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The unique FIA Motorsport Games, essentially the „Olympic Games of racing,“ took place last weekend at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit in Valencia. Among nearly 700 participants were three familiar names from TCR Eastern Europe – Davit Kajaia, René Kircher, and Adam Kout, who brought a bronze medal home to the Czech Republic.
Kajaia and Kircher had been teammates in the TCR Eastern Europe series for the past two years, racing a Honda Civic for the Mertel Motorsport team. However, this time, they were competing for their respective countries, as was Adam Kout, who finished second in this year’s TCR EE driver standings.
Only Kircher and Kout met on the Ricardo Tormo track in the touring car discipline, as Kajaia represented his country, Georgia, in the Single Make GT category, driving a Ferrari 296 Challenge. Kajaia was among the fastest drivers, winning the first free practice session and setting the second-fastest time in Qualifying 1. The race also went well for him; however, he and five other drivers were hit with a 25-second penalty for a starting procedure infringement, finishing 7th in the final classification.
Kircher and Kout represented Germany and the Czech Republic, respectively, in the TCR race. Knowing each other well, their battle for fifth place in the qualifying race was both spectacular and fair. Kircher put significant pressure on Kout, looking for an opportunity to pass. Unfortunately, a large white cloud of smoke soon emerged from under Kircher’s hood, forcing him to retire with a broken turbo. Kout, meanwhile, finished the qualifying race in third place, securing an excellent position for the medal race.
Although Kout was twice hit in the same corner by two different drivers and pushed off the track, he never stopped fighting in final race. He managed to catch up with his competitors twice and was back in contention. When penalties were issued to his opponents for collisions, Kout finished fourth. Later, the race winner was disqualified due to a technical infringement, moving Kout into third place and awarding him the bronze medal for the Czech Republic. Unfortunately, René Kircher was unable to finish either the qualifying race or the main race.
