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Attila Bucsi from the M1RA Motorsport team won the second race of TCR Eastern Europe at Slovakia Ring, ending the two-year winning streak of local driver Maťo Homola from the Hyundai Janík Motorsport team.
The grid for the second race was reversed from the top nine results of the first race, so the front row featured Radim Adámek in an Audi and Davit Kajaia in a Honda. The second row belonged to the Expres Auto Racing team with Cupras of Vít Smejkal and Petr Čížek. Behind them were Žarko Knego in a Hyundai and Martin Kadlečík in an Audi. The fourth row featured Hyundai drivers Jiří Zbožínek and Attila Bucsi, while yesterday’s winner Maťo Homola started from ninth place.
Kajaia had a great start and took the lead, with Bucsi climbing to second position after a few corners in the first lap, followed by Homola and his teammate Adam Kout. Kadlečík also made a great and clean start, running in fifth place. Behind them was a close battle among the rest of the field.
A four-way battle emerged for the lead, with Kajaia fending off Bucsi, Homola, and Kout. Bucsi was desperate to pass Kajaia, but it took him two laps to overtake him in a fast right turn. Homola then tried to find a gap, with Kout behind him and also Kadlečík, who caught up with the leading drivers. However Homola didn´t find a way to pass him, but Kajaia received a 10-second penalty for a jump start, technically putting him out of contention for a podium finish.
Attila Bucsi crossed the finish line with a comfortable lead, and Kajaia dropped to fifth place in the final results. Homola was classified second, with Kout third and Kadlečík fourth. In the last lap, René Kircher and Jiří Zbožínek, running fifth and sixth, had an accident and ended up in the gravel, allowing Petr Čížek to move up to sixth place and his teammate Smejkal to seventh. Pole-sitter Radim Adámek finished eighth, and young Jorden Dolischka came in ninth. Ivars Vallers rounded out the top 10.
Bucsi also ended Homola’s winning record at his home track, Slovakia Ring. The Slovakian driver had been unbeatable at this circuit since the TCR Eastern Europe 2022 season, where he won both races and repeated this success last year. This year, he opened the weekend with another win, but Sunday’s race was dominated by the young Hungarian driver Attila Bucsi, who won his third race of the season, matching Homola’s number of victories.
