Autoracing Club Bratislava, also known as ARC Bratislava, is an auto racing team based in Slovakia. The team is led by Miro Konôpka, who has been driving for the team since its inception. ARC Bratislava are best known for competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship's short-lived LMP2 Pro-Am class and also the Asian Le Mans Series, where they spent nine consecutive seasons between 2015 and 2024, with the team set to return for the 2025–26 season. The team has competed in various FIA, ACO or SRO-sanctioned championships throughout its existence, using various prototypes or GT cars. They are also semi-regular visitors of the 24H Series.
ARC Bratislava also compete on the local scene, most notably in the FIA Central European Zone Circuit Championship and specifically in its derived championship called the GT Cup Series (previously known as the ESET V4 Cup or the ESET Cup Series), where Konôpka is a three-time overall champion.
ARC Bratislava have been active on the esports scene as well, competing in the Le Mans Virtual Series in both seasons of this championship between 2021 and 2023.
History The team was formed in 1997 by Miro Konôpka and Dušan Vysloužil to boost their racing efforts. After initially competing in local series, the team has since moved onto international competition. The team has competed in various forms of motorsport like hill climb racing, rallying but most importantly circuit racing. Their first notable international entry was the 2003 Porsche Supercup. In 2005, the team entered the FIA GT Championship, staying there until the 2009 season. The team has also competed twice in the American Le Mans Series, entering the 2007 and 2008 editions of 12 Hours of Sebring, as well as making a one-off appearance in the 2009 Le Mans Series.
24H Series
ARC Bratislava are semi-regular visitors to the Dubai 24 Hour event which preceded and is now part of the 24H Series. In the inaugural edition of the event, the team fielded a Porsche GT3 in the A6 class with the lineup of Konôpka, Gene Sigal, Matthew Alhadeff and Jirko Malchárek. The team entered as AC Bratislava finished third overall and second in their respective class. The team, now entered under its full name Autoracing Club Bratislava, returned with the same car and a slightly different lineup of Konôpka, Malchárek and two new drivers in Jim Michaelian and Mauro Casadei for the 2007 edition. This time around, the team finished fifth overall and fourth in the A6 class.
The team was also part of the inaugural season of the 24H Series in 2008. After completing just 53 laps, the team was classified in a very low 85th place in the 2008 Dubai 24 Hour. Konôpka and Michaelian were joined by German drivers Jürgen Bender and Martin Dechent for the event. In 2008 and 2010, Konôpka's team had also contested the 12-hour endurance race held at the Hungaroring, finishing fourth overall in the latter edition. For 2009, the team's involvement was reduced to just the Dubai race where the lineup of Konôpka, Oliver Morley, Sean Edwards and Richard Cvörnjek finished fourth overall and earned another class podium with a third place. In their fifth consecutive Dubai appearance in 2010 with an unchanged lineup from the previous year, the team could only manage 87 laps, which resulted in 72nd place overall and also the last place in the A6 class.
ARC Bratislava missed the 2011 Dubai 24 Hour because Konôpka contested it with a different team. Konôpka returned with his own team for the 2012 edition alongside Teo Myszkowski, Andrzej Lewandowski and Marco Schelp. In another compromised outing, the team finished 53rd overall and 24th in the A6 class. In addition to Dubai, the team entered the 2012 24 Hours of Barcelona. It was a very successful race as the team finished third overall and more importantly first in their class. The team fielded a Porsche 997 Cup with a five-driver lineup consisting of Konôpka, his son Maťo Konôpka, Ivo Breukers, Wolf Nathan and Jaap van Lagen.
After a two-year hiatus, ARC Bratislava returned to 24H Series by competing in two rounds of the 2015 season. Konôpka did not miss the 2013, 2014 and 2015 editions of Dubai however, as well as the second and third round of the 2015 season, once again racing individually for other teams. ARC Bratislava then entered the fourth and fifth round of the season, which were held at Circuit Paul Ricard and Barcelona respectively. The team once again won in its class in Barcelona. Now part of the SP2 class, the team entered an all-Slovak lineup of the two Konôpkas, Zdeno Mikuláško and Miro Horňák.
After multiple seasons out of the series, ARC Bratislava once again returned in 2020, this time entering the 12 Hours of Monza. After years of using Porsche machinery, the team has now switched to Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo, which was also in use for their activities in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe series. The two Konôpkas were joined by Maťo Homola and this trio ended up winning the GTX class with a sixth place overall. This win also meant a gold trophy in the GTX Teams' Europe Series. The team failed to finish their 2021 return to Dubai after completing 441 laps, which was still enough for third place in the GTX class. The lineup consisted of Miro and Maťo Konôpka, Justas Jonušis, Thomas Padovani and Zdeno Mikuláško.
