Archiv rubriky: TCR Eastern Europe

Maťo Homola from the Hyundai Janík Motorsport team won the opening race at Red Bull Ring after an action-packed 25 minutes on the track, as he fought with his teammate Adam Kout, Attila Bucsi from M1RA Motorsport, and René Kircher from Mertel Motorsport throughout first half of the race.

Bucsi had a great start, but Ghermandi was even better at the green lights, attacking Bucsi towards the third turn. Homola was close behind, with René Kircher in fourth, Ivars Vallers in a great fifth place, and Kout in sixth.

Ghermandi tried hard to take the lead, keeping pressure on the Hungarian leader. However, Ghermandi made a small mistake, and Homola made a move on the start-finish line. Ghermandi closed the door in the first turn, and Homola made contact with him. Ghermandi dropped positions, while Homola moved up to second. No further action was taken by the race stewards regarding the incident.

The order was Bucsi, Homola, Kout, and Kircher, who was defending his position from Ghermandi. From the fourth lap, Homola began to put Bucsi under pressure, preparing to attack the leader. At the same time, Kout was close behind, so the leading trio put on a great show for the spectators. Their constant fighting allowed René Kircher to close the gap, making it a four-way battle for the win.

A three-wide for the third turn changed the order, with Homola taking the lead from Adam Kout and Attila Bucsi. Towards the end, the race calmed down a bit. Homola held the lead, with Kout less than a second behind. With a two-second gap, Bucsi was defending his third place from Kircher and succeeded at the finish. Kircher crossed the line in fourth, with Ghermandi fifth. Davit Kajaia finished sixth, and Žarko Knego, Ivars Vallers, Jiří Zbožínek, and Vít Smejkal rounded out the top ten.

Martin Kadlečík seized a remarkable opportunity to participate in the TCR Eastern Europe series during the opening weekend of the season at Balaton Park. He teamed up with Aditis Racing and took the wheel of the Audi RS3 LMS TCR for the first time in Hungary, securing an impressive second-place finish.

Last year’s Clio Cup Trophy champion, Kadlečík, faced a significant challenge in his career. He arrived at Balaton Park without any prior testing in the Audi, experiencing his first drive in the car during the practice session. Despite this, he enjoyed every second of it.

„The TCR car is really on another level. I’m enjoying every kilometer and gradually getting used to it, so for me, this weekend is like a test session since I hadn’t driven this car before. But with every lap, I’m improving,“ Kadlečík explained after the qualifying, in which he set seventh fastest lap. However, his qualifying time wasn’t truly reflective of his speed.

„The qualification didn’t go as planned, and a red flag also appeared, so I no longer had a chance to set a better lap. In the race 1, I made a mistake at the start and stalled the engine. I had to restart the engine and fell behind the entire field. It’s hard to recover from that, but I enjoyed the chase,“ Kadlečík described his first race in TCR, where he finished sixth.

„Balaton Park is a rather narrow track, so it’s important to have good exits, especially getting ready for the larger braking zones, like the first turn where overtaking is possible. There are several racing lines in that first turn. Then, essentially, there’s a long straight at the back, where overtaking is also possible.“

Then came the second race. Kadlečík started from fifth place and swiftly made his way through the field in the first turn, slicing through like a knife. He advanced to second place by the second turn and maintained that position until the race finish.

„I managed to go inside in turn one, and then space opened for me in turn two, allowing me to move into second position. After that, it was basically about conserving tires. I tried to push for first place for a while, but Attila was fast, and I decided to focus on managing my tires.“

„Securing second place was a complete surprise. I wouldn’t have believed it if someone had told me before the weekend that I would finish second. I’m happy that I managed to adapt so quickly, and I’m looking forward to more starts.“

Hungarian driver Attila Bucsi from M1RA Motorsport worked his way to the lead in the first lap and then maintained it until the finish line, securing his first victory in this season. Second place went to TCR Eastern Europe debutant Martin Kadlečík from Aditis Racing.

Thanks to the draw placing the top ten in reverse order, pole position was taken by Vít Smejkal, who had finished tenth in the first race. Lining up alongside him was Ivars Vallers in an Audi. Directly behind them were Fraňo Dubreta and Attila Bucsi.

Smejkal had a slow start, allowing Vallers to temporarily take the lead, but only for the opening two corners before Bucsi reclaimed first place and began to create a gap from the others.

Debutant Martin Kadlečík had a great start, moving into second place before the end of the first lap. Vallers dropped down the order, and third place was taken by Ghermandi, followed by Kircher, yesterday’s winner Homola, and Vallers, who was defending his position from Petr Čížek, Adam Kout, and Davit Kajaia. There was a thrilling fight among them, with cars going three-wide into a corner.

Bucsi maintained a steady pace, holding a three-second lead over Kadlečík, who matched the race pace and kept a two-second gap from Ghermandi. Ghermandi, pressured by Maťo Homola and René Kircher, defended vigorously. Homola found a gap to overtake in the first corner with five minutes to go and successfully passed him.

Attila led from start to finish, winning his second race in four starts in TCR Eastern Europe. Second place went to TCR Eastern Europe debutant Martin Kadlečík, who showed great promise in his Audi TCR car. Third place went to yesterday’s winner, Maťo Homola, with Ghermandi finishing fourth, however he received six seconds penalty for track limits, so the revised order was Adam Kout fourth, René Kircher fifth, Ghermandi sixth, Petr Čížek seventh, Davit Kajaia eighth, Žarko Knego ninth, and Fraňo Dubreta rounding out the top ten with one point.

