Mat’o Homola wins at home in second race in Slovakia

Mat’o Homola took his first win in the ETCC at the Slovakiaring, holding off race one winner Petr Fulín at the end to win in front of his home fans at the Slovakiaring.

Andrina Gugger started from pole position in the Rikli Motorsport Honda Civic courtesy of the reverse grid, but lightning starts from the SEAT Supercopa of Andreas Pfister and Homola’s BMW saw the two drivers up to first and second after starting sixth and seventh on the grid.

Problems on the first lap for Petr Fulín saw the first race winner outside the top ten at the start of the race, but the Krenek Motorsport driver soon started to pick his way forward, and was up to seventh by the end of lap three.

Fulín’s team-mate Michal Matejovsky was able to pass Jordi Oriola’s Tuenti Racing Team SEAT for third on lap two into Turn 1, with Mat’o Homola also passing Andreas Pfister for the lead further on the lap.

Matejovsky’s drive stalled from there on, fighting with Pfister for the remainder of the race.

Campos Racing’s Igor Skuz and Liqui Moly Team Engstler driver Roland Hertner came together on lap two at Turn 10 which saw Skuz eliminated from the race, which is under investigation by the stewards.

The man to watch was however race one winner Petr Fulín, who was up to fifth on lap four, the Czech driver overtook Jordi Oriola on the start finish line at the beginning of lap five and then passed his team-mate for third one lap later.

Fulín caught and passed Pfister’s SEAT at Turn 3 on lap seven, a move his team-mate replicated the following lap but was repassed at Turn 10. Fulín meanwhile was chasing down the home favourite who had built up a two second lead. Fulín was challenging Homola on the final lap but was unable to prevent the 18-year-old Slovakian from taking victory.

Andreas Pfister’s third place saw him win in the Single-Make Trophy classification, but Jordi Oriola now leads in the standings just three points ahead of Nikolay Karamyshev.

Fulín extends his lead in the S2000 standings as does Kevin Krammes, who took his fourth win in as many races for Ravenol Team GENA in his Ford Fiesta.

Rikli Motorsport driver Andrina Gugger finished in ninth place and won the Ladies’ Trophy class for the fourth straight race and also extends her points lead.

A number of cars failed to make the start after the damage in race one including Mikhail Maleev, Nicolas Hamilton and Dusan Borkovic.

The next round of the FIA European Touring Car Cup takes place at the Salzburgring on 19th May.