Blog
The 2024 TCR Eastern Europe season delivered thrilling races and fierce competition, with Slovakian champion Maťo Homola defending his title after a consistent and strong campaign. Close behind, Adam Kout made an impressive push to the title, while Hungary’s rising star Attila Bucsi showcased his talent, pushing Homola to the limit. Here’s how these top three drivers made their mark on a season.
Maťo Homola
Slovakian racer Maťo Homola has been a part of the Janík Motorsport team since 2021, though he has been competing in touring car races for over a decade. In the last two years, he has been putting his experience to good use in the TCR Eastern Europe series. Last year, during his first full season in the series, he secured the title even before the final race, and this year, he successfully defended it. He claimed five victories in Saturday’s sprint races, and in Sunday’s races, where he started from the middle of the grid, he always raced cautiously. He avoided unnecessary risks, which earned him another four podium finishes. His consistent point-scoring finishes were key to his second TCR Eastern Europe title. Out of twelve races in the 2024 season, he never finished lower than sixth.
Adam Kout
Adam Kout returned to motorsport in 2023. After years competing in Superkart, he got back to grips with racing a touring car, driving the Hyundai Elantra for Janík Motorsport, and immediately showed that he hadn’t lost any of his speed – quite the opposite. This year, he was one of the serious title contenders in TCR Eastern Europe and collected the most points in the second half of the season, including four wins. He steadily closed the gap on his teammate Homola and, at the final race in Salzburg, he was willing to take more risks than ever before. This earned him two victories, but he still finished five points behind the ever-consistent Homola. If it hadn’t been for a puncture at the Slovakia Ring, which forced him to retire from second place, the overall result could have looked very different.
Attila Bucsi
Attila Bucsi demonstrated his talent in 2023, with a winning debut at the final TCR Eastern Europe race in Brno. Right from the start of this season, he was among the title contenders and dominated the Sunday sprints. He held second place in the overall standings, just behind Maťo Homola, and they battled for every point. Driving a Hyundai i30 N TCR, prepared by M1RA Motorsport, Bucsi took wins in his home country of Hungary, as well as in Austria and Slovakia. However, he didn’t participate in the last two events, which saw him drop to third place in the final standings. Nevertheless, Bucsi delivered impressive performances and, as a representative of the new generation of Hungarian racers, he has shown that his competitors will need to keep an eye on him.
