Hungaroring
hosted the opening round of the 2019 season for TC touring cars and Clio Cup
series as well. Márk Jedloczy took his SEAT Leon to a win in his home race,
while Michal Makeš defended his last year‘s victory in the Clio Cup.
Márk L. Jedloczy in SEAT Leon and Jáchym Galáš in Volkswagen Golf qualified on
the first row, but only Jedloczy could enjoy it as gearbox issues forced Galáš
to miss the race. But it was Radim Adámek with the perfect start from the 3rd
place as moved into the lead right away with his BMW M3 E36 GT3 car. But he
enjoyed the lead for only a couple of corners, as he soon made a mistake and
crashed into a tyre wall. That brought out the Safety Car.
Once the Safety Car period was over, drivers went back to racing and put a
great show while battling for the podium. Apart from Jedloczy, who knew very
well what is in stake and quickly built a gap over Milovanovics Nemanja.
Most drivers struggled to keep the car on the track in the Turn 2. Even
Nemanja, who was running 2nd, made a small error that allowed Gábor
Kismarty-Lechner behind him to catch up. Both drivers then put their SEAT Leon
cars to the test in a big battle in the final laps and it was Kismarty-Lechner
in the end, who could celebrate the 2nd place ahead of Milovanovics
Nemanja. But nobody could match Márk Jedloczy from Zengo Motorsport team, which
also took 4th and 5th places in their home race thanks to
Csaba Tóth and Tamás Tenke.
In the Clio Cup series, a Polish driver Szymon Jablonski took a pole position
ahead of last year’s champion Michal Makeš. Jan Marcinek and Petr Makeš then
took the second row behind them. However, any potential battles were quickly
hindered by a Safety Car. After the restart, Makeš stayed very close with
Jablonski a put pressure on him. The rookie in the lead then indeed made a
mistake and went into a spin in Turn 2. While he managed to keep the car on the
track somehow, Makeš did not hesitate, took the lead and won the first race of
the 2019 season.
Jablonski could at least enjoy a podium finish after finishing 2nd
in his Clio Cup debut, ahead of Michal Majer in 3rd place. Martin
Fischer did all he could to make it to the podium but had to settle with 4th
position.