GT series in 2022; by leaving the management of Zakspeed to his brother Peter, Philipp will join forces with former racing driver and two-time DTM vice-champion Jörg van Ommen to launch [ z |vo ] Racing, which will enter ADAC GT4 Germany, GT4 European Series and ADAC GT Masters in 2022.
Philipp Zakowski and Jörg van Ommen have known each other for a long time: van Ommen drove for Zakspeed in 1993 and 1994, as well as a young Philipp Zakowski started in van Ommen's karting series.
Partner of the team will be entrepreneur Georg Haub, who will support the team with investment from two of his companies - Drago Immobilien GmbH and TASCO Revisions GmbH. The team's new vision and approach - including event service provider, catering and driver experience - aims to be a disruptive force in motor racing.
It is not a start from scratch, though, as the team was renamed from the previous JvO Autosport into Zakowski & van Ommen GmbH, before being entered as [ z |vo ] Racing in some of the top-level motorsport series.
The drivers line up for the GT Masters championship will be announced soon and the involvement of JvO Autosport in Ferrari Challenge will continue with the new name [ z |vo ] Racing.
The first set of driver pairing confirmed are Czech driver Gabriela Jílková and American driver Robert Haub, who showed strong performances this year in their first professional GT4 season with Zakspeed. Both will start in ADAC GT4 Germany and GT4 European Series.
Gabriela started karting at the age of 5 and became a multiple winner in karting championships, 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.
Together with her American teammate Robert Haub, Gabriela won class and overall titles in the GT Winter Series - a championship contested over three rounds in Portimao and Aragon, and featuring prototypes, GT3 and GT4 cars. Jílková 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.
With just one race weekend left at Nürburgring, the duo is currently fifth in the drivers' championship standings and already stood two times on the podium this season, having taken third place at Oschersleben and second at Zandvoort in ADAC GT4 Germany.
At their debut in GT4 European Series at Nürburgring, Jílková and Haub claimed a class podium.
This weekend, Jílková and Haub will enter the final round of the 2021 ADAC GT4 series under the banner of Zakspeed at Nürburgring, targeting fourth in the championship standings, before preparations start for a new season in new colours and in two of the world's top GT4 series.
