Jessica Bäckman doubled up with her second victory of the weekend in the ADAC TCR Germany series, after the leading Liqui Moly Team Engstler Hondas of Szymon Ładniak and Martin Andersen collided.
Pole-sitter Jonas Karklys had led the early stages of the race, with the Lithuanian opening up a comfortable margin over the chasing pack in the first third of the race.
But, having suffered from engine dramas on Saturday, the Hyundai driver again faced technical issues on Sunday and on lap eight his car slowed, giving the lead to Ładniak.
Until this stage, Ładniak had run in second, and was defending from chasing team-mate Andersen and the two ROJA Motorsport Hyundai Velosters of Bäckman and Robin Jahr.
The quartet ran incredibly close for the next ten laps, with Bäckman applying significant pressure to Andersen, who in turn occasionally challenged Ładniak for the lead with different lines through certain corners.
Things came to a head on lap 17 when Andersen, from quite far back, made a lunge on his team-mate going downhill into Turn 4.
The two Hondas made contact, knocking Ładniak wide and giving Bäckman the chance to get through as well, as Andersen assumed the lead.
However, the stewards took a dim view on Andersen’s move and two laps later ordered him to drop behind Ładniak, who by this stage had dropped to fourth.
When the Dane dropped back on the penultimate lap, it gifted Bäckman the lead, and also allowed her team-mate Jahr into second, as the ROJA duo went on to enjoy a first-ever 1-2 result.
Andersen dropped to fourth behind a disgruntled Ładniak, but almost immediately tried to repass and at the penultimate corner of the lap the two made contact again, as Andersen muscled his way back into third.
The order stayed that way for the last lap, and Bäckman’s third win of the season has moved her to just one point shy of championship leader Andersen.
Maurer Motorsport’s Vincent Radermecker was a distant fifth in his Holden Astra, ahead of Max Gruhn in his self-run Audi RS3.
Patrick Sing had to retire his Hyundai to the pits after 12 laps with technical issues, whilst the third ROJA car of René Kircher was withdrawn prior to the race due to ongoing issues.
The next TCR Germany round takes place at the Salzburgring on 18 – 19 June.
Race result
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 26 |  |
Jessica BÄCKMAN | ROJA Motorsport by ASL Lichtblau | Hyundai Veloster N TCR | 20 | 33:17.524 | 1:38.517 | 4 | |
| 2 | 22 |  |
Robin JAHR | ROJA Motorsport by ASL Lichtblau | Hyundai Veloster N TCR | 20 | 1.139 | 1:38.524 | 6 | |
| 3 | 19 |  |
Martin ANDERSEN | Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 20 | 5.125 | 1:38.669 | 3 | |
| 4 | 21 |  |
Szymon ŁADNIAK | Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 20 | 6.651 | 1:38.670 | 2 | |
| 5 | 11 |  |
Vincent RADERMECKER | maurer motorsport | Holden Astra TCR | 20 | 9.101 | 1:39.383 | 11 | |
| 6 | 13 | |
Max GRUHN | Gruhn Stahlbau Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR 2021 | 20 | 9.417 | 1:38.804 | 5 | |
| 7 | 38 | |
Kai ROSOWSKI | K-Ro Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 20 | 59.809 | 1:41.506 | 10 | |
| 8 | 9 | |
Roland HERTNER | Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 20 | 1:37.076 | 1:40.174 | 8 | |
| 9 | 17 |  |
Michael MAURER | maurer motorsport | Holden Astra TCR | 19 | + 1 LAP | 1:44.216 | 9 | |
| 10 | 27 |  |
Jonas KARKLYS | NordPass | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 19 | + 1 LAP | 1:38.119 | 1 | |
| R | 34 | |
Patrick SING | RaceSing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 12 | DNF | 1:38.356 | 7 | |
| NS | 8 | |
René KIRCHER | ROJA Motorsport by ASL Lichtblau | Hyundai i30 N TCR | – | DNS | N/A | – |