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The Grobnik Circuit in Croatia will welcome the TCR Eastern Europe championship on May 16-17 for the opening round of the 2026 season, where expectations are high for a repeat of last year’s thrilling title battle.

Grobnik returns to the TCR Eastern Europe calendar after four years, and although most of the drivers know the track from previous appearances, defending champion Adam Kout from Hyundai Janík Motorsport has never raced there before.

“I’ve already tried the Grobnik track on the simulator and will continue to do so to be as well prepared as possible,” says Kout, who forms a strong line-up for the Czech team alongside Jiří Zbožínek.

Last year’s championship battle developed into a two-man fight between Kout and Martin Kadlečík from Aditis Racing, who continues his TCR Eastern Europe campaign this season. This time, his teammate will be driver and team owner Radim Adámek.

Hyundai Janík Motorsport and Aditis Racing will therefore field two cars each, giving them an advantage in the teams’ standings. However, from the drivers’ point of view, there are plenty of names capable of making an impact on the race results.

Petr Čížek enters the TCR Eastern Europe championship with his new team 76 Racing and the Cupra VZ that he raced last season. Čížek collected several podium finishes in previous years, but he is still waiting for his first victory. Will this be the season he finally achieves it? We will see.

Alongside Čížek, Frano Dubreta will also field a Cupra car, although an older-generation model. Dubreta from Montenegro enters the car under the Auto Klub Dubrovnik team, which is fielding a total of three cars. Besides Dubreta, the line-up also includes Luka Fabijancic with a Hyundai i30 N TCR and the well-known Žarko Knego with a Hyundai Elantra N TCR. Grobnik is Knego’s home circuit, and he enters the weekend with high expectations.

“There is no excuse for a bad result apart from a technical issue or an accident caused by another driver. I have done more laps there than the rest of the grid combined, so I have to perform well,” says Knego.

There will be four local drivers competing in the opening round and besides fighting for points in the TCR Eastern Europe championship, they will also score points for the TCR Croatia championship. The list of home drivers includes Žarko Knego, Luka Fabijancic, Bojan Miljkovic with a Honda Civic FK2 TCR from ASK Kastavac, and Niko Pulic with a Hyundai Elantra N TCR from AK Konavle.

Last but not least, Robert Pravdic will compete with an Audi RS3 LMS TCR 2021 entered by the AMD Slovenija Avto team. Pravdic returns to the championship for a full-season campaign.

The TCR Eastern Europe weekend at Grobnik kicks off with free practice on Friday, continues on Saturday with qualifying and Race 1 at 13:40, while Race 2 will take place on Sunday at 12:20.

Entrylist

Timetable V5

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