Mat’o Homola: “I did all I could to take a medal”

Mat’o Homola insisted that he had given his all on-track to secure a medal from the inaugural FIA Motorsport Games having wrapped up the bronze medal.

The Slovakian racer had finished second in the opening race of the weekend at the wheel of his BRC Racing team-run Hyundai i30 N TCR but headed into the second race on Sunday admitting that it would be a challenge to try and take the fight to Audi drivers Klim Gavrilov and Gilles Magnus for the title.

Homola’s pre-race prediction would prove to be correct as he found himself unable to challenge at the sharp end of the race, instead battling with Tom Coronel for third before losing out to the MG of Rory Butcher in a chaotic final lap to end up crossing the line in fifth.

That was however enough to secure third in the standings ahead of Frenchman John Filippi.

“I knew that would have been tough for me to score enough points in the second race to finish on the podium,” he said. “I tried to manage and avoid mistakes in such tricky conditions. In the second part of the race I realised it was not possible to even overtake Coronel and so I focused on scoring the points that would secure the bronze medal.

“I’m happy because it was my first time here at Vallelunga and with a new team.”