Racing One’s Niels Langeveld scored a comfortable victory in the opening ADAC TCR Germany race of the weekend at Zandvoort, with LMS Racing’s Antti Buri and HP Racing’s Harald Proczyk completing the podium.
The start saw Langeveld immediately build a lead, but further back a start-line shunt brought about a safety car intervention at the end of the first lap of racing.
Michelle Halder had stalled her CUPRA on the line, and as Team Engstler’s Kai Jordan tried to take avoiding action he clipped Lukas Niedertscheider’s Peugeot, with all three cars making contact and forced into retirement.
Two laps behind the safety car followed, and when it returned to the pits Dutchman Langeveld was able to make a strong restart, before building his lead over the remainder of the race to take his second win of the season by a six-second margin.
Buri came under pressure for second but held on to take a fourth podium of the year, ahead of Proczyk in third – with the Austrian now tied on points with Langeveld at the head of the championship standings.
Mike Halder was the leading Honda driver in fourth, having made no progress from his grid position, ahead of Hyundai Team Engstler’s Luca Engstler in fifth. Engstler had got a strong start to end the first lap in fifth, as team-mate Theo Coicaud slipped back at the start.
YACO Racing’s Simon Reicher brought his Audi home in sixth, ahead of Frenchman Coicaud in seventh, the Hyundai driver unable to regain his lost ground earlier in the race.
Prosport Performance’s Max Hesse, HP Racing’s Luke Wankmüller and Team Engstler’s Niko Kankkunen completed the top ten in a relatively quite race after the first lap dramas.
Several drivers succumbed to technical issues during the race, with TOPCAR Sport’s Loris Prattes stopping on lap one, Benjamin Leuchter pulling his Volkswagen off on lap four and Maurits Sandberg parking his Audi on lap eleven.
Late in the race Jasmin Preisig went off at Turn 6, beaching her car in the gravel, although it was sufficiently far from the circuit that another safety car intervention was not required.
The TCR Germany racing continues at the seaside circuit with race two at 09:50 CEST (08:50 BST) on Sunday morning.
Race result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 14 | Niels LANGEVELD |  |
Racing One | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 17 | 17 LAPS | 1:46.230 | 1 |
| 2 | 30 | Antti BURI |  |
LMS Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 17 | 6.040 | 1:46.935 | 2 |
| 3 | 22 | Harald PROCZYK |  |
HP Racing International | Opel Astra TCR | 17 | 8.321 | 1:46.984 | 3 |
| 4 | 7 | Mike HALDER |  |
Team Honda ADAC Sachsen | Honda Civic TCR 2018 | 17 | 12.284 | 1:47.277 | 4 |
| 5 | 8 | Luca ENGSTLER | |
Hyundai Team Engstler | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 17 | 13.717 | 1:47.393 | 10 |
| 6 | 54 | Simon REICHER | |
YACO Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 17 | 14.285 | 1:47.349 | 8 |
| 7 | 27 | Theo COICAUD |  |
Hyundai Team Engstler | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 17 | 14.612 | 1:47.434 | 6 |
| 8 | 19 | Max HESSE | |
Prosport Performance | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 17 | 15.592 | 1:47.491 | 5 |
| 9 | 11 | Luke WANKMÜLLER | |
HP Racing International | Opel Astra TCR | 17 | 17.053 | 1:47.350 | 9 |
| 10 | 47 | Niko KANKKUNEN | |
Team Engstler Europe | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 17 | 24.754 | 1:47.755 | 16 |
| 11 | 88 | Dominik FUGEL | |
Team Honda ADAC Sachsen | Honda Civic TCR 2018 | 17 | 28.200 | 1:47.966 | 22 |
| 12 | 39 | Florian THOMA |  |
Team Engstler Europe | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 17 | 28.780 | 1:47.794 | 18 |
| 13 | 29 | Jussi KUUSINIEMI | |
Positione Motorsport | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 17 | 29.572 | 1:47.444 | 17 |
| 14 | 23 | Sebastian STEIBEL | |
Steibel Motorsport | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 17 | 43.399 | 1:49.319 | 21 |
| 15 | 33 | JC REYNOLDS |  |
TOPCAR Sport | CUPRA TCR | 17 | 1:05.397 | 1:49.977 | 20 |
| R | 17 | Jasmin PREISIG | |
Steibel Motorsport | Opel Astra TCR | 11 | DNF | 1:48.517 | 14 |
| R | 99 | Maurits SANDBERG | |
Racing One | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 10 | DNF | 1:47.669 | 19 |
| R | 10 | Benjamin LEUCHTER | |
Max Kruse Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 3 | DNF | 2:32.376 | 12 |
| R | 60 | Loris PRATTES | |
TOPCAR Sport | CUPRA TCR | 0 | DNF | N/A | 7 |
| R | 53 | Michelle HALDER | |
Profi-Car Team Halder | CUPRA TCR | 0 | DNF | N/A | 11 |
| R | 3 | Kai JORDAN | |
Team Engstler Germany | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 0 | DNF | N/A | 13 |
| R | 42 | Lukas NIEDERTSCHEIDER | |
Niedertscheider Motorsport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 0 | DNF | N/A | 15 |