Szabolcs Lantos won the opening race of the Clio Cup at the Slovakia Ring and maintained his mathematical chance of winning the title. Current leader Tobiash Poschik finished the race in second place.
It rained lightly before the race and many drivers opted for safety in the form of wet tires. However, after driving from the pits to the starting grid, everyone switched to slick tires, as the asphalt dried quickly and it was clear that slicks were the best option.
Ivan Mandić and Tomáš Pekař started from the front row with fifth-generation Clio cars. Szabolcs Lantos and Michael Hulm lined up behind them with Clio IV cars. The leader of the standings, Tobiash Poschik started from ninth place.
It was Lantos and Hulm who got off best, beating Mandić and Pekař. Hulm took the lead while Lantos battled Pekař in the first corners after the start. Mandić fell from pole position to fourth place, followed by Poschik, who also showed a rocket start.
In the second lap, Poschik moved up to fourth place and joined the train of drivers Hulm, Lantosz and Pekař. The Austrian racer set the fastest laps and soon moved ahead of his team boss Pekař. Soon there was also a change in the lead. Lantosz pushed his way into the lead and dropped Hulm to the second.
In the fourth lap, Poschik moved into second place and had only the leader Lantosz in front of him. But Hulm didn’t want to just give up and tried to take the second place back for several turns. The back-to-back battle eventually resulted in Hulme briefly going off the track and dropping to sixth place. Meanwhile, Miha Primožič and Thomas Fischer caught up to the leading group.
In the final laps, Poschik caught up with the first Lantosz, but he couldn’t find the recipe to overtake and the Hungarian competitor achieved his second victory of the year. Poschik finished second, Primožič third. The other positions in the Clio IV classification went to Michael Hulm and the top five was completed by Thomas Fischer.
In the Clio V classification, Tomáš Pekař won ahead of David Němček and Ivan Mandić.