Homola claims TCR Eastern Europe title as Kout wins Most finale
Adam Kout scored his first win of the season in the last race of the weekend at Autodrom Most ahead of team-mate Mat’o Homola, who scored enough points to claim the 2023 TCR Eastern Europe title.
Because of wet conditions, the race was started behind the safety car, with Giacomo Ghermandi lining up in pole position with his Audi RS3 LMS TCR, ahead of Cupra driver Petr Fulín Jr.
Kout started from third position in his Janík Motorsport Hyundai Elantra N, with Rene Kircher in fourth place, while Homola started from fifth.
Homola managed to overtake Kircher during the second lap when the safety car went into the pits. A lap later saw Kout and Homola overtaking Fulín Jr for third place.
Yesterday’s winner Petr Fulín fought his way up to sixth place in the first stage of the race from ninth on the grid.
Kout attacked Ghermandi into the last corner of the third lap and managed to get ahead of the Audi driver. Meanwhile, Fulín overtook Kircher, and then also his son Fulín Jr to get into fourth position.
Showing strong pace, Fulín then overtook Homola on the outside into Turn 1 on lap five.
The next target for Fulín was Ghermandi in second place, and he passed the Italian in the same way as he did Homola two laps before.
There was a slight contact between them, that helped Homola to get to the back of Ghermandi’s car. The championship leader was trying to find an opening for several corners and eventually passed the Audi driver to snatch third place.
Fulín then attempted to overtake Kout for the lead, again on the outside of Turn 1 on lap ten. In the battle for the home glory, Fulín hit the Janík Motorsport Elantra and broke the front-right suspension of his Audi and had to retire.
Kajaia managed to pass Fulín Jr on lap 11 to get into fourth position.
Kout won the race ahead of Homola and Ghermandi. Kajaia got his Honda to fourth place ahead of Czepiel and Kircher, both advancing a position after Fulín Jr spun in the last corner of the last lap.
The results mean that Mat’o Homola has scored enough points to be crowned the TCR Eastern Europe champion with one round remaining before the end of the season
The Hyundai driver has scored 188 points, with Kajaia in second on 129 and Kircher one point behind his team-mate in third.
The final round of the season is scheduled for September 9-10 when TCR Eastern Europe racers will tackle the Brno circuit.