Jurišić wins the Grobnik races, as Knego is crowned champion
Žarko Knego was crowned the first ever champion of TCR Croatia despite he couldn’t start in any of the races of the season finale at Automotodrom Grobnik.
Knego, who had won five of the six previous races was sidelined by a suspension issue in qualifying and by a lack of spares for his Hyundai Elantra N.
It was series newcomer Matija Jurišić who emerged victorious twice at the wheel of the Peugeot 308 he usually races in hillclimbing events.
In qualifying, Jurišić had set the TCR pole outpacing Fraňo Dubreta’s CUPRA Leon Competición by 152 thousandths.
Jurišić took a comfortable victory from lights to flag in Race 1, 7.6 seconds ahead of Dubreta, with Robert Pravdić completing the podium in his Audi RS 3 LMS, while Luka Fabijančić had retired in lap 8 after a collision with a GT4 car.
In the second race, Jurišić was able to encore although he was under pressure from Dubreta throughout the 17 lap-race; the gap between them remained stable between one-and-half and two seconds, until the last lap when it grew to 2.7 seconds under the flag. With Pravdić dropped down in lap 2 after a collision with Fabijančić, it was the latter who secured the third position in his Hyundai i30 N despite a ten-second penalty for the incident.
Championship points
- Ž. Knego, 159 pts.; 2. B. Miljković, 132; 3. L. Fabijančić, 129
Picture: Matija Jurišić
