Promising debut for Tobias Poschik

Young Austrian driver Tobias Poschik joined the Clio Cup last year and won the championship on his first attempt. This year, he’s competing in TCR Eastern Europe, driving last year’s winning Audi. Despite the tougher competition in TCR, Poschik has already scored a podium finish in his second start.

Poschik’s transition from the Clio Cup was a welcome change, and he chose Aditis Racing Team as his home for the 2023 season. This team won last year’s drivers’ championship with Bartosz Groszek, and now Poschik drives Groszek’s Audi RS3 TCR. Although it’s an older generation car, it’s still quite fast.

In the first race, Poschik qualified seventh and lost one position to his teammate Sebastian Steibel at the finish. He finished fourth in a group of four drivers, battling for fifth to eighth places. “I expected more from the first race, but we know what to change to improve for the second race,” said Poschik after his first race at Oschersleben, a notoriously difficult track for overtaking: “The circuit has many fast corners and not many hard braking corners, so it’s hard to go side by side and outbrake someone. You have to prepare really well to pass.”

Poschik earned three points in the first race, but more importantly, he gained valuable experience. So, what did he learn? “Tire management. Take care of the front tires, don’t overheat them. Heat them properly in the formation lap. It’s really difficult not to overheat the tires when you’re following another car closely. You want to keep up with the opponent and be prepared to overtake while also taking care of the tires. It wasn’t easy in the first race, and I didn’t do it properly, but we’ll do better in the second race.”

And he did. Starting from third place, Poschik quickly took the lead and maintained his focus, pushing lap after lap. After a few laps, he came under pressure from another newcomer, Carlo Czepiel. “Unfortunately, I made a mistake, and I was lucky because it almost cost me the whole race. Then I regained my pace and focus, but Maťo Homola was just faster than me,” Poschik recounted his battle with drivers from Hyundai Janík Motorsport.

However, the important and motivating third-place finish in the second race marked a happy ending for debutant Tobias Poschik. He now has a solid foundation to build upon and a strong team supporting him: “I have received a lot of advice, especially from Bartosz. Also my engineer, Mirza, is working really hard and doing a great job.”

It will be interesting to see how the rest of the season progresses. The next TCR Eastern Europe event will take place at Hungaroring on April 29-30.