The Horsma Raceway is a rustic and pure antidote to the smooth Formula 1 circuit of Imola that hosted the season opening round of the THR Tourenwagen Meisterschaft (TTM) 2025. Bumpy old asphalt patched up in various places is lined by aging concrete walls and trees. This atmosphere characterizes the fictional track based on a real location in the Itä-Uusimaa region, roughly halfway between Helsinki and Kouvola in the south of Finland. But make no mistake - this track feels as real as it can get.
Templated off of the real-world weather forecast on site, the weather was cold, overcast and windy, with a wind speed of 19 km/h and gusts of up to 40 km/h at an air temperature of just 7°C. It was a perfect contrast to the heat of battle on track, with a fully-booked grid of 39 strongly-piloted touring cars once again. This time, however, the live broadcast had to fall back to the Autocam with driver radio after the commentator of Round 1 got sick.
Three manufacturers ended up on the podium of Round 2, and all of them were new faces on this season's podium. Kuba Palubicki made up for his tainted season opener and won from pole position in the #20 BMW M3 of Linder Rennsport. Attila Diner followed in the #27 Jolly Club Alfa Romeo 75 ahead of the #46 Mercedes of Ayrton Titos from the 3rd squad of Simruina Racing Team. Regrettably, the race was overshadowed by a large number of incidents throughout the entire field, many of which were not redressed in violation of our community's Gentlemen's Agreement. Surprisingly few of these ended up with Race Control, but the thread of patience with this topic sure became thinner for several drivers.
Qualifying: 2.5 Liter Dominance
The bumpy Horsma Raceway particularly suited lightweight cars with ABS and high downforce, as there was only one medium-length straight for powerful cars to stretch their legs on. After Kuba Palubicki had lost the Round 1 win to a penalty because he had fired a rival into the gravel trap during the battle for the lead, he rebounded in qualifying for Round 2. In the forests of Finland, the Dutchman in the orange Linder Rennsport BMW M3 with yellow headlights and green window banners delivered his second pole position of the season at 2:04.718.
After a disappointing season opener that showed glimpses of hope, the Mercedes-Benz drivers finally found their rhythm in qualifying and filled up the next three positions: #46 Ayrton Titos from Spain in the best of the Simruina Racing Team entries completed the first row with a 2:04.868. German privateer meisterJäger (#88) was third with a 2:04.886, followed by Titos's direct team mate Marc Orós (2:04.977) from the third pair of Simruina Racing Team entrants.
The defending champion Jaroslav Cerny (#1) finally showed signs of life with a 2:05.428 to qualify 5th ahead of the pair of Jolly Club Alfa Romeos of Attila Diner and Valentin Knechtel. The next Simruina driver completed the 4th row: DJMD19 was the last driver to undercut 2:06 minutes in qualifying. In the best Holden, Adam Celárek qualified 9th and his Czech compatriot Jacopo Hrynecko rounded out the Top 10, aiming to see the checkered flag instead of a black flag this time.
For the remaining manufacturers, Horsma's qualifying proved to be a disaster. HappyKojot put the fastest Ford (#727) into 12th place. The best Nissan (#97) started the race from 18th on the grid with Jayden HW from Australia behind the wheel, and lone warrior Akira struggled to get the only Audi (#91) up to pace in qualifying: 31st place for the Venezuelan.
The race
Wreckfest on Lap 1
The race immediately became chaotic going into Turn 1. Palubicki sprinted off into the lead comfortably, but from 2nd on the grid, Ayrton Titos in the #46 Mercedes of Simruina Racing Team III with purple mirrors and window accent stripes bogged down when he shifted up into 2nd gear too early. That allowed MeisterJäger to attack the Spaniard, who covered off the inside and then squeezed MeisterJäger to the right on the run to Turn 1, completely overlooking that defending champion Jaroslav Cerny had caught the best start of them all from 5th in his black and yellow BMW.
