Target Competition’s Dušan Borković emerged unscathed to take victory in race one of TCR Europe at the Hungaroring, following an eventful last few laps.
Borković started the race in fourth position, and took the lead mid-race from Josh Files, and held on until the chequered flag as much drama unfolded behind him.
Polesitter Mikel Azcona faced opposition from Josh Files into turn one, with the latter taking the lead on the exit of turn two on the opening lap.
Files’ Hell Energy Racing Team with KCMG stable-mate Attila Tassi followed suit, and Borkovic then capitalised on the leading trio battling as Azcona was hit and ran wide at the final corner, dropping him to fifth position.
Later in the race, Julien Briché and Attila Tassi battled hard and Briché bumped Tassi into the gravel at turn ten, ending Tassi’s race and causing a post-race time penalty for himself, which dropped him from second to 16th.
Stian Paulsen, who started 12th on the grid, also survived contact and scored his best result of the season by finishing second ahead of home racer Dániel Nagy who overtook Azcona in the latter stages of the race.
On the final lap of the race, the battle for fifth, sixth and seventh overheated as Reece Barr, Mikel Azcona and a recovering Stefano Comini all made contact at turn one, ending Barr’s race and dropping Comini to ninth.
This meant that Target Competition driver Kris Richard finished fifth, ahead of Jens Reno Møller and Jean-Karl Vernay, who picked up a good points haul having started 22nd on the grid.
Danny Kroes and Mark Jedlóczsky also made the most of the late drama to complete the top ten.
Josh Files suffered further bad luck as he dropped back shortly after losing the lead, appearing to have suffered contact in the ensuing drama.
Race two of the weekend gets underway at 11:50 CEST (10:50 BST) tomorrow.
Race result
POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
1 | 62 | Dušan BORKOVIĆ | Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 12 | 26:39.202 | 1:56.450 | 4 | |
2 | 34 | Stian PAULSEN | Stian Paulsen Racing | CUPRA TCR | 12 | 2.733 | 1:56.760 | 12 | |
3 | 999 | Dániel NAGY | M1RA | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 12 | 3.989 | 1:57.072 | 7 | |
4 | 25 | Mikel AZCONA | PCR Sport | CUPRA TCR | 12 | 5.875 | 1:59.460 | 1 | |
5 | 94 | Kris RICHARD | Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 12 | 5.999 | 1:58.495 | 13 | |
6 | 11 | Jens Reno MØLLER | Reno Racing | Honda Civic Type R FK7 TCR | 12 | 6.329 | 1:57.436 | 16 | |
7 | 69 | Jean-Karl VERNAY | Leopard Lukoil Team | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 12 | 6.507 | 1:58.602 | 21 | |
8 | 42 | Stefano COMINI | Autodis Racing by THX | Honda Civic Type R FK7 TCR | 12 | 8.031 | 1:58.747 | 22 | |
9 | 38 | Danny KROES | PCR Sport | CUPRA TCR | 12 | 8.044 | 1:58.973 | 14 | |
10 | 20 | Márk JEDLÓCZKY | JLG Sport | CUPRA TCR | 12 | 8.312 | 1:57.350 | 15 | |
11 | 14 | Loris CENCETTI | Autodis Racing by THX | Honda Civic Type R FK7 TCR | 12 | 9.886 | 1:58.552 | 11 | |
12 | 13 | Cedric PIRO | Autodis Racing by Piro Sports | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 12 | 10.653 | 1:59.079 | 20 | |
13 | 7 | Igor STEFANOVSKI | Stefanovski Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 12 | 11.104 | 1:59.831 | 17 | |
14 | 10 | Viktor DAVIDOVSKY | PSS Racing Team | Honda Civic Type R FK7 TCR | 12 | 12.789 | 1:59.511 | 24 | |
15 | 21 | Marie BAUS-COPPENS | JSB Compétition | CUPRA TCR DSG | 12 | 20.495 | 2:02.938 | 23 | |
16 | 4 | Julien BRICHÉ | JSB Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 12 | 30.591 | 1:56.085 | 9 | |
17 | 8 | Reece BARR | Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 11 | + 1 LAP | 1:59.235 | 5 | |
18 | 88 | Maxime POTTY | Comtoyou Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 10 | + 2 LAPS | 1:59.316 | 19 | |
R | 23 | Francisco ABREU | Sports & You | Peugeot 308 TCR | 8 | DNF | 2:04.213 | 8 | |
R | 9 | Attila TASSI | Hell Energy Racing with KCMG | Honda Civic Type R FK7 TCR | 6 | DNF | 2:01.915 | 2 | |
R | 26 | Francisco MORA | M1RA | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 6 | DNF | 2:03.753 | 10 | |
R | 99 | Josh FILES | Hell Energy Racing with KCMG | Honda Civic Type R FK7 TCR | 4 | DNF | 2:08.484 | 3 | |
R | 55 | Ferenc FICZA | Zengő Motorsport | CUPRA TCR DSG | 1 | DNF | 2:22.953 | 6 | |
R | 17 | Martin RYBA | Brutal Fish Racing Team | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 1 | DNF | 4:06.447 | 18 |