Pawel Wysmyk took his first win of the season as he ended Tomáš Pekař’s domination in the opening race of the Renault Clio Cup weekend at Hungaroring. He was joined on the podium by Adam Rzepecki and Tomáš Pekař.
A famous Hungaroring offered its first race of the weekend on Friday already, the first Renault Clio Cup race. While all the previous six races were won by Tomáš Pekař, who has already clinched the championship, this time, it was finally someone else.
Pekař faced first issues in Thursday’s practice session already. The Czech driver crashed out and suddenly there was a question mark about his participation in the rest of the weekend. However, he then appeared on track in today’s morning qualifying session. But he was able to set only the 6th fastest time, as Jonas Karklys took pole position ahead of Pawel Wysmyk and Adam Rzepecki.
However, it was Wysmyk who got to celebrate in the race. The BM Racing Team driver got into the lead right at the beginning of the race and then remained unchallenged for the rest of the race.
Meanwhile, Karklys even did not get to enjoy a podium result, as he finished in only 4th place. Throughout the race, he got passed by Adam Rzepecki, who went on to finish in 2nd position and Tomáš Pekař. After all his troubles, this year’s champion at least managed to get on the podium, but he had to settle for only the 3rd place this time.
But the qualifying winner Karklys wasn´t classified on the fourth place in the end. After the race, lot of penalties were given and Karklys was wounded the most. The Lithuanian dropped to the seventh position in the final results.
Right now, Adam Rzepecki holds the best position for the battle for 2nd place in the championship. The Polish driver has 84 points, but Wysmyk is not far away thanks to his first win of the season. He currently is only 6 points behind. Also, Adam Rzepecki’s brother Tomasz is still in the game, even though he is already 15 points behind.
Race 2 is scheduled for Sunday at 13:30.