Luca Engstler claims first TCR Germany pole at Sachsenring

Luca Engstler claimed his first-ever TCR Germany pole in qualifying at the Sachsenring, as the Engstler Motorsport driver beat HP Racing’s Harald Proczyk to the top time.

Engstler had earlier been the best of the drivers in his Group B qualifying session, as the Volkswagen driver was one of only two drivers to break below the 1 minute 27 seconds lap time mark along with Proczyk.

The two group leaders then went up against each other in Q2, with young German Engstler emerging as the fastest driver.

“I’m only 17 and I’m against the best TCR drivers in the world,” said Engstler. “I’ve given it all. I wanted to show my team the success, and I wanted to show them that we can get involved in the front.

“We have a super squad, who are a lot of fun but always highly professional, and that was the key to success.”

ProSport Performance’s Sheldon van der Linde was the best of the Audi drivers in third, ahead of the leading Honda of ADAC Sachsen’s Moritz Oestreich in fourth.

Alex Morgan put in an impressive effort to secure fifth in Q2 and end up as the leading Brit for Wolf-Power Racing, as his fellow Brit Josh Files could manage just 11^th in qualifying.

That means Files, who could wrap up a second consecutive title this weekend, just missed out on the race two reverse grid and the Target Competition driver will start 11^th for both of Sunday’s races.

Steve Kirsch, who had earlier been quickest in first practice, but his ADAC Sachsen Honda in sixth, ahead of Mike Halder’s SEAT in seventh.

By qualifying in tenth, Swiss racer Kris Richard secured the race two reverse grid pole, with fellow Target Competition racer Tim Zimmermann alongside after he qualified in ninth.

The grid is slightly smaller for TCR Germany this weekend, with just 33 cars entered for Saturday and Sunday’s races. The first race takes place at 12:00 CEST on Saturday (11:00 BST).

UPDATE – Alex Morgan was later excluded from the qualifying results due to there being insufficient fuel in his car after qualifying to take a sample. As a result, Josh Files moves up to tenth in the qualifying result and will start race two from the reverse grid pole position, with Kris Richard alongside.

Q2 results

POS	NO	DRIVER	NAT	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
1	8	Luca ENGSTLER		Junior Team Engstler	Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR	5	1:26.731	0.000
2	22	Harald PROCZYK		HP Racing	SEAT León TCR	7	1:26.875	0.144
3	18	Sheldon VAN DER LINDE		AC 1927 Mayen e.V. im ADAC	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	5	1:26.944	0.213
4	88	Moritz OESTREICH		Team Honda ADAC Sachsen	Honda Civic Type R TCR	6	1:27.135	0.404
5	2	Alex MORGAN		Wolf-Power Racing 2	SEAT León TCR	6	1:27.139	0.408
6	41	Steve KIRSCH		Team Honda ADAC Sachsen	Honda Civic Type R TCR	7	1:27.316	0.585
7	7	Mike HALDER		Wolf-Power Racing 2	SEAT León TCR	7	1:27.384	0.653
8	10	Antti BURI		LMS Racing	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	5	1:27.423	0.692
9	99	Tim ZIMMERMANN		Target Competition GER	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	6	1:27.530	0.799
10	94	Kris RICHARD		Target Competition UK-SUI	Honda Civic Type R TCR	7	1:27.580	0.849
11	1	Josh FILES		Target Competition UK-SUI	Honda Civic Type R TCR	7	1:27.586	0.855
12	28	Pascal EBERLE		Steibel Motorsport	SEAT León TCR	7	1:27.780	1.049

Qualifying Group A results

POS	NO	DRIVER	NAT	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
1	22	Harald PROCZYK		HP Racing	SEAT León TCR	9	1:26.898	0.000
2	7	Mike HALDER		Wolf-Power Racing 2	SEAT León TCR	5	1:27.204	0.306
3	1	Josh FILES		Target Competition UK-SUI	Honda Civic Type R TCR	11	1:27.308	0.410
4	99	Tim ZIMMERMANN		Target Competition GER	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	11	1:27.368	0.470
5	41	Steve KIRSCH		Team Honda ADAC Sachsen	Honda Civic Type R TCR	8	1:27.426	0.528
6	2	Alex MORGAN		Wolf-Power Racing 2	SEAT León TCR	11	1:27.581	0.683
7	44	Sandro KAIBACH		Aust Motorsport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	10	1:27.631	0.733
8	39	Florian THOMA		Junior Team Engstler	Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR	13	1:27.668	0.770
9	78	Fabian DANZ		Schläppi Race-Tec	SEAT León Cup Racer	12	1:27.824	0.926
10	42	Lukas NIEDERTSCHEIDER		Niedertscheider MSP	SEAT León TCR	11	1:28.088	1.190
11	36	Dino CALCUM		Schläppi Race-Tec	Opel Astra TCR	10	1:28.184	1.286
12	37	Manuel BRINKMANN		TOPCAR Sport	SEAT León TCR	11	1:28.241	1.343
13	20	Niko KANKKUNEN		LMS Racing	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	12	1:28.262	1.364
14	9	Stefan GOEDE		Team Engstler USA	Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR	9	1:28.740	1.842
15	23	Sebastien STEIBEL		Steibel Motorsport	Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR	9	1:29.427	2.529
16	50	Georg BRAUN		Lubner Motorsport	Opel Astra TCR	12	1:29.537	2.639

Qualifying Group B results

POS	NO	DRIVER	NAT	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
1	8	Luca ENGSTLER		Junior Team Engstler	Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR	6	1:26.979	0.000
2	88	Moritz OESTREICH		Team Honda ADAC Sachsen	Honda Civic Type R TCR	8	1:27.329	0.350
3	18	Sheldon VAN DER LINDE		AC 1927 Mayen e.V. im ADAC	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	8	1:27.338	0.359
4	28	Pascal EBERLE		Steibel Motorsport	SEAT León TCR	10	1:27.358	0.379
5	10	Antti BURI		LMS Racing	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	11	1:27.597	0.618
6	94	Kris RICHARD		Target Competition UK-SUI	Honda Civic Type R TCR	11	1:27.642	0.663
7	98	Tom LAUTENSCHLAGER		Target Competition GER	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	10	1:27.671	0.692
8	19	Max HOFER		AC 1927 Mayen e.V. im ADAC	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	8	1:27.692	0.713
9	14	Niels LANGEVELD		Racing One	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	11	1:27.707	0.728
10	11	Jürgen SCHMARL		Target Competition AUT-POR	Honda Civic Type R TCR	12	1:27.758	0.779
11	33	Oliver HOLDENER		Young Driver Challenge	SEAT León TCR	11	1:27.815	0.836
12	38	Jason WOLFE		Team Engstler USA	Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR	9	1:28.293	1.314
13	66	Ronny JOST		TOPCAR Sport	SEAT León TCR	11	1:28.311	1.332
14	17	Jasmin PREISIG		Lubner Motorsport	Opel Astra TCR	11	1:28.329	1.350
15	29	Max HESSE		Aust Motorsport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	10	1:28.421	1.442
16	12	Simon LARSSON		Target Competition SWE-POL	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	11	1:29.160	2.181
17	84	Maurits SANDBERG		Racing One 2	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	9	1:32.433	5.454