Surprised and startled by the appearance of Cerny's M3 on the inside, Ayrton Titos turned in a little too late while MeisterJäger turned in a little too early.The German's Mercedes pivoted around the nose of Titos's Mercedes into the front right wheel of Cerny, who was still understeering away from the apex significantly at the time of impact. With all three drivers contributing errors to this accident, Race Control declared it a racing incident with no further action necessary.The collision led Cerny to spin towards the inside, while MeisterJäger's Mercedes speared off into the outside guardrail, and worse was yet to come for him. Titos escaped unharmed although at the expense of several positions. Attila Diner in the Alfa Romeo with a white windscreen banner advanced into 2nd, and his Jolly Club team mate Valentin Knechtel almost spun off the road by clumsily applying too much throttle while driving across the curb and grass, allowing DJMD19 and Titos to get ahead.After the orange Mercedes came to rest in the grass facing the wrong direction, meisterJäger was a sitting duck. At the back of the field, Nico Bonnefon (#25) first tapped pitman (#4) and sent him wide entering Turn 1, before Maju in the blue #39 Holden completed the catastrophe. He completely missed his braking point and took both of them with him, with all three of them smashing into the passenger side of meisterJäger's stationary Mercedes. Maju and meisterJäger retired on the spot, but no protests were filed for this secondary accident.Meanwhile, the happiness of Christoph Mües was short-lived. The SG Stern driver from Germany had delivered his best ever TTM qualifying result with 11th place and capitalized on the Turn 1 chaos. In the approach for Baccarat (the second curve), he was contesting his previous season's team mate Knechtel for 5th place, when he was hit in the back by Adam Celárek. The Czech Holden driver had misjudged how early he should have set the braking point for his Holden's ice cold carbon brakes.While the Czech Holden driver spun out following the contact, the bump also sent the German Mercedes driver on a detour through the grass, from which he returned to the track ...... just in time for being hit by another Side Heart Motorsports driver. After a team-internal collision between Jordi Sumoy (#55 Side Heart Pepsi BMW) and Jayden HW (#97 Side Heart Nissan), the Australian's Nissan veered into the side of Mües. The German then hit the concrete wall at the exit of Baccarat at a 30-degree angle before he resumed the race outside of the Top 20.Going into Cafe Corner, Side Heart Motorsports continued to display their talent for team-internal collisions. After a fantastic start, Samu0332 in the #56 Side Heart Pepsi BMW was running 6th when HappyKojot (#727) tapped his right rear corner.Predictably, the Italian's BMW was spun into the grass and he lost more than 20 positions.When Rolf Biber in the #59 Alfa Romeo backed off in response to the spinning BMW of Samu0332 that carefully made its way back towards the track at a shallow angle, Jacopo Hrynecko (#19) drove into the back of him and sent the Swiss Buddy Racing driver skidding through the grass sideways on the inside of the braking zone for the subsequent Rescue corner.That is where the Swiss driver involuntarily skidded right back onto the track and briefly backed up traffic behind him while trying to start accelerating again. In the black and yellow M3, Jaroslav Cerny had already lost a lot of positions in the accident at Turn 1. Frantically trying to limit the loss of time behind Biber's Alfa Romeo, the Czech driver darted to the left sharply, unaware of the presence of Torbjörn Bloom (#86) on his left.The collision with Cerny launched the Swedish BMW driver through the rear of the unfortunate Samu0332, making him spin out yet again, while Bloom ended up in the tire wall - a rough "Welcome Back" for the Swede on his return to the TTM after having contested two rounds in 2024.By the time he arrived at the Stockmarket for the first time, Kuba Palubicki already had a huge lead over Attila Diner, followed by DJMD19 and Ayrton Titos.In the midpack, Jayden HW swooped through the Baller Curves with five competitors on his tail.Nico Bonnefon's second contact with pitman on the opening lap occurred at the Northern Loop's hairpin, with the contact sending our admin into the grass. The French BMW driver captured his position and did not redress it - one example of many incidents throughout the race that were not redressed by drivers in contrast to our Gentlemen's Agreement.
