Antti Buri maintains winning form with victory at the Red Bull Ring

LMS Racing’s Antti Buri continued his run of winning a race at every TCR Germany meeting this season with victory in race two at the Red Bull Ring, taking the chequered flag comfortably ahead of reigning champion Harald Proczyk.

The start saw reverse-grid front-row starter Michelle Halder immediately take the lead from the pole-sitter René Kircher, whilst the fast-starting Hyundai of Gabriele Tarquini jumped from sixth on the grid up to third, although Buri took the place back later around the opening lap.

The race was then neutralised after two laps due to Dominik Fugel’s stricken Honda at the exit of Turn 2, the Team Honda ADAC Sachsen driver having been hit by Jan Seyffert on the exit of Turn 2, who himself was hit by Bradley Burns’ Honda.

The incident earned Burns a drive-through penalty for the contact, and the Pyro Motorsport driver called it a day when he took to the pits to serve his penalty later in the race.

Racing resumed on lap seven, and Michelle Halder made a poor restart, allowing Buri, who had moved into second on lap two, to easily take the lead at the first turn, followed by Mitchell Cheah’s Volkswagen.

For the next few laps Buri’s Audi was chased by Cheah, but the Malaysian was later handed a drive-through penalty for a jump start, dropping him to 11^th, later tenth at the chequered flag.

That handed Buri a clear run to his third victory of the season, as Proczyk brought his Hyundai home in second to keep the pressure on in the title race to the leading Finn.

Kircher completed the podium, having passed Halder for the position on lap nine, whilst Halder held on to fourth in her Honda.

Max Hesse was the best of the Team Engstler drivers in fifth, withstanding pressure from HP Racing’s Lukas Niedertscheider, who had to settle for sixth.

The second Engstler Hyundai of Theo Coicaud was seventh, ahead of the second Honda of Mike Halder in eighth.

TOPCAR Sport’s Julien Apothéloz and VW Team Oettinger’s Cheah completed the top ten in their CUPRA and Volkswagens respectively.

Guest driver Tarquini again had another race of problems, as the Italian slowed on the second lap and had to make two unscheduled pitstops to rectify issues with his Hyundai. The WTCR champion eventually finished in 14^th, one lap down.

Victory for Buri gives him 207 points at the top of the drivers’ standings, with Proczyk on 194 points and Mike Halder in third on 176 points, just one point ahead of Hesse.

TCR Germany takes a two month break before the next round at Zandvoort on the 10 – 11 August.

Race result

POS	NO	DRIVER	NAT	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	13	Antti BURI		LMS Racing	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	18	18 LAPS	1:38.690	4
2	1	Harald PROCZYK		HP Racing International	Hyundai i30 N TCR	18	6.732	1:39.027	8
3	8	René KIRCHER		racing one	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	18	9.462	1:39.029	1
4	53	Michelle HALDER		Profi-Car Team Halder	Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR	18	12.951	1:39.355	2
5	19	Max HESSE		Hyundai Team Engstler	Hyundai i30 N TCR	18	14.169	1:39.494	14
6	42	Lukas NIEDERTSCHEIDER		HP Racing International	Hyundai i30 N TCR	18	15.980	1:39.540	10
7	27	Theo COICAUD		Hyundai Team Engstler	Hyundai i30 N TCR	18	16.701	1:39.523	5
8	7	Mike HALDER		Profi-Car Team Honda ADAC Sachsen	Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR	18	18.162	1:39.809	13
9	22	Julien APOTHÉLOZ		TOPCAR Sport	CUPRA TCR	18	18.394	1:39.609	17
10	29	Mitchell CHEAH Min Jie		VW Team Oettinger	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	18	20.303	1:38.729	7
11	98	Jan SEYFFERT		Lubner Motorsport	Opel Astra TCR	18	23.810	1:39.949	12
12	33	Joshua Corren REYNOLDS		TOPCAR Sport	CUPRA TCR	18	35.906	1:40.624	16
13	23	Sebastian STEIBEL		Steibel Motorsport	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	18	40.630	1:40.314	9
14	102	Gabriele TARQUINI		Hyundai Team Engstler 2	Hyundai i30 N TCR	17	+ 1 LAP	1:39.343	6
15	99	Maurits SANDBERG		VW Team Oettinger	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	17	+ 1 LAP	1:39.647	15
R	6	Bradley BURNS		Team Pyro Motorsport	Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR	8	DNF	1:42.177	11
R	88	Dominik FUGEL		Profi-Car Team Honda ADAC Sachsen	Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR	2	DNF	N/A	3