One win apiece for Bucsi and Kircher in TCR Eastern Europe finale

Attila Bucsi and René Kircher shared honours at Brno for the TCR Eastern Europe’s season finale. Bucsi created a surprise on his TCR debut in a M1RA Motorsport Hyundai i30 N. The 16-year-old Hungarian claimed pole position and then dominated the first race. As for Kircher, he emerged victorious in Race 2; it was his second win of the season that granted the Mertel Motorsport driver the second place in the championship behind Mat’o Homola and ahead of Adam Kout. 

Race 1 – After posting the fastest lap in practice, Bucsi encored in Qualifying, taking a sensational pole ahead of Homola by 87 thousandths, with Bartosz Groszek third on the grid. At the start Homola was fastest and Bucsi found himself under pressure from Kout and Groszek. During the first lap, Kout muscled his way past Bucsi after they made contact, but in lap 2, Kout dropped behind Bucsi and Groszek as his front right tyre was smoking, scraping against a damaged wheel-arch. In lap 3, Giacomo Ghermandi passed Kircher for P6. By lap 6, Bucsi had closed the gap to Homola and managed to steal the lead from him. The final part of the race was mostly processional, with Bucsi going to claim his maiden win on his TCR debut from Homola and Groszek, while Kout kept his teammate Carlo Czepiel at bay to finish fourth. Davit Kajaia who was running ninth, retired after going off with a front tyre issue. 

Race 2 – The draw for the reversed grid placed Petr Fulín jr. on pole, with Žarko Knego also on the front row. The polesitter was slow at the start, and so Knego led the field from Kircher and Czepiel. Kircher overtook Knego in lap 2 and took advantage from the battle behind him to pull away. Knego was stubbornly defending the second position from the pressure of Czepiel; the pair was then joined by Kout who had passed Ghermandi for P4. The Italian driver was closely followed by Homola and Groszek who had passed Bucsi. In lap 5, Kout passed Czepiel for third, while Groszek overtook Homola for sixth one lap later. The new champion lost another place to Bucsi in lap 8. In lap 9, Kout managed to pass Knego for second, but it was too late for him to try and close the gap from Kircher. The last change was for P6, with Bucsi passing Groszek in the final lap. Kircher won by 7.6 seconds over Kout, while Knego kept Czepiel at bay to finish third and claim his first podium result in the championship.

Brno – Race 1

1. Attila Bucsi (M1RA Motorsport, Hyundai i30 N), 11 laps

2. Mat’o Homola (Janík Motorsport, Hyundai Elantra N), 4.279

3. Bartosz Groszek (Aditis Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS II), 6.595

Brno – Race 2

1. René Kircher (Mertel Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R FK7), 11 laps

2. Adam Kout (Janík Motorsport, Hyundai Elantra N), 7.683

3. Žarko Knego (Auto Klub Dubrovnik Racing, Hyundai Elantra N), 9.147

Championship points

1. M. Homola, 212 pts; 2. R. Kircher, 156; 3. A. Kout, 143. 

Picture: TCR Eastern Europe/Petr Frýba