Honda’s Mike Halder was victorious in the first TCR Germany race of the season at Oschersleben, after getting past Hyundai pole-sitter Max Hesse on the fourth lap of the race.
At the start Hyundai Team Engstler driver Hesse led the field away comfortable, with Honda ADAC Sachsen duo Halder and Dominik Fugel in hot pursuit.
The second lap of the race then saw Malaysian racer Mitchell Cheah throw his Volkswagen Golf off the circuit at Turn 4, prompting an early one-lap safety car intervention.
When the race resumed Halder lined up a well-judged pass on Hesse for the lead, passing the youngster at the inside of the final corner.
The German runner-up in 2017 then held on to the lead for the rest of the race to take victory over Hesse by just under two seconds.
Hesse held on to second to score his first-ever podium in TCR Germany, with reigning champion Harald Proczyk – who had initially secured pole position before being penalised three grid spots – completing the podium.
LMS Racing’s Antti Buri was fourth, after the Finn battled hard with Hyundai Team Engstler driver Theo Coicaud in the early laps of the race, the Audi driver eventually getting past on lap six with a robust move.
Coicaud then lost out to Pyro Motorsport Honda driver Bradley Burns two laps later when Burns blasted around the outside at the final corner, leaving the Hyundai driver off-line at the next turn and unable to defend fifth position.
Frenchman Coicaud eventually finished in sixth, ahead of the second HP Racing Hyundai of Lukas Niedertscheider in seventh and the Opel of Jan Seyffert in eighth.
The second ADAC Sachsen Honda of Fugel had been running in third early on, but the German was handed a drive-through penalty for a jump start, demoting him to 12th. Michelle Halder also befell the same penalty and finished the race in last.
The second TCR Germany race takes place on Sunday at 11:35 CEST (10:35 BST).
Race result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 7 | Mike HALDER |  |
Profi-Car Team Honda ADAC Sachsen | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 20 | 20 LAPS | 1:32.570 | 2 |
| 2 | 19 | Max HESSE | |
Hyundai Team Engstler | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 20 | 1.925 | 1:33.065 | 1 |
| 3 | 1 | Harald PROCZYK |  |
HP Racing International | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 20 | 8.070 | 1:33.375 | 4 |
| 4 | 13 | Antti BURI |  |
LMS Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 20 | 9.703 | 1:33.469 | 8 |
| 5 | 6 | Bradley BURNS |  |
Team Pyro Motorsport | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 20 | 11.405 | 1:33.447 | 12 |
| 6 | 27 | Theo COICAUD |  |
Hyundai Team Engstler | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 20 | 20.262 | 1:33.598 | 5 |
| 7 | 42 | Lukas NIEDERTSCHEIDER | |
HP Racing International | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 20 | 21.319 | 1:33.772 | 7 |
| 8 | 98 | Jan SEYFFERT | |
Lubner Motorsport | Opel Astra TCR | 20 | 30.174 | 1:34.401 | 15 |
| 9 | 41 | Steve KIRSCH | |
IMC Motorsport | Opel Astra TCR | 20 | 33.905 | 1:34.433 | 11 |
| 10 | 8 | René KIRCHER | |
racing one | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 20 | 35.299 | 1:34.764 | 13 |
| 11 | 100 | Guido NAUMANN | |
Hyundai Team Engstler 2 | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 20 | 46.453 | 1:34.781 | 10 |
| 12 | 88 | Dominik FUGEL | |
Profi-Car Team Honda ADAC Sachsen | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 20 | 49.842 | 1:33.242 | 3 |
| 13 | 23 | Sebastian STEIBEL | |
Steibel Motorsport | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 20 | 55.807 | 1:35.176 | 17 |
| 14 | 22 | Julien APOTHÉLOZ |  |
TOPCAR Sport | CUPRA TCR | 20 | 59.583 | 1:35.264 | 14 |
| 15 | 99 | Maurits SANDBERG |  |
VW Team Oettinger | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 20 | 1:00.319 | 1:35.337 | 16 |
| 16 | 33 | Joshua Corren REYNOLDS |  |
TOPCAR Sport | CUPRA TCR | 20 | 1:01.180 | 1:35.515 | 18 |
| 17 | 53 | Michelle HALDER | |
Profi-Car Team Halder | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 20 | 1:07.681 | 1:34.379 | 9 |
| R | 29 | Mitchell CHEAH Min Jie |  |
VW Team Oettinger | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 2 | DNF | No time | 6 |