After a week-long auction, 13 photos taken at races attended by Czech president Petr Pavel in 2025 raised a combined 668,355 koruna (approximately USD$32,460.81) that will be donated to the Nadační Fond Evy Pavlové.

A longtime motorsports enthusiast, Pavel made every attempt to go to races whenever international championships came to the Czech Republic. In the case of January’s Dakar Rally, he organized it as a private visit to Saudi Arabia with limited political activity.

Rather than just being a guest of honor who watched, he often linked up with the press corps instead and took pictures. At Dakar, the president followed the race from a media car and slept in the bivouac like everyone else.

Earlier this month, he compiled some of his photographs into an album titled Objektivem Petra Pavla (“Through the Lens of Petr Pavel”). The collection is available as a calendar at Czech rally team Fesh Fesh’s online shop, while Pavel also put them onto 60×40 cm canvases and autographed them for auction.

Each photo began at 3,000 Kč (USD$145.70). The auction went as follows:

• Dakar Rally
  • Mitchel van den Brink’s IVECO PowerStar: This yielded the highest bid of the 13 images as the winner threw down 189,000 Kč (roughly USD$9,179.39)
  • Giniel de Villiers’ Toyota Hilux IMT EVO: 91,500 Kč ($4,443.99)
  • Han Wei’s Red-Lined HW2025: 55,500 Kč ($2,695.54)
  • David Pabiška’s KTM 450 Rally Replica: 41,600 Kč ($2,020.44)

• Motorcycle racing
  • Superbike World Championship at Autodrom Most
    • Toprak Razgatlıoğlu: 30,000 Kč ($1,457.05)
    • Nicolò Bulega: 22,000 Kč ($1,068.50)
  • MotoGP at Brno Circuit
    • Marco Bezzecchi vs. Augusto Fernández in the Schwantz corner: 16,400 Kč ($796.52)
  • FIM Supermoto World Championship at Autodrom Vysoké Mýto
    • Action photo: 15,200 16,400 Kč ($796.52)
  • FMX Gladiator Games at the O2 Arena: 28,000 Kč ($1,359.91)

• NASCAR GP Czech Republic at Autodrom Most
  • NASCAR Euro Series
    • Sebastiaan Bleekemolen and Martin Doubek: 27,000 Kč ($1,311.34)
  • FIA European Truck Racing Championship
    • Pack racing: 70,000 Kč ($3,399.77)
  • Super Sixties Racing
    • Car battle: 31,600 Kč ($1,534.76)
• Meeting of Champions at Autodrom Sosnová
  • Toyota GR Yaris with Filip Mareš: 50,555 Kč ($2,455.37)

The Nadační Fond Evy Pavlové is a foundation run by Pavel’s wife Eva Pavlová, dedicated to helping children, single parents, and senior citizens in need.

Featured image credit: Honza Altner