Mat’o Homola elated with second pole after practice dramas in Austria

DG Sport Compétition’s Mat’o Homola took his second pole position of the season at the Salzburgring, outpacing former team-mate Dusan Borkovic by less than a tenth of a second in a hard-fought qualifying at the Salzburgring circuit, and the Slovakian is happy after problems plagued him in practice.

Homola missed a chunk of time in Friday’s test session after his Opel Astra suffered a steering issue, and while he was fast in Free Practice 1 this morning, he also missed most of Free Practice 2 after a driveshaft failure after three laps, so was surprised, but happy, to secure pole.

“At the Salzburgring I always seem to have good results,” said Homola. “This track maybe suits me, I like fast corners – but from the beginning in every session we were having problems with the car. But in qualifying we changed some things on the set-up and the car was behaving really good.

“I did just three laps in Free Practice 2, and in terms of set-up we were guessing until qualifying. We changed some things, but they were just minor changes and they worked.”

Homola’s first pole was at Bahrain earlier this season, though he wasn’t able to take it up due to an engine change penalty, meaning this will be Homola’s first pole position start in the TCR International Series.