The intense battle for the win between young Attila Bucsi from the M1RA Motorsport team and Maťo Homola from Hyundai Janík Motorsport was decided by the race steward. Although Bucsi crossed the finish line first, he was handed a ten-second time penalty for a jump start.

Adam Kout began the race from pole position alongside Attila Bucsi, placing Hyundai in the entirety of the first row, with reigning champion Maťo Homola and Giacomo Ghermandi in the second row.

Kout had a slow start, allowing Bucsi to take the lead while blocking Homola, who was forced onto the grass temporarily. Nevertheless, Homola maintained his second position, with Ghermandi in third and Mertel Motorsport Hondas in the subsequent positions, pressured by Kout.

Kout managed to overtake Kajaia and was gearing up to attack Kircher, whom he passed in the second lap. Bucsi led the race, but Homola closely followed him, their lap times only a few thousandths of a second apart. Ghermandi was in third place, Kout in fourth, and Kircher and Kajaia fifth and sixth, respectively. Petr Čížek was seventh in his new Cupra, Žarko Knego eighth, debutant Martin Kadlečík ninth with an Audi, and Fraňo Dubreta tenth with a Cupra.

Mid-race, Kout was the fastest man on the track, catching up to Ghermandi, who is notoriously difficult to overtake. However, Kout’s attempts were interrupted by a safety car deployment due to Jiří Zbožínek being stranded in the gravel trap.

The restart offered a new opportunity for drivers to improve their positions. Nevertheless, an accident occurred in the first corner when Knego had braking issues, failed to make the turn, and collided with Davit Kajaia. A red flag was immediately displayed.

After the race resumed behind the pace car, Bucsi retained the lead with Homola in second and Ghermandi third, under pressure from Kout and Kircher. Ghermandi made a minor mistake and ran wide across the gravel, allowing Kout and Kircher to pass him.

Following the checkered flag, Bucsi was penalized ten seconds for a jump start, dropping him to seventh place. Homola was declared the winner, with Kout in second and Kircher in third. Giacomo Ghermandi finished fourth, and the top five was rounded out by Petr Čížek with a Cupra. TCR Eastern Europe debutant Martin Kadlečík, driving an Audi, finished sixth and was also named the best junior of the race. The first points in the championship were scored by three drivers in eighth, ninth, and tenth places – Fraňo Dubreta, Ivars Vallers, and Vít Smejkal, who will start from the pole-position in the second race thansk to the draw by winner Homola.

Czech driver Adam Kout, driving a Hyundai Elantra, won the first qualifying session of the 2024 season. With three minutes remaining, a red flag halted the session because of the car in the safety zone, and it was not resumed. As a result, Kout, from the Hyundai Janík Motorsport team, maintained the fastest time, edging out local driver Attila Bucsi, who drove a Hyundai i30 for M1RA Motorsport.

The second row for today’s start will be occupied by reigning champion Maťo Homola, who will start alongside Giacomo Ghermandi in a Honda Civic. Two other Hondas, driven by René Kircher and Davit Kajaia from Mertel Motorsport, will start from the third row.

Last year’s Clio Cup champion, Martin Kadlečík, made his debut behind the wheel of an Audi from Aditis Racing, setting the seventh fastest time. Starting behind him will be Petr Čížek. The top 10 is rounded out by Žarko Knego and Vít Smejkal.

TCR Balaton Park Qualifying

Martin Kadlečík is making an important move in his career, as he has stepped up from the Clio Cup to the much faster second generation of Audi TCR RS3 car in the TCR Eastern Europe championship. He will join the Czech team, Aditis Racing, in the opening round of the season at Balaton Park.

Martin Kadlečík’s path from autocross to TCR was really fast. After one season in the Twingo Cup, he moved to the Clio Cup, where he dominated the Clio Cup Trophy category, winning all the races last season. Now, in his third season of circuit racing, he is moving to TCR. He also successfully represented the Czech Republic in the FIA Motorsport Games in 2022, where he battled for a win in the e-sports category.

The original plan for this season was to remain in the Clio Cup and defend the title with his Clio IV car. But in recent days, an opportunity arose thanks to the support of ESET Race Star and Mr. Josef Křenek.

“The preparation for the season went smoothly, and we intended to continue for another year with the Renault Clio Cup IV. However, Mr. Křenek approached us at the beginning of April with a very attractive offer to try the TCR car with the Aditis Racing team at the first race in Balaton Park. I am very grateful to Mr. Křenek for this offer and appreciate it greatly. We managed to secure the necessary funds for the weekend in Balaton, and I can’t wait to make my debut with the Aditis team, which is very experienced and will definitely help in the development of my driving career,” says Martin Kadlečík.

“Within the Race Star program, we have always had talented drivers on our team who scored points and won in the championship,” says team owner Radim Adámek. “Martin is no exception, and his victory in the Clio Cup proves it. I believe that his transition from the Clio to the second-generation Audi will go smoothly, and that he will feel comfortable in our Aditis Racing team. The start at Balaton will certainly be a challenge for Martin, as everything will be new: the car, the track, the competition, and also the team collaboration, which we are all looking forward to.”

Martin Kadlečík is a fast learner, but the challenge at Balaton Park will be significant. He will drive the Audi for the first time during the race weekend, so with no testing before the season, the debut will be more about learning than competing for the best results.

“I have no expectations and it will be more about getting used to the car and gradually speeding up. Moreover, Balaton Park is new to me, as it is for most drivers, so it will be a great challenge for me in combination with the fast and experienced drivers in the TCR category,” added Kadlečík.