Gabriela Jilkova

 

Gabriela Jilkova is a Czech driver who is best known for her successes in sportscars, although she has raced in many disciplines. She is known on social media as “QuickGabi”.

In 2012, she jumped straight from under-18 karting to Formula Renault, taking part in three rounds of the Northern European zone championship, at Most. Unfortunately, she did not finish any of them. She was only 17 at the time.

Her next step in her senior career was some sportscar racing in the Netherlands. She was third in two races in the Superlight section of the 2013 Supercar Challenge at Assen, driving a Czech-built Praga-Renault. This was combined with senior karting in the ROK Cup.

She was sixth in the 2014 ROK Cup senior world final. In between karting, she competed in a Formula Renault once more in Eastern Europe, as part of the Formula Car championship. Her best solo result was ninth at the Hungaroring. In a two-driver race at the same track she was fifth with Robert Haub. 

She did not do much actual racing in 2015, although she did take part in some drifting. Although she completed the driver evaluation course for the Audi TT Cup at the start of 2016, she did not actually race the TT, going with a Renault Clio instead. She did some rounds at least of the Central European Zone D4-2000 series, enough for third in the championship, and made some appearances in the Central European Clio Cup, scoring an eleventh and a sixth at the Red Bull Ring. 

Another part-season in the Clio Cup followed in 2017, for at least part of the season. 

In 2019, she worked as a test driver for the Gumpert RG Nathalie Race project, developing the track edition of the Nathalie fuel-cell car. She also did two races in the 24H GT Series in a KTM X-Bow, partnering Milan Kodidek. They were sixth at Brno. 

In 2020, she tried out unsuccessfully for W Series; the championship ended up being cancelled anyway due to coronavirus. She started sim racing with some success, using the screen name “QuickGabi”.

Having not raced competitively for a couple of seasons, Gabriela would have been forgiven for stepping back, but her break was just around the corner. In a reversal of fortunes, she joined the Zakspeed team for the GT Winter Series, driving a Mercedes AMG GT3. She was second and third in the first three races at Portimao, then won the next two outright from pole position to secure the title. 

This led to a race seat with the team for the 2021 ADAC GT4 Cup in Germany, sharing the same car with co-driver Robert Haub. They were fifth in the first round at Oschersleben, earning their first podium with a third place. A little later, they were second and sixth at Zandvoort. The remainder of the season was not as successful, but they held on to eighth in the championship.

The same driver pairing tackled the FARA Miami 500 at Homestead, driving a Praga. They won the race.

Another season in a Mercedes in the ADAC GT4 Cup and European GT4s with Robert Haub followed. They did not repeat their podium finish in 2022, but did manage a fourth place in each of their championships. The European GT4 fourth was at Spa, in the Pro-Am class, and the GT4 Cup fourth was at Zandvoort. They were also fifth at Imola in the European series.

Driving for a different team on a different continent, Gabriela travelled to India at the end of the year for the Indian Racing League, a street circuit-based single-seater championship. She drove for the Goa Aces team, sometimes sharing a car with Polish driver Kevin Mirocha for the feature races. Her best finishes were a pair of second places at Hyderabad, which was a relief after a chaotic beginning to the season, involving a race being cancelled and serious reliability problems with the motorcycle-engined car. She was tenth in the championship.

Her 2023 season was split between France and Germany. She was part of an all-female team put together by Matmut for the FFSA GT Cahmpionship. Her team-mate was Lucile Cypriano. They were third in the GT4 Pro-Am class, with a best finish of second at Val de Vienne. This was one of six podiums they achieved in their Toyota Supra.

In Germany, she raced a Duqueine car in the Protoype Cup, winning one race at Zandvoort with Xavier Lloveras. She was ninth in the championship after two more podiums. In addition to this, she did one race in the NLS, driving an Aston Martin Vantage. She and her two team-mates were sixth.

(Image copyright Gabriela Jilkova)