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Bartosz Groszek and Tomáš Korený won in Round 2 of the TCR Eastern Europe Simracing series at virtual Red Bull Ring, Austria.
On Tuesday, June 30, the TCR Eastern Europe Simracing virtual championship continued with Round 2 of the season. Just two weeks after the opening round at Hungaroring, the championship moved to the famous Austrian circuit Red Bull Ring.
The previous round was dominated by Bartosz Groszek. The BTC Maszyny Racing driver won qualifying and both races at Hungaroring and he led the championship with 90 points. Miklas Born from Team Autorama AG by Wolf-Power held the 2nd place with 66 points, ahead of Petr Fulín. The three-time European Touring Car champion had 54 points.
And it all looked good for Groszek at Red Bull Ring as well. He dominated the qualifying session, by setting the fastest lap overall 1:35.012, and he took another 10 points for the championship and a pole position for the first race.
Petr Fulín finished 2nd, completing the first row. The Czech driver missed out on the pole position just by a few hundreds of a second, with 1:35.090. It all looked like a promise for a close battle between both drivers. Yannick Mettler took the 3rd spot on the grid with 1:35.203, ahead of Szymon Ladniak whose 1:35,422 gave him the 4th place and also the best position amongst junior drivers. Balint Hatvani qualified in 5th place with 1:35,462.
Szymon Ladniak was the best junior in qualifying.
Despite all the promises, the race did not offer a close wheel-to-wheel battle between Groszek and Fulín. The Polish driver dominated the race from start to finish and nobody could get even close to him.
Balint Hatvani finished in the 2nd place, taking his second podium of the season after the 2nd place from his home race at Hungaroring. Miklas Born crossed the line in the 3rd position and was also the best junior driver of the race. But the Swiss driver had to fight hard with his Team Autorama AG by Wolf-Power teammate Yannick Mettler.
Miklas Born finished third in Race 1.
However, Mettler did not even finish 4th as he was later disqualified from the whole event, for taking an incorrect spot on the grid for Race 2. But there were more disqualifications on the table, as he was joined by Petr Fulín, Tomáš Pekař and Szymon Ladniak in Race 1. All three drivers broke the rules during the qualifying.
In the end, it was Tomáš Korený who took the 4th place, ahead of Jáchym Galáš who was classified in the 5th position.
For Race 2, the original TOP 12 from Race 1 gridded in a reversed order, promoting Constantin Kletzer to the pole position. Szymon Ladniak started from 2nd place, ahead of Tomáš Pekař, who won the real TCR Eastern Europe race at Red Bull Ring last year. The race winner Groszek had to start from the 12th place.
However, in the end, it was Tomáš Korený who took the glory after winning the Race 2. The Czech driver started 7th, but he made good progress and by Lap 6 he was already in the lead and ahead of Constantin Kletzer. Nobody was able to stop Korený after that and he became the first driver to beat Bartosz Groszek in the TCR Eastern Europe Simracing series.
Tomáš Korený (in front) won Race 2.
Miklas Born, who finished 3rd in the previous race, showed a great performance once again finished 2nd. Constantin Kletzer utilised a start from the pole position to finish 3rd, despite a tough final battle with Hatvani and Pekař.
But he was able to defend his podium position, with Hatvani finishing in 4th and Pekař in 5th positions. Bartosz Groszek, who won the first three races of the season, had to settle for only 8th place this time.
However, Groszek still leads the championship with 155 points, ahead of Miklas Born with 135 points, who also leads the junior championship. Balint Hatvani holds the 3rd place with 121 points.
The Round 3 of the TCR Eastern Europe Simracing is scheduled for Tuesday, July 14, and it will take place at Grobnik circuit in Croatia.
Results: Qualifying, Race 1, Race 2