Composure Counts in the Pressure-Cooker of Battle
Max Solmyr guided his early battle group through the falling Stockmarket with confidence on Lap 2.Going into the final corner, he fell victim to the unsafe defensive (!) maneuver of the driver behind him. In the blue #21 Ford of Side Heart HIFI, Rueben Souders tried to defend his position against the ABS-equipped lightweight BMW of Jaroslav Cerny. The driver from the United States braked 20 meters later than usual and simultaneously cut in front of the BMW's nose in the braking zone, which immediately rear ended him as a result of this ill-timed lane change. Souders then hit the rear of Solmyr's Holden, costing him 9 positions, and didn't redress his position to the Frenchman. Following a protest that triggered a post-race investigation, Souders was deemed to be wholly at fault for this incident and received a 17 second penalty with 2 licence points.Mere seconds earlier, Samu0332 had driven into the back of Nico Bonnefon at the start of the braking zone for the hairpin of the Northern Loop, and fired the Frenchman straight into the guardrail and tyre wall - one of several incidents that the Italian driver did not redress during his frustration-fueled recovery after having been punted out of 6th place by one of his own team mates on Lap 1. Miraculously, neither of his victims filed a protest, but last season's penalty points top-scorer is unlikely to get away with that again next time.
While Kuba Palubicki and Attila Diner sprinted off into the distance with a growing gap between each other up ahead, the rest of the Top 5 were hotly contested.
Ayrton Titos with purple accents on his #46 Simruina Mercedes and the Alfa Romeo of Knechtel soon made their way past DJMD19 (#48 Simruina Mercedes with green accents), who then got under fire from HappyKojot (#727 Ford), Marc Orós (Simruina 190E with white accents), and Adam Keefe (#16 Holden).After both HappyKojot and Marc Orós made it past DJMD19, Orós managed to capture 5th by outbraking HappyKojot into All-In following a mistake by the Ford driver, and then applied pressure to Knechtel.The German managed to stay ahead of Orós and just outside of striking distance to Titos until he lost the rear at the exit of Baccarat, causing him to fishtail into the front left wheel of Orós ...... who then ended up in the grass and brushed the concrete wall.Knechtel made up for it by waving Orós by in the approach to Rescue, and stayed ahead of HappyKojot.Soon afterwards, the leader tried too hard. Kuba Palubicki smacked his M3 into the guardrails in the same place after he had swung too far to the left before turning in for the curve. With two wheels in the grass, there was no way to keep the car on the tarmac.His car survived and carried on with plenty of battle scars, and he retained a healthy lead over Attila Diner.For Boby Vakuinof who had taken 5th in the first race of the season, Round 2 ended with a sizeable shunt after taking it too far at All-In after 25 minutes. In the meantime, technical breakdowns on their respective PCs had already ended the races of Mika Hakala (#73 BMW) and pitman (#4 Mercedes). Together with the two Turn 1 casualties, five drivers retired from the race, and Vakuinof was the last of them.Marc Orós rapidly escaped Knechtel before catching and passing his team mate Ayrton Titos for 3rd, but then he overcooked it at Cafe Corner. With two wheels in the grass, he could not get the car slowed down in time ...... and spun out of Rescue corner. He only managed to get back on track behind Knechtel, who struggled to shake off the Ford of HappyKojot.Shortly afterwards, the Polish youngster darted into the pits for new tyres. On the Ford and Nissan, none of the tyre compounds provided by the tyre suppliers were durable enough to make it through the race nonstop at this track, leading most of their teams to opt for a 1-stop strategy with the Hard compound. To make themselves heard after the race, the Ford and Nissan teams contacted the trackside representatives of the tyre suppliers in the paddock using opinion amplifiers that they had carved from locally-sourced raw materials.Orós immediately challenged Knechtel for 4th again in a spectacular battle ...... but went off in the Baller Curves.Orós narrowly avoided the tyre wall before slotting in behind DJMD19 again to resume his chase. A couple of laps later, Orós had caught up to the Alfa Romeo driver yet again. After Knechtel spent his entire Dictionary of Defense on repelling the Spaniard's attacks, he missed a gear while accelerating through the Hill Kink, and that was exactly what Orós needed to get alongside into All-In.The two stayed side by side all the way through the Bear's Nest ...... but Knechtel had to surrender 4th place to Orós for good on the brakes at Stockmarket.
