Michaela Dorcikova: "Money won't help you here, it's pure skills"

In one of 2024’s most inspiring stories, Michaela Dorcikova secured Slovakia's first gold medal at the FIA Motorsport Games, standing on top of the world in a discipline that is rarely under the limelight but that is true testament to driving precision.

Photo credits: SRO/JEP

Auto Slalom may not enjoy in the same limelight as other motorsport disciplines, but it stands as a true testament to driving precision and raw talent - with a much more accessible format less dependant on funding and equipment.

In one of 2024’s most inspiring stories, Michaela Dorcikova secured Slovakia its first gold medal at the FIA Motorsport Games, in a historic moment that saw the young racer and her teammate David Nemcek standing on top of the world in the Auto Slalom, two years after claiming silver at Paul Ricard.

Michaela's story is one of great resilience and determination, having always proved to bounce back from adversities, including serious accidents, to impress with breakthrough comebacks. Her outstanding performance at Valencia proves that when equipment and budget constraints are not limiting her, she will compete at the top.

Dorcikova has a wide experience in several forms of motorsport, from circuit racing, rallying and lately in Auto Slalom, which saw the Slovak driver rise to the global stage at the 2022 FIA Motorsport Games. Having raced in the NASCAR Euro Series since 2019 in select events, Dorcikova returned behind the wheel of the European-based stock car championship in 2023 tackling two rounds, in Valencia and Most.

However, in 2024, she returned to focus her efforts on rallying and ultimately Auto Slalom, in preparation of her second FIA Motorsport Games participation.

Dorcikova was the protagonist of a remarkable comeback in 2022, when a serious rallying accident left her with a broken spine. Forced to miss all her racing commitments, she worked on a return behind the wheel for the Auto Slalom competition at the Motorsport Games.

Pushing through the pain and barely two months after such an injury, Dorcikova not only competed to represent her country, but advanced all the way to the final and ultimately secured a silver medal that was one of the great stories of the event.

Photo credits: SRO/JEP

The FIA Motorsport Games, launched in 2019 for the first time in Rome, were born out of the Olympic-style spirit that every athlete aspires to - and with the event getting bigger at every edition, with more disciplines, more ASNs and more athletes are entered, certainly that spirit is clearly starting to emerge, in a real motorsport festival of the nations, where more diverse disciplines gain a worldwide spotlight.

Racing drivers, however, are clearly highly competitive individuals, and the fierce competition kicks in as soon as the green flag waves. For Michaela Dorcikova, this meant aiming one place higher than her second place conquered at Le Castellet: it meant going for glory.

It was however definitely not an easy feat to achieve.

Firstly, she had another injury to recover from in the months leading up to the competition, as a foot injury forced her to make another comeback when she took on the Taipei International Gymkhana competition, in preparation for the FIA Motorsport Games event at the end of the year.

"To be really honest with you, I was expecting something to happen before the competition because I broke my back before the 2022 Motorsport Games, I cut my foot before the Taiwanese competition and I was just expecting something to happen so that I can do the comeback again!" - Dorcikova joked, with her characteristic self-ironic spirit. "I fell down three days before leaving, but nothing happened, luckily."

"So I was just trying to enjoy the competition as it was, fully prepared, with no pain, which was finally amazing to experience because I didn't have to fight any physical difficulties", she explained.

"And that was maybe even making me slightly calmer, because if you're physically fine, then you're mentally even better. And also, there was no excuse", she added. "There was nothing wrong with me, so I had to deliver, and that was a part of the motivation, to show that I can actually really do it."

Photo credits: SRO/JEP

In Valencia, Dorcikova and her teammate faced 33 international teams, each targeting one of the 16 qualifying spots to advance in the competition.

"The competition was super strong", Michaela said. "We knew our opponents from the previous FIA Motorsport Games, also from the races in Taiwan, where we got to meet all the Asian countries, which are super friendly and amazing. Their gymkhana style of Autoslalom is crazy too", she explained. "When we were there in April this year, it was very eye opening what kind of races they have in Asia, but we fought hard there as well and we knew that with the coming Games we would face many strong competitors and racers."

"Auto slalom is definitely a tough category", she emphasized, highlighting how the discipline really focuses on pure skills and precision. "People underestimate it because it usually has no fancy and expensive cars, but that's what it actually is."

"More money won't help you here. It's pure skill, and everybody has the same conditions."

"You have to show precision car handling, seek for the limits and all of that with almost no practice, and every single time at a different track setup, which is never identical to the previous slalom race that you have done."

"Although I'm now mostly involved in other categories like circuit racing or mostly rally, I still drive and will keep driving in Autoslalom because it's the perfect practice for your mind and focus as well as handling skills."

Upon arrival at Circuito Ricardo Tormo, one of the significant challenges Michaela and her colleagues encountered was adapting to the competition car—the Hyundai Kona Electric N Line. A perfect car for families to drive in the city, but certainly not a vehicle that racing drivers are used to driving in race conditions.

Photo credits: SRO/JEP

Weighing approximately two tonnes, the Kona Electric N Line was a departure from the lightweight vehicles typically used in Auto Slalom. “We had to push for the limits in something that has, let's say, approximately two tonnes of weight", Michaela explained. "And this is not common in slalom racing - we go as low as possible with the weight, and now you have to operate a car that is completely different to what you're used to."

