THR TTM 2025 — Round 1, Imola
Imola’s 1992 layout has a way of exposing the brave, sparking drama, and rewarding those who stay out of trouble. The season‑opening round of the THR Tourenwagen Meisterschaft (TTM) 2025 ticked all of these boxes in dramatic fashion. Mild conditions with 20°C under the autumn sun in the Emilia-Romagna region set the stage for the clash of a full grid of 39 strongly-piloted touring cars, which was expertly commentated by Microlin100 on the THR Live Broadcast.
Kuba Palubicki crossed the line first under controversial circumstances in the Linder BMW M3 from pole position, chased all the way home by the Jolly Club Alfa Romeo 75 of Valentin Knechtel. Following an early collision during a heated battle for the lead, the unfortunate HappyKojot in the Ford Sierra RS500 of Side Heart Motorsports completed the podium after fighting his way past his team mate Adam Celárek (Holden VL Commodore) and Boby Vakuinof (Alfa 75). When the checkered flag came down after 32 laps of elbows-out fights, four manufacturers were in the top 5.
Qualifying: a four‑brand front row fight
The drivers who had narrowly missed out on the drivers title last season set the tone in qualifying. Kuba Palubicki from the Netherlands had missed out on the drivers title last year by just one point while racing under a pseudonym. Trading last year's Mercedes cockpit for the #20 BMW of Linder Rennsport paid off, and translated to a dominant pole position with a 1:51.021. Next up was the man who had achieved the same points score as Palubicki last year, but one race win less had sent him to 3rd. Adam Celárek from the Czech Republic stayed faithful to the mighty Holden VL Commodore and was four tenths off at 1:51.437.
His Side Heart Motorsports team mate HappyKojot underlined the duo's ambitions to defend the Teams Championship in the TTM. Now in a Ford Sierra RS500 after having driven a Mercedes-Benz 190E to 5th place last season, he flogged his new car into third place with a 1:51.559. The second row was completed by Valentin Knechtel (6th of the TTM 2024) with a 1:51.647. The German had also departed a Mercedes-Benz cockpit (from SG Stern) and teamed up with his compatriot Attila Diner (4th of the TTM 2024 in a Holden) to form the new Jolly Club team. On the debut of the new Alfa Romeo 75 Turbo Evoluzione S1 in the TTM, he led the charge for the Italian brand by just a tenth over privateer Boby Vakuinof from Bulgaria.
But where was the defending champion? Jaroslav Cerny stayed faithful to the black and yellow BMW M3 that earned him the 2021 THR DTM and the 2024 TTM drivers titles, but he struggled to find his rhythm at Imola. The Asahi Motorsports driver from the Czech Republic emerged from a disappointing qualifying session in 21st place - a testament to the competitive density of this year's TTM grid.
The race
Launch and lap‑one needlework
The opening lap was classic touring‑car theatre. Palubicki had a superb start from pole position in his BMW, while time stood still for the PCs of Celárek and HappyKojot when the lights went out, causing both of them to struggle to get off the line.
In front of Alfa Romeo's roaring home crowd, the German flew past Palubicki's BMW on the right side on the run to Villeneuve, while HappyKojot's 540 bhp Ford briefly made it a 3-wide for the lead on the left before slotting in behind them again at Villeneuve. The second of the Jolly Club Alfa Romeos achieved an even better start: from 12th on the grid, Attila Diner (#27) had already processed half of the cars ahead before Tamburello.
Attila Diner tangled with the Ford of Florian Masse at the exit of Tosa after the Frenchman had lost traction and made contact with Celárek's Holden while fighting over 4th place, sending both Masse and Diner back down the order by several positions. This handed 5th place to Boby Vakuinof, but the Bulgarian driver in the #36 Alfa Romeo had to earn it by outaccelerating the #79 Mercedes of Aymen Assabir, who made a fantastic start from 10th on the grid.
In the Nissan Skylines of Team Suntory, FMG and Flashor had already expected a difficult first race of the season but carefully hinted at the target of a Top 10 result. FMG was off to a great start in the blue Skyline when lap 1 had saw him climbing from 16th to 8th place, but that happiness was short-lived. Going into lap 2, he had a huge moment at Villeneuve where he understeered into the grass. Unable to get the car slowed down sufficiently for Tosa, he had to drive through the gravel trap. The pit wall had just finished their sigh of relief after FMG got back on track in 11th place, when his German team mate went off in the same place in even more spectacular fashion. Flashor one-upped FMG's mistake and spun the golden Suntory Skyline into the Tosa tire wall after capturing 27th from the SG Stern Mercedes of Christoph Mües, and lost 8 of the 9 positions that he had gained since the start. Still: could be worse!
Having qualified the #19 Linder BMW with blue window banners into 9th on the grid, Jacopo Hrynecko from the Czech Republic jumped the start, earning him a drive through penalty. He attempted to serve it at the end of lap 1 and pulled into the pits. The TTM rookie was unaware of how to serve a drive through in Assetto Corsa when the automatic pit speed limiter is disabled on the server (stay under 80 km/h by yourself). After botching two attempts to serve his drive through penalty, Hrynecko got disqualified.
Battle for Glory (Laps 3–8)
The top 3 emerged nose to tail from the 2nd lap, with Knechtel still leading the way in the Alfa Romeo. Happykojot then powered past Palubicki after Tamburello and threw the fast Ford into the apex of Villeneuve, directly ahead of Palubicki.
