A perfect weekend at home for Homola in TCR Eastern Europe

Mat’o Homola extendend considerably his lead in the standings of the TCR Eastern Europe thanks to a double win in front of his home crowd at the Slovakiaring. The Janík Motorsport driver proved competitive throughout the entire weekend but also benefitted from his rivals’ troubles.

Race 1 – The start was delayed following torrential downpour in the morning, which forced to review the entire schedule. At the start, the track was damp but drying fast. René Kircher’s Mertel Motorsport Honda Civic FK7 was on pole and made a perfect getaway, but before the end of the first lap Kircher had to concede the lead to Homola, whose Hyundai Elantra was running lighter in BoP. The local hero did not manage to pull away, but he won with no problems ahead of Kircher. Third after a lone race was Kircher’s teammate Davit Kajaia, while the most entertaining fight was that for the fourth position, opposing Janík Motorsport fellow drivers Adam Kout and Carlo Czepiel, with the Pole taking the advantage in lap 7. 

After the race, Kircher was disqualified because of an infringement of the BoP rules, which put him at the very back of the grid for Race 2. 

Race 2 – The draw for reversing the grid put Philipp Dietrich’s Team Wimmer Werk-run CUPRA Leon Competición on pole, alongside the other CUPRA of Petr Fulín Jr, with Kajaia and Giacomo Ghermandi sharing the second row. The start and the first couple of laps were lively, with Ghermandi taking the lead. The Italian though would be imposed a 10-second penalty for jumping the start. Nevertheless, he would lead the entire race, resisting well to Homola who had quickly elbowed his way through the order from P8 on the grid. The leading pair pulled easily away from Dietrich, Kajaia, Czepiel, Fulín and Kircher who finished in the order, with Ghermandi eventually demoted to ninth.  

The series will return into action at Most, on August 4/6.

Slovakiaring – Race 1

1. Mat’o Homola (Janík Motorsport, Hyundai Elantra N), 12 laps

2. René Kircher (Mertel Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R FK7), 2.528

3. Davit Kajaia (Mertel Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R FK7), 8.185

Slovakiaring – Race 2

1. Mat’o Homola (Janík Motorsport, Hyundai Elantra N), 11 laps

2. Philipp Dietrich (Wimmer Werk Motorsport, CUPRA Leon Competición), 1.111

3. Davit Kajaia (Mertel Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R FK7), 1.971

Championship points

1. M. Homola, 154 pts; 2. D. Kajaia, 113; 3. R. Kircher, 108. 

Picture: TCR Eastern Europe