A late addition to the calendar for replacing the Argentine round, this week’s WTCR event at the Slovakia Ring marks the beginning of the second half of the season for the FIA World Touring Car Cup.
It takes place three weeks after Vila Real that produced the most catastrophic incident in four years of TCR competition. Luckily, none of the drivers was seriously hurt and only two cars – Rob Huff’s and Mehdi Bennani’s Volkswagens – were damaged beyond repairs.
Making the most out of his rivals’ issues, Yvan Muller has leapt back on top of the standings with 182 points; behind him Gabriele Tarquini and Yan Ehrlacher are joint on 160 and they are followed by Thed Björk (148), Jean-Karl Vernay (146), Norbert Michelisz (135), Huff (130), Esteban Guerrieri (129) and Pepe Oriola (113). It’s an impressive bunch of nine drivers at the wheel of cars of five different brands and covered by only 69 points.
One of the favourites for the Slovak event is local hero Mat’o Homola who has just claimed his maiden WTCR victory in Vila Real in the Peugeot 308 run by DG Sport Compétition.
“The day started with a really good qualifying result: the first time in Q2 this year. And then the win came! It was a dream come true and I hope this will urge the fans to come and cheer for me,” Homola commented.
Four of the WTCR competitors have already won at Slovakia Ring in the WTCC years: Tarquini (twice), Muller, Huff and Tom Coronel; Homola was twice a winner there in the European Touring Car Cup just like Czech Republic’s Peter Fulín who will join the WTCR field as a guest driver together with Slovakia’s Andrej Studenić.
Source: Automobilsport