Julien Briché admitted the safety car appearance during the final TCR Europe race at Hockenheim was some cause for concern, but he eventually held on to take the honours.
Briché’s Peugeot 308 TCR led from lights to flag around the 2.8-mile German venue, fending off compatriot Aurélien Comte in the DG Sport-run Peugeot.
That came despite the safety car interval, called to recover Stian Paulsen’s stricken CUPRA TCR from the gravel at Sachs Kurve.
Martin Ryba’s Honda Civic Type R also stopped out on circuit at Turn 11 with just under five minutes remaining, but yellow flags were sufficient to complete the remainder of the race.
Briché, who managed the restart well and pulled out a 1.3-second lead to the chequered flag, was elated with the result in such a closely-fought field.
“It seemed easy, but it wasn’t, it never is in such a competitive series,” explained the Frenchman.
“I took a good start and had some breathing space. Still, when the safety-car came out, I had to start all over again and I was a little bit concerned, but everything went well.
“At the end, degradation of the tyres was quite worrying, but clearly, everybody must have been in the same situation. I am very happy of this win for the entire team that did a great job.”
Briché now sits second overall behind Josh Files in the points standing as the category heads next to Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps over the weekend of 8th-9th June.