Bartłomiej Mirecki converted his pole position into his third victory of the 2026 Clio Cup season, but it was far from an easy task. The Salzburgring provided plenty of opportunities for close racing and slipstream battles throughout the field.
Mirecki started from pole position alongside Tomáš Pekař, with Alan Kluza and Rafał Paprota on the second row. Filip Dziwok and Julian Śmiechowski lined up on the third row.
Mirecki led the field away from the start, while Pekař immediately slotted in behind him heading into the first chicane. Further back, Dziwok avoided an incident by taking the escape road, losing several positions in the process.
Mirecki and Pekař quickly broke away from the rest of the field during the opening lap. Pekař launched an attack on the start-finish straight, but Mirecki defended the inside line into the chicane and retained the lead. Their battle allowed Paprota to join the fight at the front, forming a three-car leading group. Behind them followed Śmiechowski, Kluza, Matic Preša, Dziwok, Petar Miloradović, Dawid Babraj and Oskar Marszałkowski in the top ten.
Pekař attempted the same move on Mirecki again on the following lap, but Mirecki once more held on to first place. In the process, Pekař dropped behind Paprota and, one lap later, also behind Śmiechowski, who was later handed a five-second penalty for contact with another driver.
As the intense battle continued, Kluza lost control of his car under braking for the first chicane. Fortunately, nobody made contact with him as he slid through the corner.
With ten minutes remaining, contact occurred between Paprota and Pekař, with Pekař also making slight contact with Mirecki. Despite the incident, Mirecki lost very little time and took the lead again, while Pekař dropped back to fifth place.
However, the nature of the Salzburgring meant that Pekař was able to use the powerful slipstream effect to fight his way back through the field. Before long, he was once again running second behind Mirecki.
With only a few laps remaining, Mirecki, Pekař, Paprota and Preša led a tightly packed group, and the battle for victory remained completely open.
In the end, however, Mirecki remained in control. He made no mistakes, left no openings for his rivals, and crossed the finish line first to claim victory in the opening Clio Cup race at the Salzburgring. Pekař finished second after a hard-fought race, while third was Paprota. Preša crossed the finish line fourth and Marszalkowski fifth. Dziwok was sixth and Miloradovič seventh. Jorg Sodnik was classified eight in front of Pawel Wysmyk and tenth Nico Wuest.
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