Adam Kout secures TCR Eastern Europe title at Balaton Park
Adam Kout was crowned the 2025 TCR Eastern Europe champion at Balaton Park, giving Hyundai Janík Motorsport the third consecutive title after those won by Mat’o Homola. Kout staked a claim on the championship with a lights-to-flag victory in Saturday’s Race 1, the sixth for him in the season, stretching his lead over Martin Kadklečik’s Aditis Motorsport Audi to 17 points with 26 still on offer.
He only needed to finish sixth in case Kadklečik had won Sunday’s race, but the fight was over at the end of the first lap when Kadklečik was eliminated in a crash with Žarko Knego. Jiři Zbožínek provided the icing on the cake for Janík Motorsport with his first race win.
As for the TCR Croatia series, Knego won the first race after Nemanja Milovanović went off while the latter was victorious in Race 2; the Croatian championship has a couple of races to go, in Grobnik on 7/8 November.
Race 1 – Kout had set his fifth pole position out of the season’s six qualifying sessions, beating Kadklečik by less than five tenths, with Bartosz Groszek and Zbožínek in P3 and P4. Kout started well, but Kadklečik pushed him into T1 and took the lead; however, Kout was able to pass him again in the opening lap. Behind them Groszek was defending the third place under huge pressure from Zbožínek. Further back, Knego and Milovanović were fighting for P6 overall and the lead in TCR Croatia.
Kout built a 3.4-second lead until lap 7, when the race was red-flagged after Milovanović’s Hyundai i30 N went off and stopped in the gravel. Racing resumed behind the safety car with eight minutes to go; once again Kout was able to pull away and went on to take his sixth win of the season, while on the penultimate lap Petr Čížek overtook Zbožínek to finish fourth.
Race 2 – The draw for the reversed grid had placed Knego on pole with Zbožínek alongside; Kout was in P6 while Kadklečik sat in P5. Zbožínek made a great start and led, while Čížek from P3 overtook Knego moving into second. During the opening lap both Kadklečik and Groszek overtook Knego, with Kout still in sixth place. At the end of the lap, the top six were running nose-to-tail, then entering into T1, Knego missed the braking point and crashed into Kadklečik’s Audi. It was the end of the race for both of them, as the safety car was deployed, and also the end of Kadklečik’s hopes to fight for the title until the end. With his rival out of contention, Kout pushed when the race resumed in lap 6; he passed Groszek for third in lap 7, then put the pressure on Čížek and overtook him in lap 9. Kout then settled behind his teammate Zbožínek who scored his maiden win, while Čížek kept Groszek at bay to finish third.
Race 1
- Adam Kout (Janík Motorsport, Hyundai Elantra N), 13 laps
- Martin Kadklečik (Aditis Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS), 3.277
- Bartosz Groszek (Aditis Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS), 5.740
Race 2
- Jiři Zbožínek (Janík Motorsport, Hyundai Elantra N), 13 laps
- Adam Kout (Janík Motorsport, Hyundai Elantra N), 1.186
- Petr Čížek (Autoexpres Racing, CUPRA Leon VZ), 6.325
Championship points – TCR Eastern Europe
- A. Kout, 262 pts; 2. M. Kadklečik, 226; 3. B. Groszek, 168
Championship points – TCR Croatia
- Z. Knego, 158 pts; 2. L. Fabiančić, 111; 3. B. Miljoković, 103
Picture: TCR Eastern Europe/Petr Frýba
