The first race in the history of TCR European Endurance had it all: overtakes, safety cars, strategy and surprise results. Thanks to its innovative and fun format, the series promoted by Mauricio Slaviero was able to put on a show around the Balaton Park Circuit; not only that, it also gave the opportunity to cars of different classes to play a key role in the race itself. The TCR European Endurance welcomes all kinds of TCR cars: vehicles with a sequential gearbox, DSG models and Gen-1 machinery – with standings dedicated to each category. However, the championship’s maiden round saw the latter two shine throughout the whole weekend.
On one hand, the DSG category saw in Balaton a great fight for the class win between home favourites Zsille Motorsport and TEXACO Team AMS, with the latter ultimately prevailing with Kaçan/Okyay in their Audi RS3 DSG #4. Not only that, the Turkish team was able to lead the overall standings halfway through stage one, too, thanks to a brilliant strategy call that saw Okyay lead the pack after the pit stop phase – a historic feat for a car with a DSG gearbox. The Turkish pair was later overtaken by their sister sequential car of Konukoglu/Brigliadori, yet they still managed to finish in second place in the overall standings. No less emotions were shown in Vallelunga, with RC Motorsport and Brothers in Arms who set the battle for the podium in DSG class.
Furthermore, the Gen-1 class was also capable of impressing everyone during the opening race of the season. The category, which is reserved for cars that have not received any updates from 2018 onwards, saw TEXACO Team AMS’ pair of Pinar/Özen steal the show during qualifying, with the two of them setting the second fastest time in both sessions. This meant that the Audi RS3 Gen-1 of the Turkish outfit would start on the front row of the grid, sharing it with the recently updated RS3 of Konukoglu/Brigliadori – showing just how effective and unpredictable the endurance format created by the TCR European Endurance can be. The #2 Audi eventually finished fourth in the overall standings after some issues in stage one, but they were still able to take home the class win.
Mauricio Slaviero, TCR European Endurance Promoter
“Seeing both DSG and Gen-1 cars fight for the overall pole position and the race lead throughout the two stages goes to show how competitive the series’ format is. Our idea is to give everyone a chance to compete, and it was amazing to see three different categories battle it out in Balaton as well Vallelunga gave us a great show”.
