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The final round of the 2021 TCR Eastern Europe season will take place at Automotodrom Brno during the upcoming weekend. The round will decide who will become a new champion. Except for culminating of championship battle, we can look forward to more action.
It´s here. The 2021 TCR Eastern Europe season goes to the finish. After rounds at Hungaroring, at Slovakiaring (we raced there twice), in Poznan and in Grobnik, the last race weekend of the season will take place at Automotodrom Brno during the first weekend of September. The circuit is part of TCR Eastern Europe calendar since establishment of the series in 2019 and the championship will race there for the third time during the upcoming weekend.
Makeš or Pekař?
The most important question before weekend is who will become the new champion. After penultimate round at Slovakiaring, only two drivers are staying in the game. They are Michal Makeš and Tomáš Pekař. It will be for the first time when driver from the Czech Republic will become a TCR Eastern Europe champion. In previous two years, Serbian drivers celebrated. Milovan Vesnić became a first-ever champion of our series in 2019 a Dušan Borković won in 2020.
Before last round of the season, Makeš is in better position than Pekař. The Mičánek Motorsport powered by Buggyra driver scored three victories during the season and he has 183 points on his account. Tomáš Pekař maybe won one race more than Makeš this season (Pekař has four victories and Makeš three) but his loss to Makeš increased to 25 points after difficult penultimate round at Slovakiaring. But there are still 55 points in the game and deleting of two worst results of each driver also will influence the final championship results. So nothing is certain.
Michal Makeš or Tomáš Pekař will celebrate title. Photo: Mičánek Motorsport powered by Buggyra
Will Wittke keep third place?
The fight for the title isn´t only fight that is still undecided before the final round. We still don´t know who will finish on overall third place as well. After penultimate round at Slovakiaring, Carol Wittke is closest to this position. The Fullinrace Academy driver is experiencing his best TCR Eastern Europe season. He scored four podium results so far and keeps bronze position with 104 points.
But it won´t be easy to stay on third place for Wittke. Bartosz Groszek is only four points behind him. The Polish driver missed first two rounds of the season and joined the grid in Poznan for the first time. But since that moment, he has shone. He achieved five podiums from six races. He was successful especially in Race 2 in Poznan where he won. Five points behind Groszek is Sebastian Steibel who also doesn´t intend to give up. The German driver was third for a long time during this season. But he lost this position during the penultimate round at Slovakiaring.
Except for Carol Wittke, Bartosz Groszek and Sebastian Steibel, sixth Milovan Vesnić and seventh Tomasz Rzepecki have a mathematical chance to finish third as well before final round. But from practical point of view, Vesnić is out of the game. The Serbian won´t participate in Brno.
Carol Wittke is on the third place before final round of the season. Photo: Petr Frýba
Return of Kolakowski and three rookies
Sebastian Kolakowski will return on the grid for the last round of the season. He will again race with Honda Civic Type R FK2 TCR car of Honda Wyszomirski Racing. He repaired the car after crash in Grobnik. It will be his third start of the season.
We will see also three drivers who will make TCR Eastern Europe debut in Brno. They are Petr Semerád, Gergö Baldi and Fraňo Dubreta. Semerád will race with Cupra Leon TCR of Lema Racing with support of ESET Race Star project. Dubreta will also sit behind the wheel of Cupra Leon TCR and will defend colours of AMSK KOTOR. Baldi will represent M1RA team and we will see him with Hyundai i30 N TCR. M1RA and Hyundai i30 N TCR is well-known combination in TCR Eastern Europe. Dušan Borković dominated with this car and with this team last year.
Semerád is winner of RaceStar competition for talented drivers from 2016. In the past, he raced with single-seaters or in Twingo Cup on circuits. But we can know him especially from rally. Last weekend, he participated in Barum Czech Rally Zlín event of prestigious FIA European Rally Championship. He finished 11th overall. Dubreta is focused especially on hill climb racing. Baldi races in Swift Cup Europe this year and he is second in overall standings before last round of the season. But he is very successful in esport. For example, he became the 2020 FIA WTCR Esport champion.
Rally driver Petr Semerád will appear in TCR Eastern Europe. Photo: Rallyservice
Except for drivers, teams will also fight for the title at Automotodrom Brno. Mičánek Motorsport powered by Buggyra team leads the standings with 183 points. But second Carpek Service (158 points), third Horňák-Aditis (152 points) and fourth Fullinrace Academy (128 points) also have a mathematical chance to win. Horňák-Aditis and Fullinrace Academy will again score to the championship with two cars, unlike Mičánek Motorsport powered by Buggyra and Carpek Service.
Opening photo: Petr Frýba