After the BMW barely stayed on track without torpedoing the leading Alfa Romeo, the Ford pulled alongside Palubicki again approaching Piratella. The BMW driver prevailed around the outside and defended 2nd place, and Celárek's Holden caught up to form a 3-car battle for 2nd place.
The two rubbed fenders, and the pole sitter was back in the lead. Although Knechtel got alongside again on the run towards Villeneuve on the next lap, his Alfa Romeo was no match for the BMW in the curved braking zone for Tosa, and he slotted back into 2nd place trailing a cloud of smoke from the locked-up front right tyre. A subsequent mistake at Acque Minerali saw the Alfa Romeo driver lose 2nd place to Happykojot, before almost forcing the Holden of Celárek into a spin while slamming the door shut. The Czech driver regained control, and outbraked Knechtel into Rivazza after the German had made another error at Variante Alta.
The battle for the lead boiled over on lap 8. Having hunted down the leading BMW of Kuba Palubicki, HappyKojot took the lead on the run from Tamburello to Villeneuve. Having already succeeded with a risky counterattack through Villeneuve and into Tosa on lap 3, Palubicki decided to play with high stakes again, but this time it went wrong.
The furious Polish Ford driver got back underway with smoking tyres and 6 seconds behind Palubicki, barely holding on to 5th ahead of the best-placed Mercedes driven by Aymen Assabir from Spirit Team Sprite. HappyKojot's team mate Adam Celárek inherited 2nd place.
Composure counts
With the race settling, the Top 5 looked like a rolling car brochure: BMW, two Alfa Romeos, Ford, Holden. Knechtel’s Alfa had only qualified 4th, but by half‑distance he was the leading BMW’s most consistent shadow. Meanwhile, HappyKojot regained his composure, keeping his team mate in the Holden behind him while both of them began to apply pressure to Boby Vakuinof.
After the Alfa Romeo driver overshot the entry into Tosa, the Polish Ford driver was able to stick in his nose before the Bulgarian could shut the door again, and the resulting contact opened it up far enough for both of the Side Heart Motorsports drivers to sneak through.
While the race duration was only an hour, this race was also about endurance. In addition to the early disqualification of Jacopo Hrynecko (#19 Linder Rennsport BMW), three other participants retired from the race:
- Jayden HW (#97 Side Heart Nissan) never made it out of the pits: the Australian overslept the race and will be subjected to a registration acceptance delay for Round 2
- Mika Hakala (#73 privateer BMW) from Finland retired after 21 minutes with an audio output failure after his PC ran out of virtual memory
- Laci Fancher (#78 Spirit Team Sprite Mercedes) from the United States blew up her engine
The run to the flag
Although fatigue gradually melted down Palubicki's lead throughout the final laps, he kept the BMW calm in the chicanes, ensuring fantastic traction out of Variante Alta. Having set the fastest lap of the race earlier on at 1:52:331, this was enough to keep Knechtel's Alfa Romeo just outside of striking distance, and to cross the line first.
The strongest Mercedes result was delivered by Aymen Assabir in 7th place - two positions ahead of FMG in the best Nissan, who lost a drag race to the checkered flag against the Swatch Ford of Florian Masse. The manufacturer that brought the most cars into the Top 10 was Alfa Romeo (P1, P5, P6, P10), while the lone Audi privateer Akira (#91 Viasa Racing) from Venezuela finished in a disappointing 23rd place.
FMG and Willphaizer (P11) gained 8 and 9 positions respectively. The reigning champion Jaroslav Cerny quickly gained 10 places from 21st on the grid, but ultimately he had to settle for 14th place following contact with his team mate Adam Keefe - an early blow to his title defense. The most successful charge of the race was delivered by the THR founder.
Official Top 5 Results
- Valentin Knechtel (Alfa Romeo 75) — 32 laps, 60:31.955 — best 1:52.744
- SDH‑M ~ HappyKojot (Ford Sierra RS500) — +3.091s — best 1:53.413
- Adam Celárek (Holden VL Commodore) — +4.063s — best 1:52.494
- Kuba Palubicki (BMW M3 E30) — +9.83s (due to 11s penalty) — fastest lap 1:52.331
- Boby Vakuinof (Alfa Romeo 75) — +9.88s — best 1:52.773
Next across the line: Nat Stevenson P6, Aymen Assabir P7, Florian Masse P8, FMG P9 (coming from 16th), and Attila Diner P10.
What it means for the championship
The season uses the familiar 40‑37‑34‑31‑30‑29… points system. After Imola:
- Valentin Knechtel leads on 40.
- HappyKojot sits second on 37.
- Adam Celárek is third, at 34.
- Kuba Palubicki (31) and Boby Vakuinof (30) complete the early top five.
- Then come Nat Stevenson 29, Aymen Assabir 28, Florian Masse 27, FMG 26, Attila Diner 25.
In the teams championship, Side Heart Motorsports take an early lead with 71 points, closely shadowed by Jolly Club (65). Asahi Motorsport (41) hang on to 3rd despite a team-internal collision in a mediocre race for both of their drivers. The top 5 are completed by Simruina Racing Team III (37) and Simruina Racing Team II (35). Linder Rennsport (31) threw away a first match ball with a DNF and a time penalty.
The clashes at the front on the first 8 laps showed how fine the margins are and how quickly fortunes can turn, and the no‑nonsense climbs from Willphaizer and FMG showed how much the midfield can be reshuffled in a race. If Imola is any indication, TTM 2025 will be decided by whoever can string together speed, discipline, and survival instincts best in this pressure cooker of competition.
Next up: Horsma. Different rhythm, same cast—bring it on.