The run to the flag
Despite three setbacks, Marc Orós was undeterred in his attempts to get on the podium. Incredibly, he caught up to Ayrton Titos once again on the final lap, and daringly sent his car down the outside in the braking zone for the Northern Loop's hairpin. However, he put his right wheels on the grass and exchanged some paint with his team mate while trying to regain control of his car, forcing him to surrender 3rd place for good. With Ayrton Titos in 3rd and Marc Orós in 4th, this race was a valuable result for the Simruina Racing Team III in their bid for the team championship.Attila Diner kept his nose clean at Turn 1 and drove a smart race where he kept the car without a scratch en route to 2nd place, with a healthy margin of 9 seconds over Ayrton Titos.Although Kuba Palubicki carelessly stuffed his car into the guardrail at one point, he was the man to beat and drove home a convincing start-to-finish victory with a winning margin of 18.75 seconds. Linder Rennsport has a bit of work on their hands ahead of Round 3, as both he and his team mate Jacopo Hrynecko (whom he lapped just before the finish) brought their cars home with multiple dents.
The strongest Holden result was achieved by Adam Keefe in 8th place on HX tyres. Happykojot was the top-finishing Ford in 10th place despite pitting for new tyres halfway through. Jayden HW topped the list of Nissan drivers in 17th place, and Akira climbed to 19th in the sole Audi entry. Having gained 12 positions, he was one of the top movers in the race, beaten only by Willphaizer (13 positions gained en route to 9th) and Aymen Assabir, who climbed 15 positions en route to 21st place.
For the defending champion Jaroslav Cerny, Turn 1 was a major setback in his title defense campaign, but he managed to achieve some degree of damage control by recovering to 7th place. The manufacturers that brought the most cars into the Top 10 were Mercedes-Benz and Alfa Romeo, with 3 cars each. BMW had the pace to achieve the same, but their drivers lacked the consistency to bring it home.
Official Top 5 Results
Kuba Palubicki (BMW M3 E30) — 29 laps, 61:41.290 — best 2:05.832
Attila Diner (Alfa Romeo 75) — +18.754s — best 2:06.561
Ayrton Titos (Mercedes 190E) — +27.854s — best 2:07.325
Marc Orós (Mercedes 190E) — +28.729s — 2:06.386
Valentin Knechtel (Alfa Romeo 75) — +30.822s — best 2:07.501
Next across the line: DJMD19 P6, Jaroslav Cerny P7, Adam Keefe P8, Willphaizer P9 (coming from 22nd), and HappyKojot P10.
What it means for the championship
The season uses the familiar 40‑37‑34‑31‑30‑29… points system with one drop result per driver. That means that after Horsma Raceway, the drivers and teams championship are only fed by each driver's top result, whereas the manufacturers championship doesn't have any drop results:
#20 Kuba Palubicki leads on 40 points (drop result: 31)
#26 Valentin Knechtel also has 40 points (drop result: 30)
#727 HappyKojot has 37 points (drop result: 25)
#27 Attila Diner also has 37 points (drop result: 25)
#17 Adam Celárek sits at 34 points (drop result: 23)
#46 Ayrton Titos matches the 34 points (drop result: 15)
Rest of the Top 10: Marc Oros (31), Boby Vakuinof (30), DJMD19 (29), and Nat Stevenson (29).
In the teams championship, Jolly Club move up into the lead at 77 points, while Side Heart Motorsports remain at 71 points after a bad second round. Simruina Racing Team III advances to 3rd with 65 points, and Asahi Motorsport (55) hangs on to 4th. The top 5 are completed by Linder Rennsport (53).
After Round 2, two manufacturers are starting to fall by the wayside. The Nissan teams and the lone Audi driver were unable to deliver strong results yet this season. The midpack is hotly contested between Mercedes-Benz, Ford, and Holden. Alfa Romeo continues to lead the way with 77 points, while a lone ace has been ensuring that BMW remains in striking distance at 71 points.
The mayhem of the opening lap highlighted how little it takes for a driver's race to fall apart, and the impressive climbs from Akira, Willphaizer and Aymen Assabir highlighted just how important it is to remain level-headed in the heat of combat.
Next up: Nürburgring 24h Circuit: High stakes, Green Hell. Let's dance.
