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Maťo Homola won first race of the TCR Eastern Europe championship at Oschersleben with his Hyundai Elantra. Although he started from third place, he took the lead in the first lap and held on to it until the finish. Petr Fulín from Fullinrace Academy finished second, and Homola’s teammate Adam Kout completed the podium with third place, underlining the success of the Hyundai Janík Motorsport team.
Despite starting from pole position, Adam Kout and Maťo Homola´s Hyundai Elantras made the best start after the red lights went out. Kout took the lead on the straight, and while Fulín tried to block him with his Cupra, he opened the door for Homola, who moved up to second place.
However, in the first lap, Kout lost control of his car and went in the slide a little bit. Therefore he handed the lead to Homola. After the first lap, the top five were Homola, Kout, Fulín, Kircher, and Steibel. Fulín immediately attacked Kout for second place, but Kout defended his position perfectly and did not give Fulín the opportunity to overtake.
Homola led the race, closely followed by Kout, with Fulín glued to his bumper. René Kircher with Honda Civic from Mertel Motorsport team followed them with a small gap. A four-car group led by Sebastian Steibel, Davit Kajaia, Carlo Czepiel and Tobias Poschik was racing for fifth place.
Steibel with Audi from Aditis Racing defended his position and did not give Kajaia and the others a chance to overtake. Kout also held on the second place ahead of Fulín. At Oschersleben, where there are very few overtaking opportunities, a well-timed maneuver is crucial. It seemed that Fulín would wait until the end of the race to attempt an overtaking move. However, in the twelfth lap, he unexpectedly attacked and after a close battle, he passed Kout.
Fulín immediately started chasing Homola, who was aware of the dangerous opponent behind him, but did not give him a chance to get closer. Homola won the opening race of the season ahead of Fulín and Kout, with René Kircher in fourth place.
Positions changed on the fifth place in the last lap. Kircher´s team mate Kajaia passed Steibel and soon Czepiel with Hyundai Elantra also overtook Steibel, pushing him to seventh place. Steibel´s team mate Tobias Poschik finished a close eighth.
Petr Čížek and Žarko Knego with Cupras completed the top ten in the first race and will start from the front row in the second race based on the lottery.
