Target Competition’s Josh Files has now retaken the TCR Europe championship lead after passing polesitter Luca Filippi and controlling the race to take a commanding victory.
Filippi had made a good initial start off the line but Files managed to get down into the first corner before completing the move at the Remus hairpin.
After the opening couple of laps, a lengthy safety car period then followed to clear up a multi-car incident at the hairpin in which Martin Ryba hit Aurélien Comte and spun Santiago Urrutia into the path of Jessica Bäckman, with Viktor Davidovski and Olli Kangas also involved.
The race got back underway with just over five minutes remaining, with Files making an excellent restart on the exit of the Würth Curve to gap Filippi and control the pace to the flag.
Behind Filippi, a great scrap between Nelson Panciatici and practice pacesetter Dan Lloyd ensued, with the latter eventually getting past to make the podium with an excellent cutback manoeuvre into the Würth Curve.
Panicatici then had to defend heavily from fellow Hyundai runners Luca Engstler and Dušan Borkovic in the final laps, but managed to hold onto fourth at the flag.
PCR Sport with Georgia’s Davit Kajaia enjoyed a strong race from his second row start to finish 7th, while Maxime Potty somehow managed to save a huge slide at Rindt to come home 8th position.
Potty looked as if he had been tapped into the slide by Tom Coronel’s Honda, who then had to defend from Mat’o Homola before the pair made contact at the Remus hairpin with Coronel eventually retiring, seemingly with broken steering.
Homola would eventually finish ninth, fending off pressure from Alex Morgan’s CUPRA to the line, with Gianni Morbidelli and Andreas Bäckman in 11th and 12th respectively.
Fellow Hyundai racer Dániel Nagy followed, with Jimmy Clairet in 14th position as the best of the Peugeot runners ahead of Tamás Tenke.
Erstwhile championship leader Julien Briché’s difficult weekend continued, being forced to retire on the second lap after he ran wide at the downhill right-hander of Schlossgold, meaning he now sits 12 points adrift of Files in the standings.
Other non-finishers included John Filippi and Stian Paulsen, who made contact on the opening corner of the race with Paulsen’s CUPRA pitched into the air and out of the race with likely suspension damage.
M Racing’s Natan Bihel could not get the steering issues which plagued his Hyundai in qualifying fixed for the race, but was eventually classified 20th after shaking down the car.
The second TCR Europe race of the weekend is set to get underway at 11:30 CEST tomorrow [14 July].
Race result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 9 | Josh FILES |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 13 | 25:51.033 | 1:37.049 | 2 |
| 2 | 30 | Luca FILIPPI |  |
BRC Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 13 | 1.187 | 1:37.260 | 1 |
| 3 | 123 | Daniel LLOYD | |
Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 13 | 4.664 | 1:37.437 | 5 |
| 4 | 12 | Nelson PANCIATICI |  |
M Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 13 | 5.549 | 1:37.496 | 3 |
| 5 | 8 | Luca ENGSTLER |  |
M1RA Motorsport | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 13 | 5.768 | 1:37.550 | 7 |
| 6 | 62 | Dušan BORKOVIĆ |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 13 | 6.116 | 1:37.266 | 13 |
| 7 | 3 | Davit KAJAIA |  |
PCR Sport with Georgia | CUPRA TCR | 13 | 6.122 | 1:37.686 | 4 |
| 8 | 88 | Maxime POTTY |  |
Team WRT | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 13 | 7.371 | 1:37.868 | 6 |
| 9 | 70 | Mat’o HOMOLA |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 13 | 8.913 | 1:37.847 | 12 |
| 10 | 5 | Alex MORGAN | |
Wolf-Power Racing | CUPRA TCR | 13 | 9.626 | 1:38.092 | 8 |
| 11 | 45 | Gianni MORBIDELLI | |
WestCoast Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 13 | 9.829 | 1:38.168 | 9 |
| 12 | 19 | Andreas BÄCKMAN |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 13 | 11.316 | 1:37.950 | 14 |
| 13 | 99 | Dániel NAGY |  |
M1RA Motorsport | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 13 | 13.930 | 1:38.613 | 16 |
| 14 | 112 | Jimmy CLAIRET | |
Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 13 | 15.740 | 1:39.246 | 25 |
| 15 | 23 | Tamás TENKE | |
Zengő Motorsport | CUPRA TCR | 13 | 16.268 | 1:39.107 | 20 |
| 16 | 46 | Olli KANGAS |  |
WestCoast Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 13 | 16.925 | 1:38.566 | 28 |
| 17 | 16 | Gilles MAGNUS | |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 13 | 21.409 | 1:38.881 | 11 |
| 18 | 66 | Gilles COLOMBANI | |
Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 13 | 24.556 | 1:40.173 | 29 |
| 19 | 50 | Tom CORONEL |  |
Boutsen Ginion Racing | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 12 | + 1 LAP | 1:37.754 | 10 |
| R | 25 | Natan BIHEL | |
M Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 8 | DNF | 1:38.486 | 22 |
| R | 55 | Santiago URRUTIA |  |
Team WRT | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 2 | DNF | 1:39.428 | 18 |
| R | 7 | Aurélien COMTE | |
DG Sport Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 2 | DNF | 1:39.818 | 21 |
| R | 17 | Martin RYBA | |
Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 2 | DNF | 1:39.559 | 27 |
| R | 26 | Jessica BÄCKMAN | |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 2 | DNF | 1:40.084 | 23 |
| R | 111 | Teddy CLAIRET | |
Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 2 | DNF | 1:39.545 | 24 |
| R | 10 | Viktor DAVIDOVSKY |  |
PSS Racing Team | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 2 | DNF | 1:39.132 | 26 |
| R | 24 | Julien BRICHÉ | |
JSB Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 1 | DNF | 1:50.910 | 17 |
| R | 27 | John FILIPPI | |
Vuković Motorsport | Renault Mégane RS TCR | 1 | DNF | 2:35.285 | 15 |
| R | 34 | Stian PAULSEN |  |
Stian Paulsen Racing | CUPRA TCR | 0 | DNF | N/A | 19 |