Tobias Poschik becomes the 1000th driver in the record

There were moves aplenty following the first rounds of the TCR Eastern Europe and UK series last weekend at Oschersleben and Snetterton, while the ranking celebrated a key milestone, with over 1,000 drivers now classified.

With several newcomers taking part in the events, more than 1,000 drivers are now within in the ranking (with results counted back only to the start of 2021). The 1,000^th driver on record is 18-year-old Tobias Poschik from Austria, who finished on the podium in his first outing in the TCR Eastern Europe series last weekend, leading for most of the second race in his Aditis Racing Audi.

“To be the 1,000th driver recorded in the KUMHO TCR World Ranking is pretty exciting,” said Poschik, who is working with his countryman, the outgoing champion Bartosz Groszek, still 11^th in the ranking after his title-winning campaign in 2022.

"One thousand drivers in the ranking is already a big number and it shows that the TCR community is growing. I hope for even more drivers included so that this community can get bigger and bigger. I am pleased to know that I’m in 353^rd position, it’s quite impressive after only two races. We showed our potential at Oschersleben, and I think it is possible to move up the order. My goal could be to make the top 100 or top 150, which will be definitely pretty difficult, but we’ll keep pushing to reach it."

Mat’o Homola’s strong weekend in TCR Eastern Europe, with a win and a second place in his Janík Motorsport Hyundai Elantra N, saw the Slovakian climb ten places and is now ranked 29^th. While Homola was the highest mover in the top 100 in the series, the biggest mover overall was Petr Fulín, with the returning Czech driver’s second place in Race 1 helping to give him a 110-place climb to move up to 217^th overall.

In TCR UK, Alex Ley’s results, which included a podium in Race 2, saw the Hyundai Motorsport Junior Driver move up 37 positions to 59^th, closing in on the all-important top 45. Josh Files’ second place finish in Race 1 also saw him make a big move, up 24 places to 52^nd overall. Early championship leader and Race 1 winner Bruce Winfield gained four places and is now up to 16^th, the top-placed driver from the championship in the ranking, while Chris Smiley’s podium in the same race helped move the reigning champion to 21^st, up six spots. 

Poschik’s quotes provided by Tomáš Vacín

Picture: TCR Eastern Europe/Peter Frýba