Jonas Karklys won his first race in the ADAC TCR Germany series in the final race of the season at the Nürburgring, with a last-lap pass on Szymon Ładniak to claim the victory.
Martin Andersen qualified his Hyundai on pole position for the race on Friday, and at the start, on a damp and greasy track, he initially pulled into the lead, whilst fellow front-row starter Nico Gruber dropped to fourth.
However, the fast-starting Marcel Fugel, who had charged from sixth on the grid to second by the first corner, missed his braking and punted Andersen into a spin at the first corner.
In the dramas, Ładniak moved into second and Domini Fugel, from eighth on the grid, was up to third.
On lap four, Gruber managed to get back past Dominik Fugel on the exit of Turn 4, moving him into third.
On lap four, Marcel Fugel was handed a drive-through penalty for the contact with Andersen, and before he even served it he lost the lead to Ładniak at the start of lap five with a half-spin at Turn 1.
Fugel then hit Gruber several times through the next corners, before losing out to Gruber, brother Dominik and Albert Legutko, dropping to fifth.
Marcel Fugel then dropped three more places on lap six before serving his drive-through penalty, emerging in 11th and last.
Karklys, meanwhile, was up to fifth, whilst the recovering Andersen moved into seventh with an effortless pass on team-mate Roland Hertner at the start of lap seven.
Andersen made up another place past Patrick Sing for sixth at the end of the lap, as Marcel Fugel found himself being disqualified from the race for the contacts he had been involved in.
On lap eight Karklys passed Legutko for fourth, the Lithuanian clearly much faster than his Polish rival in the conditions.
A few corners later, around the outside of Turn 4 on the next lap, Karklys took third from Dominik Fugel, before setting off to close in on Gruber for second.
A couple of laps later, Karklys breezed past Gruber for second on the start / finish straight, and he then spent the final laps closing in on leader Ładniak, being all over the back of the Halder Motorsport driver by the penultimate lap.
Karklys stole the lead from Ładniak with a pass at turn 4 on the final lap, eventually winning by two seconds, as Gruber completed the podium.
Dominik Fugel took fourth, ahead of Andersen in fifth, the Hyundai Team Engstler driver having muscled past Legutko for the position on the last lap.
Legutko took sixth, having been muscled onto the grass by Andersen, ahead of Hertner, Sing, Robin Jahr and Philipp Regensperger.
Fifth for Andersen was enough to give him the runner-up spot in the drivers’ championship, edging out Dominik Fugel by just one point.
Race result
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 27 |  |
Jonas KARKLYS | NordPass | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 14 | 25:16.456 | 1:44.694 | 7 | |
| 2 | 21 |  |
Szymon ŁADNIAK | Halder Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 14 | 2.039 | 1:47.502 | 3 | |
| 3 | 97 |  |
Nicolas GRUBER | Hyundai Team Engstler | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 14 | 11.916 | 1:48.529 | 2 | |
| 4 | 88 |  |
Dominik FUGEL | Honda ADAC Sachsen | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 14 | 18.937 | 1:48.899 | 8 | |
| 5 | 19 |  |
Martin ANDERSEN | Hyundai Team Engstler | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 14 | 19.665 | 1:46.991 | 1 | |
| 6 | 17 | |
Albert LEGUTKO | Albert Legutko Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FK2 TCR | 14 | 20.467 | 1:48.992 | 9 | |
| 7 | 9 | |
Roland HERTNER | Hyundai Team Engstler | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 14 | 21.091 | 1:48.057 | 5 | |
| 8 | 34 | |
Patrick SING | RaceSing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 14 | 28.057 | 1:48.989 | 10 | |
| 9 | 22 | |
Robin JAHR | ROJA Motorsport by ASL Lichtblau | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 14 | 31.261 | 1:48.741 | 4 | |
| 10 | 33 | |
Philipp REGENSPERGER | Lubner Motorsport | Opel Astra TCR | 14 | 36.168 | 1:48.747 | 11 | |
| R | 55 | |
Marcel FUGEL | Honda ADAC Sachsen | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 8 | DNF | 1:47.930 | 6 | |
| NS | 6 |  |
Eric SCALVINI | Wimmer Werk Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | – | DNS | N/A | – |