The opening Clio Cup race at the Red Bull Ring delivered plenty of action, combining close racing with several incidents. Despite two red flag interruptions, Tomáš Pekař remained in control to secure his first victory of the 2026 season.
Pekař and Bartlomiej Mirecki lined up on the front row, ahead of Julian Smiechowski and Oskar Marszalkowski. Pekař made a strong start to retain the lead, while Smiechowski moved up to second, ahead of Mirecki and Marszalkowski.
After three laps, a leading group of seven drivers broke clear of the field, led by Pekař from Smiechowski, Mirecki, Marszalkowski, Luca Franca, Nico Wuest and Filip Dziwok.
While the front group ran nose to tail, hard battles unfolded further back in the pack. The crowd witnessed sustained wheel to wheel action, before a heavy crash brought out the safety car. Dejan Robida, after the contact with another car, hit the barriers at high speed before Turn 4, prompting the race to neutralisation. After several laps behind the safety car, the race was red flagged.
Following the restart, Pekař again held the lead. Mirecki attempted an outside move on Smiechowski at Turn 3 but was forced back in line through Turn 4, and by the end of the lap Marszalkowski had also found a way past him.
On the next lap, Smiechowski ran wide in turn four and dropped to fourth, allowing Luca Franca to join the fight for the podium. However, Franca’s challenge ended when he spun at Turn 4 after slight contact with Smiechowski, continuing a race-long trend of incidents at that corner.
The most serious accident occurred at Turn 10, where Nico Wuest made contact with Jorg Sodnik car and rolled onto the roof. Fortunately, the car landed back on its wheels and Wuest was able to get out of the car uninjured.
With the incident happening inside the final minute, the race was stopped for a second time and not resumed. Pekař was therefore classified as the winner and as the results were taken from the lap before red flag, Marszalkowski finished second ahead of Mirecki. Franca was fourth, Smiechowski fifth with Filip Dziwok sixth. Despite his crash, Nico Wuest scored points for seventh place, Matic Preša was eight, Rafal Paprota finished ninth and Miha Primožič rounded top 10. Jorg Sodnik received 30 seconds penalty for collision with Wuest
The Race 2 starts on Sunday at 13:20.
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