Harald Proczyk took victory in the first ADAC TCR Germany race at the Hockenheimring, as Josh Files successfully defended his title with tenth in a race which was stopped early due to a huge shunt for Jasmin Preisig.
Proczyk, who had on Friday taken pole in his first outing since switching to Opel machinery, controlled much of the race, despite getting off to a less than ideal start which almost saw ProSport Performance’s Sheldon van der Linde get his Audi in front.
Whilst the Austrian controlled the race at the front early on, further back Mike Halder was on a charge, aware that in order to have any realistic chance of taking the title fight to the last race he had to move forwards.
Halder passed the Honda of Steve Kirsch for third at turn two on the opening lap, before getting past Van der Linde further around the opening lap to move into second.
However the German had no pace for the leading Austrian’s pace, and after getting into second was unable to reel in Proczyk’s lead.
By lap three Van der Linde had dropped to fourth, with Kirsch moving into the final podium position that he would hold until the end of the race. Van der Linde became embroiled in battle for fourth with Luca Engstler, which ultimately went the South African’s way, with Engstler forced to settle for fifth by the time the red flags flew.
The race came to an untimely end after just seven laps of racing when the Opel of Jasmin Preisig was turned into the barriers approaching Turn 7 by one of the Audis. Her car made heavy contact with the barriers, losing a wheel in the process, and after three laps behind the safety car the decision was made to end the race.
Preisig herself was unable to exit the car unassisted, with medical teams arriving to help her out of the car.
LMS Racing’s Antti Buri finished in seventh, despite having dropped down to14th by the end of the opening lap as a result of an off-track excursion together with Target Competition’s Josh Files. The Finn put in a strong recovery drive to break back into the top ten in the following eight laps of racing.
Kris Richard took eighth in his Target Competition Honda, with the Audi of Aust Motorsport’s Sandro Kaibach in ninth and Files in tenth, taking with him enough points into the final round to ensure that Halder is unable to overturn his 52-point advantage.
Of note, Italian Luigi Ferrara brought home his V-Action Racing Alfa Romeo in 17th in the first appearance of the Giulietta in TCR Germany.
Wolf-Power Racing’s Alex Morgan could have finished in the points but for a drive-through penalty handed out whilst the Brit was running in 21st position. He eventually finished in 29th.
Other retirements from the race included the Honda of Moritz Oestreich, who pulled into the pits after five laps having run in ninth early on, and Engstler Motorsport’s Jason Wolfe, who has hit by Tim Zimmermann on lap six, resulting in damage to his right-rear wheel.
The final race of the season takes place at 15:15 CEST (14:15 BST) on Sunday.
Race result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 22 | Harald PROCZYK |  |
HP Racing | Opel Astra TCR | 9 | 9 LAPS | 1:49.243 | 1 |
| 2 | 7 | Mike HALDER |  |
Wolf-Power Racing 2 | SEAT León TCR | 9 | 1.184 | 1:49.576 | 4 |
| 3 | 41 | Steve KIRSCH | |
Team Honda ADAC Sachsen | Honda Civic Type R TCR | 9 | 2.627 | 1:49.344 | 3 |
| 4 | 18 | Sheldon VAN DER LINDE |  |
AC 1927 Mayen e.V. im ADAC | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 9 | 3.547 | 1:49.909 | 2 |
| 5 | 8 | Luca ENGSTLER | |
Junior Team Engstler | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 9 | 4.176 | 1:49.620 | 5 |
| 6 | 14 | Niels LANGEVELD |  |