"But everybody had the same conditions and that was the beauty of this competition, because with usual slalom races, you bring your own car. Here everybody had the same car, and that simply meant that everybody had the same gear, so there was no difference in, let's say, the power output or the selection of tyres. You have to show off what is in your hands and feet and your mind, rather than building a car that is specifically made for racing. So this was one of the challenges that we all had to face."

Another challenge also came from the use of traction control, with drivers initially practicing in different conditions of what eventually became race conditions. "We practised with the traction control off and we selected the sport mode, which was feasible on this car - but this was later forbidden because the tyres worn out very fast without traction control", she recalled. "So we were all suddenly driving with traction control on, and this was another challenge that we had to face because as racing drivers, you normally are used to racing vehicles, and this was a purely road car."

"But that, of course, is also one of the skills of a driver, you need to adapt quickly to the conditions that you are given or of the track, be it rain or dry, which also happened in Valencia."

Once the visor goes down, however, Dorcikova only focused on delivering the best performance - and that's exactly what she did. She excelled in the qualifying rounds, securing the top spot among the female drivers classification in both runs and therefore advancing straight to the final 16.

"So the elimination started with the top 16 teams, and as we qualified first, we had to fight Albania", she said. "And I was already not happy because I knew their coach and it's never easy to race against friends. You have to win. And we beat them."

Photo credits: SRO/JEP

As the elimination rounds progressed, the competition intensified. "What came next was even stronger competition in the top eight, where we had Hungary as our opponent", Michaela continued. "And I already had full respect for their two drivers that were multiple national champions and I had faced them in the Hungarian championship a long time ago, so I knew they were good", she said of Tünde Deak and Martin Bognar.

"But together with David [Nemcek] we managed to beat them to get into the top four, which was very, very close to the medals already - but we still had to fight two more rounds in order to get where we wanted."

The following round turned out to be particularly intense, as the Slovak duo were paired with the 2022 champions, Germany's Claire Schönborn and Markus Firsching, in what was almost a re-match from the Le Castellet final.

"Together with Claire from Germany we agreed to call it a premature final, because we both knew we wanted to meet in the finals again. However, it was the semifinals already, so we had to give it everything, we had to get ready."

"David did not feel super confident with the traction control turned on on the car and there was no space for any further practice on track. So we basically took all of our theoretical knowledge and the videos and analysed the driving style for any potential improvements on our side", Michaela described the preparation for such a crucial race.

"We were also getting some advice from the other teams, which is incredible in motorsports because even though they are your opponents, they still are able to advise you."

"Germany was and still is our toughest competitor and opponent. Last time they eliminated us in the final round of the competition and we ended up with the silver medal from the FIA Motorsport Games in 2022, which was a great success, definitely. But we knew that we wanted to beat them. That was our number one target."

And the race was predictably an extremely close one. Schönborn recorded the fastest time in the first run, with Dorcikova a few tenths behind. The stakes were high, as Germany had the smallest margin entering the final run, with a 0.06 second gap in the combined times.

Photo credits: SRO/JEP

"The very last race of the semifinals was in my hands, which simply meant that I either beat Markus [Firsching] or we lose and we never get to get the gold. So I had to give it everything, full focus and no mistakes", Dorcikova said.

"I was almost at the end of the session when I saw that I'm passing him on track", she recalled, as the FIA Motorsport Games track layouts were fully mirrored, allowing drivers to have a more precise on-track perception of their position compared to the competitor.

"When I crossed the finish line and I saw that I hit no cones and he finished after me, the emotion came because at that moment I knew that we qualified for the finals and we had beaten Germany." In an emotional moment, "David came screaming that we had done it".

"I would say the emotion of winning the semifinals was even stronger than after the finals, because we were not 100% sure we would make it", she added. "You always go into it with confidence and the target is to win, but somewhere in the back of your heart you still have full respect for your opponents."

The semifinal victory was a precursor to their ultimate triumph, where Dorcikova and Nemcek would face Martaliisa Meindorf and Kristian Hallik, who had defeated Israel in the other semifinal.

With another extremely solid race, the Slovak duo were flawless and again collected no penalties, finishing seven seconds clear in the combined results.

"It was already stuck in our heads that we now just had to win. And we did win. We won the gold", Michaela said, still emotional about her achievement.

"I didn't hit a single cone throughout the race part of the whole weekend, which is almost like a miracle - and David only got one single penalty in total at the very beginning of the elimination round", she commented about the impeccable execution by the whole team throughout the event, which came as the culmination of a rigorous preparation. "We prepared a lot before the event and practised, I would say, in much harder conditions. So I believe this was our recipe for success."

"In Autoslalom as a category, this is the most prestigious trophy you can fight for in the world, so we now have it and it's just unbelievable."

Photo credits: SRO/JEP

Standing atop the podium, Michaela reflected on the significance of representing her country and securing its first gold medal: "The emotion is still there, I can't somehow get it out of my head that we won."

"Being selected by our National Motorsport association is definitely an honour because there is strong competition in our country and a lot of good drivers and I'm really pleased that we got the opportunity to represent Slovakia at the FIA Motorsport Games already for the second time", she continued. "And I'm even happier that we brought home the best possible result."

"A huge thank you to all of our fans and families, but also to our competitors, which are mostly our friends, and the support they have shown to us. "I could feel it in the car, even though I was there alone, that we have many people cheering for us and believe it or not, this helps a lot."

Michaela Dorcikova’s triumph at the 2024 FIA Motorsport Games was in fact more than a gold medal; it's a testament to the relentless dedication, perseverance and passion for motorsport in all its forms in spite of any adversities.