Michal Makeš takes a lights-to-flag victory at Poznán

Michal Makeš converted his pole position into a victory in TCR Eastern Europe’s Race 1 at Poznán. This was the second win for the Czech driver in the season and helped him to close the gap in the standings to the leader Tomáš Pekař, who finished second in the race.
Championship returnee Szymon Jabłoński was the best of the Polish drivers and completed the podium ahead of his young countryman Tomasz Rzepecki.
Makeš made good use of the pole and led at the start from Pekař, Jabłoński, Sebastian Steibel, Rzepeczki and Giacomo Ghermandi who had jumped from P11 on the grid to sixth. The Italian, however, was passed by Petr Čížek during the opening lap and slipped to seventh, while Rzepeczki passed Steibel for fourth.
Čížek began chasing Steibel and the pair delivered a good battle for P5; Čížek overtook Steibel in Lap 3, but the German was able to retake the position a few moments later.
At front, Makeš built a three-second margin over Pekař, while Jabłoński and Rzepeczki followed in third and fourth respectively. Steibel managed to pull away from Čížek and tried to close the gap to Rzepeczki.
In lap 9, Sebastian Kołakowski spun his Honda Civic FK2 while he was fighting for P12 with the Audi of Sanel Ćehić and rejoined at the back.
In lap 12, Steibel had closed in on Rzepeczki, however the young Pole managed to reject his assaults and during the final lap Čížek pipped Steibel for P5.
Makeš increased his margin and won by seven seconds over Pekař, with Jabłoński third and Rzepeczki fourth. 
Race 2 will start tomorrow at 12:45 local times (CEST); live streaming at www.tcr-series.com. The Audi of Polish rookie Bartosz Groszek will sit on pole position following the draw that reversed the top-eight finisher in Race 1.

Poznán - Race 1
1. Michal Makeš (Mičánek Motorsport, CUPRA), 16 laps
2. Tomáš Pekař (Carpek Service, CUPRA), 7.666
3. Szymon Jabłoński (BM Racing Team, Hyundai i30 N), 17.896
4. Tomasz Rzepecki (Basenhurt Racing, Volkswagen Golf GTI), 18.855
5. Petr Čížek (Fullinrace Academy, CUPRA Leon Competición), 20.570

Championship points
1. T. Pekař 114 pts; 2. M. Makeš 104; 3. S. Steibel 60

Picture: TCR Eastern Europe/Petr Frýba