For the 2022 season, ARC Bratislava have registered for the Dubai 24 Hour and the following non-championship six-hour race in Abu Dhabi, bringing their Lamborghini Huracán GT3 to be driven by the lineup of Miro and Maťo Konôpka, Zdeno Mikuláško, the returning Andrzej Lewandowski and Tom Jackson, who previously drove for the team in the 2021 FIA World Endurance Championship. The team was part of the GT3-Am class for Dubai, finishing fifth out of nine entries while completing 572 laps which was enough for 18th place in overall standings. Only the Konôpkas then took part in the Abu Dhabi race despite Lewandowski also being on the initial entry list. In the joint GT3 class for this event, ARC Bratislava qualified and also finished in sixth position, which was also their overall result. ARC Bratislava took part in one more 24H Series event of 2022, making an appearance at the inaugural 12 Hours of Kuwait. Miro and Maťo Konôpka were once again joined by Zdeno Mikuláško. The team suffered multiple punctures in the race, the first one making them drop from overall lead just few minutes into the race. They were the final team to be classified, completing 182 laps which put them in 20th place. Mikuláško also posted the fastest lap of the race in his final stint.
Miro Konôpka along with Andrzej Lewandowski then returned for the 2023 6 Hours of Abu Dhabi. As the sole competitor in GT3 Am, the team won their class by default, while also finishing tenth overall. ARC Bratislava would once again return for the 2024 edition of the event, with Konôpka partnering long-time team affiliate Mikuláško and newcomer Petr Fulín in the GT3 Am class. They would go on to finish 17th overall in the race, six laps down on the GT3 leader, while finishing in fifth out of GT3 Am entries. The team's next race in the series was the 12 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, which was held as a two-part race on 20 and 21 April 2024. Konôpka and Mikuláško were joined by fellow Slovak driver Anton Kiaba and Guatemalan junior Mateo Llarena. Despite leading in the early stages of the race, the team was subsequently falling down the order, eventually only finishing 26th overall after a stoppage in the ninth hour due to puncture.
For the 2025 Middle East Trophy, much like in the previous season, ARC Bratislava would only contest the 6 Hours of Abu Dhabi by fielding the Evo version of the Huracán GT3, this time with the family trio of Miro, Maťo and Adam Konôpka behind the wheel. They did not finish the race, but were still classified in 31st overall place, even improving on their GT3 Am result from previous year, now being classified in fourth. The team then entered the first race of the European leg of the 2025 24H Series, which was the 12 Hours of Mugello. The team continued to run the same car in the same class, however there was a change in the driver lineup. Miro Konôpka was joined by the returning Zdeno Mikuláško and two new drivers in Gerhard Tweraser and Jiatong Liang. The team took advantage of the mixed conditions and mostly managed to avoid incidents, which landed them a sixth place overall and a second place in GT3 Am class. For 12 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, ARC Bratislava introduced the Huracán GT3 Evo 2 for the first time, however they had to retire the car just four laps into the race after Andrzej Lewandowski spun at Raidillon corner. They were allowed to rejoin the second part of the race, however had to be moved to an SP4 class, as they went back to the older and now unhomologated Evo version of the Huracán. The lineup of Miro Konôpka, Adam Konôpka and Jiatong Liang managed to complete over half of race distance and therefore were classified in 32nd place overall. Lewandowski did not drive in this portion of the race.
The team started their 2026 campaign by contesting the 6 Hours of Abu Dhabi in an unchanged lineup from previous year's event. After causing a collision with fellow GT3 team Scuderia Praha, the team fell down the order and only managed to finish 33rd overall, nine laps down compared to the winning car. For the start of the European leg at the 12 Hours of Mugello, the team originally planned to use the same trio as in Abu Dhabi, but eventually replaced Maťo Konôpka with Zdeno Mikuláško and also added Gerhard Tweraser to make up a four-driver crew. The team had a very successful outing, scoring GT3 Am class pole in qualifying, which they managed to convert into a class win and a third place overall in the race, two laps down on the overall winner.
Blancpain Endurance Series
In addition to the 24H Series, the team has started appearing in the Blancpain Endurance Series. 2012 was their debut season where they entered the Pro-Am Cup. ARC's first Blancpain season ended at the 24 Hours of Spa, where the Porsche 997 GT3-R driven by the quartet of Konôpka, Mikuláško, Stefano Crotti and Christoff Corten failed to finish the race after completing 305 laps. The team also failed to score a point in the whole season. In 2013, ARC Bratislava contested the full season. Konôpka along with Ahmad Al Harthy drove the Porsche in all five races, with Ján Raška and Marco Schelp joining them for Spa. The team was now moved to the Gentlemen Trophy. This significantly improved the team's results as it finished sixth in the class with 35 points and one class win from Silverstone.
After missing two seasons, the team was back for the 2016 season in a championship now known as the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup. Konôpka along with Lewandowski and Myszkowski (joined by Mikuláško as a fourth driver for Spa) competed in the Am Cup with the Lamborghini Huracán GT3. The team finished fourth in the class with 67 points and two podiums. ARC Bratislava most recently competed in the 2018 season where they only took part in the season opener at Monza as part of the Pro Am class, this time using the Mercedes-AMG GT3. The trio of Konôpka, Lewandowski and Kang Ling finished 34th overall.
Asian Le Mans Series ARC Bratislava have been one of the mainstay teams of the series since the 2015–16 season. They last competed in the 2023–24 season as part of the LMP2 class. They did not return for the following season.
GT class (2015–2016)