A delayed qualifying session for the third round of the 2017 ADAC TCR Germany Series saw Racing One’s Niels Langeveld take pole position at Motorsport Arena Oschersleben this afternoon (Saturday, July 8th), having posted the best time of all 37 drivers with a 1:31.707 around the 3.667-km circuit.
The qualifying format would be reduced in light of the power issues forcing the day timetable, meaning all drivers would have just 20 minutes in their respective groups to secure their fastest time, which has happened for the second time this season.
The Dutchman was one of three drivers to go below the sub 1m32s barrier posting the best time in Group B, along with Steibel Motorsport’s Pascal Eberle and Honda Team ADAC Sachsen’s Moritz Oestreich. The trio were covered by 0.285 seconds.
Current championship leader Josh Files could only muster 13th fastest, 0.935 seconds off the pace of Langeveld, as the Briton is running with a total 80 kilograms of ballast on his Target Competiton Honda Civic this weekend.
Junior Team Engstler’s Luca Engstler, who is also racing in the TCR International Series this weekend, was fourth fastest in his VW Golf GTI, ahead of Switzerland’s Kris Richard and the second ADAC Sachsen Honda of Steve Kirsch, as the top 16 cars were covered by less than a second.
Multiple drivers, including Simon Larsson, Gosia Rdest, Sheldon van der Linde and Robin Brezina, were overstepping track limits throughout their efforts, with race direction quick to delete times where drivers were considered to have gained a distinct advantage.
Van der Linde was seventh quickest overall, ahead of Target Competition GER’s Tim Zimmerman, whilst Florian Thoma gave good reason for Junior Team Engstler to be happy, as the Swiss racer put his car ninth fastest.
Lukas Niedertscheider rounded out the top ten in his SEAT León TCR, with Sandro Kaibach and Tom Lautenschlager setting the exact same time, just 0.012 seconds off the Austrian.
Race one gets underway at 1650 local time, lasting for 30 minutes.
Combined Group A / Group B times
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 14 | Niels LANGEVELD |  |
Racing One | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 7 | 1:31.707 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 28 | Pascal EBERLE |  |
Steibel Motorsport | SEAT León TCR | 9 | 1:31.883 | 0.176 |
| 3 | 88 | Moritz OESTREICH |  |
Team Honda ADAC Sachsen | Honda Civic Type R TCR | 9 | 1:31.992 | 0.285 |
| 4 | 8 | Luca ENGSTLER | |
Junior Team Engstler | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 9 | 1:32.042 | 0.335 |
| 5 | 94 | Kris RICHARD | |
Target Competition UK-SUI | Honda Civic Type R TCR | 11 | 1:32.360 | 0.653 |
| 6 | 41 | Steve KIRSCH | |
Team Honda ADAC Sachsen | Honda Civic Type R TCR | 8 | 1:32.062 | 0.355 |
| 7 | 18 | Sheldon VAN DER LINDE |  |
AC 1927 Mayen e.V. im ADAC | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 9 | 1:32.433 | 0.726 |
| 8 | 99 | Tim ZIMMERMANN | |
Target Competition GER | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 9 | 1:32.362 | 0.655 |
| 9 | 39 | Florian THOMA | |
Junior Team Engstler | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 9 | 1:32.451 | 0.744 |
| 10 | 42 | Lukas NIEDERTSCHEIDER |  |
Niedertscheider MSP | SEAT León TCR | 10 | 1:32.599 | 0.892 |
| 11 | 44 | Sandro KAIBACH | |
Aust Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 8 | 1:32.611 | 0.904 |
| 12 | 98 | Tom LAUTENSCHLAGER | |
Target Competition GER | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 11 | 1:32.611 | 0.904 |
| 13 | 36 | Dino CALCUM | |
Lubner Motorsport | Opel Astra TCR | 11 | 1:32.688 | 0.981 |
| 14 | 1 | Josh FILES |  |
Target Competition UK-SUI | Honda Civic Type R TCR | 9 | 1:32.642 | 0.935 |
| 15 | 19 | Max HOFER | |
AC 1927 Mayen e.V. im ADAC | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 9 | 1:32.721 | 1.014 |
| 16 | 22 | Harald PROCZYK | |
HP Racing | SEAT León TCR | 10 | 1:32.660 | 0.953 |
| 17 | 38 | Jason WOLFE |  |
Team Engstler USA | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 10 | 1:32.861 | 1.154 |
| 18 | 7 | Mike HALDER | |
Wolf-Power Racing 2 | SEAT León TCR | 10 | 1:32.908 | 1.201 |
| 19 | 27 | José RODRIGUES |  |
Target Competition AUT-POR | Honda Civic Type R TCR | 11 | 1:32.795 | 1.088 |
| 20 | 24 | Robin BREZINA | |
Aust Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 8 | 1:32.841 | 1.134 |
| 21 | 20 | Niko KANKKUNEN |  |
LMS Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 10 | 1:33.395 | 1.688 |
| 22 | 2 | Alex MORGAN | |
Wolf-Power Racing 2 | SEAT León TCR | 10 | 1:32.665 | 0.958 |
| 23 | 66 | Ronny JOST | |
TOPCAR Sport | SEAT León TCR | 11 | 1:32.882 | 1.175 |
| 24 | 13 | Kai JORDAN | |
Racing One | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 12 | 1:33.682 | 1.975 |
| 25 | 78 | Fabian DANZ | |
Schläppi Race-Tec | SEAT León Cup Racer | 10 | 1:33.009 | 1.302 |
| 26 | 12 | Simon LARSSON |  |
Target Competition SWE-POL | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 10 | 1:33.800 | 2.093 |
| 27 | 3 | Gosia RDEST |  |
Target Competition SWE-POL | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 10 | 1:33.218 | 1.511 |
| 28 | 82 | Thomas KRAMWINKEL | |
GermanFLAVOURS Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 12 | 1:33.880 | 2.173 |
| 29 | 9 | Stefan GOEDE | |
Team Engstler USA | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 11 | 1:33.306 | 1.599 |
| 30 | 35 | Rudolf RHYN | |
TOPCAR Sport | SEAT León TCR | 11 | 1:33.937 | 2.230 |
| 31 | 17 | Jasmin PREISIG | |
Lubner Motorsport | Opel Astra TCR | 12 | 1:33.898 | 2.191 |
| 32 | 31 | Floris DULLAART | |
Racing One | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 12 | 1:34.134 | 2.427 |
| 33 | 40 | Dillon KOSTER | |
Certainty Racing Team | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 10 | 1:34.833 | 3.126 |
| 34 | 54 | Simon REICHER | |
Certainty Racing Team | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 10 | 1:34.180 | 2.473 |
| 35 | 64 | Sven MARKERT | |
GermanFLAVOURS Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 10 | 1:36.222 | 4.515 |
| 36 | 23 | Sebastien STEIBEL | |
Steibel Motorsport | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 11 | 1:35.636 | 3.929 |
| 37 | 11 | Jürgen SCHMARL | |
Target Competition AUT-POR | Honda Civic Type R TCR | 12 | 1:33.312 | 1.605 |