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This year’s TCR Eastern Europe season ended last week at Hungaroring. Dušan Borković won the title, undefeated, while Milovan Vesnić took the 2nd place in the standings ahead of Jáchym Galáš.
The 2020 season marked the 2nd year of the TCR Eastern Europe championship. It is clear that it is still a fairly new series as the starting grid offered a bigger number of cars on the grid in comparison with the 2019 season. While the debut season had only 15 drivers in total, with a maximum number of 11 entries on the grid at the same time, the 2020 season saw an improvement with 22 drivers taking part in the season in total, and with a new maximum of 18 cars on the grid in one event.
One of the most significant newcomers was Dušan Borković. The Serbian driver, who won the FIA ETCC championship and even raced in the FIA WTCC in the past, raced with a Hyundai i30 N TCR of M1RA Motorsport. Looking at his previous achievements, it comes as no surprise that he was a championship favourite from the start. And he proved that to be correct.
Borković was not just fighting for the championship, but he even managed to win it. And in a way that is not so common in the world of motorsport. He dominated throughout the season, winning all 4 qualifying sessions, all 8 races and taking the maximum amount of 200 points.
But while the season saw domination on the top, there was a fierce battle for 2nd place overall. In the end, despite missing the round at Slovakiaring, it was last year’s champion Milovan Vesnić who took the 2nd position with 84 points. The Serbian driver scored three 2nd place finishes.
However, Vesnić had to fight until the last event and he almost lost to Jáchym Galáš. The GT2 Motorsport driver took 2 podiums in the season after he finished in 2nd place in both races at Hungaroring. He scored 84 points, just like Vesnić, but he had one less 2nd place finish than the Serbian driver. Galáš had to settle for only 3rd place in the standings.
Jáchym Galáš had to settle with the third place in the overall standings.
More drivers showed their skills, and even rookies. Like Michal Makeš in 4th place overall, Szymon Jablonski (5th overall), Sandro Soubek (6th overall), Bence Boldizs (7th overall), Maťo Konopka (8th overall) or Tomáš Korený (13th overall). They all managed to take at least one podium finish.
Makeš took a trophy for 3rd place finish in the last race at Hungaroring. Jablonski scored 2 podiums in Brno for 3rd positions. Soubek crossed the finish line twice in 3rd place at Slovakiaring and once in Brno. Boldizs finished 2nd in Sunday’s race in Slovakia, with Konopka taking two podiums with 3rd place finishes at Grobnik. Korený replaced Dušan Kouřil jr. and immediately took the 3rd position in the opening race at Hungaroring.
While Dušan Kouřil jr. did not finish the season, he is also one of the podium finishers. It happened in the opening race of the weekend at Slovakiaring, where he finished in 2nd position.
It is also worth to mention that Bence Boldizs chose TCR Eastern Europe as a preparation for the upcoming FIA WTCR season. He is currently 18th in the standings after he scored 25 points in 4 rounds.
Bence Boldizs also scored podium result this season.
But Boldizs is not the only TCR Eastern Europe driver who also races in the FIA WTCR season. Gábor Kismarty-Lechner, who is Boldizs’s teammate at Zengő Motorsport team in both, the TCR Eastern Europe series and the FIA WTCR season, is another example. He took 9 points in the TCR Eastern Europe season and finished 18th, while in the FIA WTCR he is currently 20th with 10 points.
