Antti Buri was delighted to finally seal the ADAC TCR Germany title after a ‘chaotic’ final race of the season at Oschersleben, where he finished third to hold a sufficient margin over Harald Proczyk.
Buri had only taken the lead of the standings with victory in Saturday’s race, but the Finn prevailed and finishing third in race two on Sunday was enough to give him the title.
Several times in the race the title looked like it could escape Buri, with race winner Dominik Fugel at one stage on course for the title.
But Buri recovered from an off at the first corner to win the championship, at the end of his fifth season of trying in the German series.
“I’m very happy, it was just a great weekend for us,” said Buri. “We got pole and our car was very fast.
“The first race was maybe boring for the spectators, but it was very intense for me because I had to give everything every lap to keep Tiago Monteiro in the Honda behind me and take the lead in the championship.
“The second race was very chaotic. I had to go on to the grass at the start, picked up the dirt and then turned out slightly in the second corner.
“That put me at the back of the pack at first and had to fight my way up one by one in this crazy race.”
Buri’s main rival, Austrian Proczyk, admitted that Buri had been a deserving champion.
“We drove a great race,” said the 2018 champion. “Antti deserved to become champion. We are team champions, so that’s not too bad either.”
Kurt Treml, Engstler Motorsport’s Sporting Director, praised the efforts of his 31-year-old lead driver.
“It was an enormous achievement by the entire team to win the drivers’ title in the last race,” said Treml.
“We put in a great performance at the last four events. Success might look easy on the outside, but it was hard work catching up on the points deficit by the last race, then taking the lead and defending it.
“Hats off to the achievements of the whole team! We are pleased that we were able to win the driver’s title in the ADAC TCR Germany with Antti.”