TCR World and life

16 EASTERN EUROPE TomášPekařwins threeracesoutof four CZECH DRIVERS AND CUPRA CARS REAP THE HONOURS IN THE FIRST TWO RACE MEETINGS OF THE SEASON With three victories from the first four races, Tomáš Pekař made it clear that he’s aiming for the 2021 TCR Eastern Europe title. The Czech driver took a double victory in the season opener at the Hungaroring. In the first race (above) Pekař was only challenged at the start but resisted the assault of Łukasz Stolarczyk and then built a gap. Behind him Michal Makeš and Milovan Vesnić recovered after making contact to take the other podium positions. For the first time the reversed grid for Race 2 was determined by a draw between 6 and 10; Carol Wittke – ninth in Race 1 – had the pole with Pekař starting from P9. Sebastian Steibel was quickest at the start, but Stolarczyk passed him for the lead. Pekař and Makeš advanced together to P2 and P3, passing Wittke and Steibel; eventually Pekař snatched the lead from Stolarczyk who held on to second place by keeping Makeš at bay. Makeš claimed his first victory in the series in Race 1 at the Slovakia Ring (right). He started from P3 and finished with a gap of more than eight seconds ahead of Steibel and Wittke. Starting from second, Pekař made a great getaway, jumping ahead of pole sitter Vesnić, but on the opening lap made a mistake and dropped to fifth. Makeš was leading from Vesnić, Steibel, Miro Horňák and Pekař. Steibel moved into P2 ahead of Vesnić (below) who finished third, while Pekař was fifth behind Wittke.