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Bartosz Groszek, who debuted in TCR Eastern Europe exactly one year ago and won the race here at Tor Poznań, has repeated his success. He has triumphed here again with his Audi and has gained crucial points in the championship.
The first six positions on the grid were set up in reverse order from Saturday’s race, so, from pole position, Sebastian Steibel started with a Cupra, alongside Václav Janík in a Hyundai. Starting from the second row was previous event winner Milenko Vuković and Petr Čížek. The third row belonged to Bartosz Groszek and yesterday’s winner Petr Semerád.
An unlucky Steibel lost the opportunity for a good result, as his engine stalled on the grid, dropping him into last position. Václav Janík took advantage of the opportunity and led the race, although Milenko Vuković tried to pass him on the outside of the first corner. It didn’t work out well for him and he drifted his Renault sideways through the whole corner.
Vuković made the pass into the lead in the second lap, and Bartosz Groszek soon overtook Janík for second place. Groszek then kept in touch with race leader Vuković, waiting for any opportunity to move up into first position. The chance came in the fifth lap, when Vuković made an error in the second to last corner, which left a wide-open door for Groszek.
The battle for third between Janík and Čížek was an opportunity for Semerád to close in on them and, as Čížek moved into third place, Janík let his teammate Semerád through to take over fourth. Behind, in fifth, Janík was racing Tomasz Rzepecki, Milan Vuković, and pole position driver Sebastian Steibel. Unfortunately, TCR debutant Milan Vuković had to retire his Renault halfway through the race.
Meanwhile, Petr Čížek put pressure on Milenko Vuković, who held second position, as Čížek himself was under pressure by Semerád. The key moment of the race happened just four minutes from the finish. Just as Semerád was trying to overtake Čížek, Vuković left the track at the very same moment and retired his car.
So Semerád moved into second behind Groszek, followed by Čížek. But the Czech driver made a mistake in the late stage of the race and went off the track, which presented an opportunity for Václav Janík to move up into third place.
Bartosz Groszek from the ADITIS Racing team won the race on his home turf, and a happy Hyundai / Janík Motorsport team finished with two cars on the podium again, thanks to Petr Semerád coming in second and Václav Janík coming in third. Petr Čížek finished the race in fourth position, in fifth was Tomasz Rzepecki, and in sixth was Sebastian Steibel. Žarko Knego and Radim Adámek finished seventh and eighth, respectively.
