TCR Eastern Europe has a new leader! After a dramatic weekend at Poznan, Michal Makeš takes the top spot in the standings
After a race weekend in Poznan, Michal Makeš is now leading the TCR Eastern Europe championship standings. The Mičánek Motorsport powered by Buggyra driver has got ahead of Tomáš Pekař after two great results – the 21-year-old first won the opening race of the weekend, and then took a 2nd place finish after a thrilling Race 2.
“I still haven’t realised it, but it’s going to come to me,” said Michal Makeš shortly after the 2nd race, whic put him into the championship lead.
On Saturday, the Czech driver put on a dominant performance. He started from pole position and then managed to build a huge gap in the lead ahead of Tomáš Pekař. On Sunday, it was a dramatic story full of overtaking. Once again, Michal Makeš was unlucky when drawing his grid position for the 2nd race. While at Slovakiaring, he had to take 9th place, this time, it was only better by one position.
However, already in the first turn, Makeš took his Cupra TCR ahead of Pekař and Polish driver Jablonski and Rzepecki. Shortly after followed also Petr Čížek. On his way to the podium, Michal Makeš also faced another Polish driver - Lukasz Stolarczyk with an Audi RS3. Both drivers hit each other twice, but in the end, it was Makeš who came out as a winner.
“In our first battle, I was better on the brakes, and we touched a bit. But it wasn’t anything serious. Then, he tried to return the favour. I saw it coming and that it’s going to end with a contact, so I was ready, and just waited how big hit it’s going to be,” described Makeš the accident. But while the Czech driver managed to stay on the track, the Polish driver ended up in the wall.
The Cupra car in the Mičánek Motorsport powered by Buggyra colours then went on to chasing a leading pair of Bartosz Groszek and Sebastian Steibel. At the beginning of the final lap, Makeš overtook Steibel, which put him in 2nd position and gave him 18 points.
After the end of the race, Makeš found out that the championship leader Tomáš Pekař could not finish the race due to the cracked half-axle, which meant only one thing – Makeš, who was losing 9 points to the championship leader before the race, was suddenly 9 points ahead of Pekař. The German driver Sebastian Steibel holds 3rd place in the standings, and he is 48 points behind Makeš.
“In overall, it was a very positive weekend. From the pole position to the victory and lots of overtaking and taking the best results possible on Sunday, following an 8th position on the grid. But I also realise the responsibility for the rest of the season. We’re just halfway through and it’s going to be difficult to keep the lead,” added the Mičánek Motorsport powered by Buggyra driver.
“I thank the whole team and Michal for a brilliant job. They’re incredibly professional and it wasn’t just the results, but also a big consistency on the track. The championships are not decided by a number of victories, but by abilities not to make a mistake and get a bad result. We’ve been able to do that so far and I hope that we can keep that,” said the team manager Jiří Mičánek jr.
The TCR Eastern Europe series is currently halfway through the season. In just six weeks, the Mičánek Motorsport powered by Buggyra team and Michal Makeš will head to Grobnik, Croatia. However, on Wednesday, the team’s Lamborghini division is going to head to Zandvoort for another round of the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe series. There Bronislav Formánek and Josef Záruba are going to compete for more points in the prestigious championship, where they currently hold 3rd place in the Pro-AM category standings.
