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The second race of TCR Eastern Europe at the Slovakia Ring offered superb racing, with Maťo Homola making an impressive comeback from eighth place to secure the lead, while Philipp Dietrich, starting from pole position, finished second and claimed his first podium finish. Davit Kajaia added another podium finish at Slovakia.
Philipp Dietrich started from pole position with his Cupra, with Petr Fulín Jr. alongside him in another Cupra. Two Audis were in the second row with Tobias Poschik and Giacomo Ghermandi, and the third row belonged to Hyundai Elantra’s, with Adam Kout starting fifth and Carlo Czepiel sixth. Davit Kajaia and yesterday’s winner, Maťo Homola, started from behind.
A three-wide battle into the corner involving Adam Kout, Philip Dietrich, and Tobias Poschik was too close, causing Kout to go off the track and drop to the back. Poschik took the lead in the opening lap but was hit from behind and began to lose oil from his car, making the situation difficult for drivers behind. Giacomo Ghermandi took the lead, with Dietrich in second and Kajaia in third. Poschik was losing not only oil but also positions and eventually withdrew from the race.
Local hero Homola was driving the fastest laps, soon moving up to third place and chasing Dietrich and Ghermandi in front of him. Kajaia was under attack from Czepiel, while Dietrich was unable to hold off Homola and dropped to third place.
When Homola took second place in the fourth lap, he was three seconds behind Ghermandi but closing the gap quickly. Unfortunately, the fight for the lead was unnecessary as Ghermandi received a 10-second penalty for a jump start. Homola knew about penalisation of his opponent and just followed Ghermandi closely, waiting for possible mistakes. It didn´t come and Ghermandi crossed the finish line first, but the 10-second penalty meant that he dropped to ninth position in the final results.
In the late stages of the race, Dietrich, Kajaia, Czepiel, and Fulín Jr. formed a fight for second place. Czepiel battled hard with Kajaia and that created a small gap for Dietrich. Meanwhile, Fulín was following closely, soon defending his position from the last-place starter René Kircher.
The order remained unchanged in the last couple of laps, with Maťo Homola securing his second win of the weekend, and Philipp Dietrich claiming his first podium finish in second place. Kajaia finished third, with Czepiel in fourth and Fulín Jr. in fifth. René Kircher finished sixth, with Adam Kout managing to gain positions after the accident in the first corner and finishing seventh. Sebastian Steibel finished eighth, Giacomo Ghermandi ninth, and Petr Čížek took one point for tenth place.
Philipp Dietrich became the winner of the Junior class, with Czepiel in second and Kircher in third. In the Trophy class, Adam Rzepecki claimed the winning trophy, with Sebastian Kolakowski in second.
