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The second TCR Eastern Europe race at the Slovakia Ring produced a dramatic final-lap showdown, as Martin Kadlečík overtook race leader Adam Kout to claim an unexpected victory in Sunday’s race.

Petr Čížek in the Cupra and Žarko Knego in the Hyundai Elantra shared the front row, with Hyundai teammates Jiří Zbožínek and Adam Kout lining up behind them. Martin Kadlečík started from fifth after failing to finish Race 1 due to gearbox issues with his Audi RS 3.

Despite the particularly wide start-finish straight, contact between three cars resulted in a heavy crash for Zbožínek. Čížek moved across to the right, squeezing the fast-starting Zbožínek towards Knego. Caught in the middle of the three-wide battle, Zbožínek was spun into the barriers and made heavy contact.

Before the safety car was deployed, Kout had moved into the lead, with Kadlečík, Čížek and Knego following behind.

The barriers were quickly repaired and the race resumed after around seven minutes. Kout immediately opened a gap over Kadlečík, who initially had no answer to the leader’s pace.

Behind them, fourth-placed Knego was putting Čížek under pressure for the final podium position, but never managed to get close enough to launch a serious attack.

For the entire race, Kadlečík remained in Kout’s shadow, never more than two seconds behind. In the closing stages, however, traffic ahead forced Kout to compromise his exit from a fast corner, giving Kadlečík the opportunity he had been waiting for.

Carrying more speed onto the following section, Kadlečík pulled alongside Kout and outbraked him into the tight left-hander to take the lead. Kout ran off the circuit and into the gravel trap, but recovered to finish second, just ahead of Petr Čížek in third and Žarko Knego in fourth. Čížek eventually received 5 seconds penalty for the incident after the start, but still remained third.

TCR – Race 2

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