After a tale of what might have been in qualifying, Yann Ehrlacher came through to win the second World Touring Car Cup (WTCR) race of the weekend ahead of team-mate Thed Björk.
It was Néstor Girolami who led the cars away though from pole position, with Ehrlacher and the repaired Honda of Attila Tassi just behind.
Mikel Azcona, meanwhile, lost out to Esteban Guerrieri through the GP loop and had to work hard to keep Jean-Karl Vernay behind him for seventh.
Running in fifth, Tom Coronel’s battle with Thed Björk resulted in him sliding wide through Aremberg, costing him two positions to the Guerrieri-Azcona battle behind.
Up at the front, Yann Ehrlacher swept past Girolami for the race lead on the first run through the Döttinger Höhe straight, effectively making up for the pole position that the team gave away in qualifying.
Just behind them, Thed Björk pulled off a move on Attila Tassi through turns one and two that was reminiscent of the one he managed against Coronel in the previous race.
Having dispatched with one of the Münnich Motorsport Hondas already on lap two, Bjork then made his way past Girolami in similar fashion to Ehrlacher towards the end of the lap.
Things were about to get even worse for the former race leader, however.
Following an infringement of the start procedure (going through the pit-lane twice during the warm-up laps prior to the race starting), the stewards dealt Girolami a drive-through penalty, which would then be converted into a thirty-second time penalty.
He wasn’t the only driver to fall into strife in this race though, as Gilles Magnus then found the barriers at Hatzenbach, ending his race rather prematurely.
Keen to impress after an unfortunate retirement in race one, Mikel Azcona hadn’t given up on reclaiming the place that he lost earlier to Guerrieri. His resilience would eventually pay off with a final lap overtake on the Honda driver along the Döttinger Höhe straight.
So, Yann Ehrlacher was left untroubled by Thed Björk in order to come home for his first race win of the season, extending his championship lead further in the process.
Björk came home in second place, while Attila Tassi will be happy to finish this one on the podium in third.
Fourth place for Mikel Azcona will give the Zengő Motorsport crew a huge lift after a difficult start to 2020, With Esteban Guerrieri therefore having to settle for fifth.
Team Mulsanne’s Jean-Karl Vernay was next to the line in sixth in the sole Alfa Romeo, ahead of fellow Frenchman Yvan Muller in seventh place.
Tom Coronel slipped another place back after his Aremberg excursion, ending up in eighth place at the chequered flag.
Tiago Monteiro and Santiago Urrutia rounded out the top ten, while Girolami’s penalty would drop him down to eleventh place.
Race result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 68 | Yann EHRLACHER |  |
Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 3 | 31:00.926 | 10:13.819 | 2 |
| 2 | 11 | Thed BJÖRK |  |
Cyan Performance | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 3 | 5.835 | 10:15.688 | 4 |
| 3 | 9 | Attila TASSI |  |
ALL-INKL.DE Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 3 | 11.971 | 10:17.220 | 3 |
| 4 | 96 | Mikel AZCONA |  |
Zengő Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición | 3 | 16.563 | 10:19.917 | 6 |
| 5 | 86 | Esteban GUERRIERI |  |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 3 | 16.776 | 10:21.643 | 7 |
| 6 | 69 | Jean-Karl VERNAY | |
Team Mulsanne | Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce TCR | 3 | 22.454 | 10:20.252 | 8 |
| 7 | 100 | Yvan MULLER | |
Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 3 | 23.106 | 10:20.272 | 10 |
| 8 | 31 | Tom CORONEL |  |
Comtoyou DHL Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 3 | 31.253 | 10:26.891 | 5 |
| 9 | 18 | Tiago MONTEIRO |  |
ALL-INKL.DE Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 3 | 33.075 | 10:23.404 | 12 |
| 10 | 12 | Santiago URRUTIA |  |
Cyan Performance | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 3 | 34.708 | 10:22.016 | 15 |
| 11 | 29 | Néstor GIROLAMI | |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 3 | 40.644 | 10:19.438 | 1 |
| 12 | 17 | Nathanaël BERTHON | |
Comtoyou DHL Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 3 | 45.914 | 10:31.951 | 9 |
| 13 | 55 | Bence BOLDIZS | |
Zengő Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición | 3 | 2:27.932 | 11:04.675 | 14 |
| 14 | 99 | Gábor KISMARTY-LECHNER | |
Zengő Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición | 3 | 4:14.557 | 11:36.791 | 13 |
| R | 16 | Gilles MAGNUS |  |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 1 | DNF | 10:43.663 | 11 |
| NS | 7 | Jack YOUNG |  |
Vuković Motorsport | Renault Mégane RS TCR | – | DNS | N/A | – |