Mat’o Homola used his pole position to good effect, as he took the Target Competition Hyundai i30 N TCR to victory in the first race of the 2019 TCR Europe Touring Car Series in Hungary.
Homola led the field away as team-mate Josh Files moved up to second, whilst front-row starter Andreas Bäckman lost out with a poor start before making contact with Santiago Urrutia in the second corner.
Homola opened up a slight advantage over Files in the early stages of the race, as the three-time TCR champion had to contend with pressure from both Julien Briché and Nelson Panciatici, running third and fourth respectively at the time.
Homola was able to hold on to take his first victory in the series, despite Files closing in on his position in the final laps of the race. Panciatici scored a podium on his début in the series, making it a Hyundai 1-2-3 on the podium after passing Briché towards the end of the race.
Briché ended the race in fourth place ahead of Dušan Borković who completed the top five. The Serbian driver passed ex-WTCR driver Aurélien Comte for fifth on lap five. Daniel Nagy took sixth position at the flag ahead of Gilles Magnus, who took seventh place on his debut in the series for Comtoyou Racing.
WestCoast Racing’s Gianni Morbidelli made an impressive charge through the field from sixteenth to end the race in ninth place, just behind the DG Sport Peugeot of Comte and ahead of Jessica Bäckman who completed the top ten.
Behind them, the final points scoring positions were claimed by Andreas Bäckman, who secured eleventh place ahead of Luca Filippi after passing the BRC Racing Hyundai at the end of the race.
Teddy Clairet brought his Peugeot home in thirteenth position with the Vuković Motorsport Renault Megane of John Filippi in fourteenth. Jimmy Clairet claimed the final points position in fifteenth.
Race Two gets underway this afternoon where Santiago Urrutia is on pole position with Dušan Borković on the front row with him. The second TCR Europe race can be found on Facebook, YouTube and on the TCR TV website.