Racing One | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 9 | 5.471 | 1:49.752 | 8 |
| 7 | 10 | Antti BURI |  |
LMS Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 9 | 6.674 | 1:49.486 | 13 |
| 8 | 94 | Kris RICHARD |  |
Target Competition UK-SUI | Honda Civic Type R TCR | 9 | 7.380 | 1:49.913 | 6 |
| 9 | 44 | Sandro KAIBACH | |
Aust Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 9 | 8.834 | 1:49.855 | 7 |
| 10 | 1 | Josh FILES |  |
Target Competition UK-SUI | Honda Civic Type R TCR | 9 | 9.597 | 1:49.776 | 10 |
| 11 | 19 | Max HOFER | |
AC 1927 Mayen e.V. im ADAC | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 9 | 10.388 | 1:49.973 | 11 |
| 12 | 28 | Pascal EBERLE | |
Steibel Motorsport | SEAT León TCR | 9 | 11.010 | 1:50.208 | 16 |
| 13 | 36 | Dino CALCUM | |
Schläppi Race-Tec | Opel Astra TCR | 9 | 11.901 | 1:50.097 | 14 |
| 14 | 39 | Florian THOMA | |
Junior Team Engstler | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 9 | 12.471 | 1:50.279 | 17 |
| 15 | 20 | Niko KANKKUNEN | |
LMS Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 9 | 13.066 | 1:50.324 | 18 |
| 16 | 98 | Tom LAUTENSCHLAGER | |
Target Competition GER | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 9 | 14.119 | 1:50.629 | 20 |
| 17 | 16 | Luigi FERRARA |  |
V-Action Racing Team | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 9 | 15.729 | 1:50.399 | 27 |
| 18 | 73 | Fredy BARTH | |
TOPCAR Sport | SEAT León TCR | 9 | 16.640 | 1:50.549 | 23 |
| 19 | 56 | Jaap VAN LAGEN | |
Certainty Racing Team | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 9 | 17.385 | 1:50.486 | 12 |
| 20 | 35 | Rudolf RHYN | |
TOPCAR Sport | SEAT León TCR | 9 | 18.264 | 1:50.702 | 19 |
| 21 | 66 | Ronny JOST | |
TOPCAR Sport | SEAT León TCR | 9 | 18.920 | 1:51.317 | 25 |
| 22 | 42 | Lukas NIEDERTSCHEIDER | |
Niedertscheider MSP | SEAT León TCR | 9 | 19.776 | 1:51.085 | 26 |
| 23 | 11 | Jürgen SCHMARL | |
Target Competition AUT-POR | Honda Civic Type R TCR | 9 | 20.434 | 1:51.223 | 21 |
| 24 | 29 | Max HESSE | |
Aust Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 9 | 21.144 | 1:51.618 | 29 |
| 25 | 23 | Sebastien STEIBEL | |
Steibel Motorsport | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 9 | 21.527 | 1:51.736 | 37 |
| 26 | 9 | Stefan GOEDE | |
Team Engstler USA | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 9 | 22.483 | 1:51.601 | 34 |
| 27 | 54 | Simon REICHER | |
Certainty Racing Team | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 9 | 24.141 | 1:52.422 | 33 |
| 28 | 84 | Maurits SANDBERG | |
Racing One 2 | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 9 | 25.404 | 1:52.455 | 36 |
| 29 | 2 | Alex MORGAN | |
Wolf-Power Racing 2 | SEAT León TCR | 9 | 25.821 | 1:51.131 | 30 |
| 30 | 12 | Simon LARSSON |  |
Target Competition SWE-POL | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 9 | 28.661 | 1:51.462 | 32 |
| 31 | 99 | Tim ZIMMERMANN | |
Target Competition GER | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 9 | 44.765 | 1:50.732 | 15 |
| 32 | 34 | Orhan VOUILLOZ | |
Young Driver Challenge | SEAT León TCR | 9 | 1:10.346 | 1:51.771 | 35 |
| R | 17 | Jasmin PREISIG | |
Lubner Motorsport | Opel Astra TCR | 7 | DNF | 1:50.998 | 22 |
| R | 38 | Jason WOLFE |  |
Team Engstler USA | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 6 | DNF | 1:51.306 | 24 |
| R | 88 | Moritz OESTREICH | |
Team Honda ADAC Sachsen | Honda Civic Type R TCR | 5 | DNF | 1:51.057 | 9 |
| R | 15 | Cosimo BARBERINI | |
V-Action Racing Team | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 2 | DNF | N/A | 31 |
| R | 78 | Fabian DANZ | |
Schläppi Race-Tec | SEAT León Cup Racer | 1 | DNF | N/A | 28 |