Liqui Moly Team Engstler’s Martin Andersen took a step closer to winning this year’s ADAC TCR Germany title after two wins at the Lausitzring, as his closest rival Jessica Bäckman had an error-strewn weekend.
Race one
Although qualifying had been in the dry on Friday evening, race day brought wet conditions to the Lausitzring.
Pole-sitter Andersen was beaten away from the line by Liqui Moly Team Engstler team-mate Szymon Ładniak at the start, as fellow front-row starter Bäckman got off to a terrible start, dropping to sixth away from the line.
However, Andersen would soon re-take the lead, passing his Polish team-mate with confidence on the second lap.
Thereafter, the Dane would manage the gap to his team-mate to claim a fourth win of the season, despite having to manage a restart after a mid-race safety car interruption.
That safety car had been required to remove the stricken Hyundai Veloster of Andersen’s nearest title rival, with Bäckman having slid off into the gravel with an unforced error whilst running in sixth on lap three.
The chequered flag flew after ten more laps racing, with Andersen winning by over six seconds ahead of Ładniak.
The podium was completed by ROJA Motorsport’s René Kircher, who passed fellow Hyundai i30 N racer Jonas Karklys for the place on lap seven with a well-judged pass around the outside at Turn 7.
That left Lithuanian Karklys to take fourth, ahead of Maurer Motorsport’s Vincent Radermecker in fifth, the Belgian having got the jump on the slow-starting Robin Jahr at the start.
Race one result
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 19 |  |
Martin ANDERSEN | Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 16 | 29:56.724 | 1:44.552 | 1 | |
| 2 | 21 |  |
Szymon ŁADNIAK | Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 16 | 6.513 | 1:45.247 | 3 | |
| 3 | 8 |  |
René KIRCHER | ROJA Motorsport by ASL Lichtblau | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 16 | 8.171 | 1:45.414 | 5 | |
| 4 | 27 |  |
Jonas KARKLYS | NordPass | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 16 | 8.829 | 1:45.131 | 4 | |
| 5 | 11 |  |
Vincent RADERMECKER | maurer motorsport | Holden Astra TCR | 16 | 10.732 | 1:44.853 | 7 | |
| 6 | 22 | |
Robin JAHR | ROJA Motorsport by ASL Lichtblau | Hyundai Veloster N TCR | 16 | 12.821 | 1:44.835 | 6 | |
| 7 | 9 | |
Roland HERTNER | Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 16 | 15.911 | 1:45.574 | 10 | |
| 8 | 34 | |
Patrick SING | RaceSing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 16 | 21.705 | 1:45.722 | 9 | |
| 9 | 13 | |
Max GRUHN | Gruhn Stahlbau Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 16 | 40.569 | 1:46.821 | 8 | |
| 10 | 17 |  |
Michael MAURER | maurer motorsport | Holden Astra TCR | 16 | 1:19.499 | 1:51.954 | 11 | |
| R | 26 |  |
Jessica BÄCKMAN | ROJA Motorsport by ASL Lichtblau | Hyundai Veloster N TCR | 2 | DNF | 1:48.459 | 2 |
Race two
Andersen clinched his second win of the weekend in a largely processional dry race on Sunday, with victory for the Dane moving him even further clear at the top of the drivers’ championship standings.
In Saturday’s wet race two qualifying session it was actually his title rival Bäckman who took pole position, but the Swede again got a poor start when the lights went out, as Andersen assumed the lead ahead of team-mate Ładniak.
Bäckman dropped to fourth behind Karklys, and she would follow the Hyundai driver for much of the race, clearly having more pace but being unable to find a way through for most of the distance.
As Ładniak struggled for pace in second in the closing laps, it bunched up the chasing cars and Karklys was under heavy pressure. Going on to the penultimate lap, Bäckman gor up the inside of Karklys for second, but her team-mate Jahr had caught both of them by this stage.
Going into Turn 1, Jahr moved to the inside early on, but Bäckman continued to turn into the corner, as she completed her pass on Karklys.
The two ROJA team-mates made contact, spinning Bäckman down to eighth whilst eliminating Jahr with broken suspension, just two laps from the end.
The drama enabled Ładniak to hold on to second, with Karklys completing the podium ahead of the best ROJA car of Kircher in fourth.
With Andersen winning yet again, he has opened up a championship lead of 71 points over Bäckman, with just four races left to run and 25 points available for a win and ten for scoring pole position.
The Dane is thus edging ever-closer to his first title win in TCR, whilst Bäckman has slipped further back after a weekend riddled with errors.
The next TCR Germany event takes place at the Sachsenring on 24 – 25 September.
Race result
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 19 | |
Martin ANDERSEN | Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 21 | 32:18.469 | 1:31.148 | 2 | |
| 2 | 21 | |
Szymon ŁADNIAK | Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 21 | 6.855 | 1:31.286 | 3 | |
| 3 | 27 | |
Jonas KARKLYS | NordPass | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 21 | 8.621 | 1:31.126 | 4 | |
| 4 | 8 | |
René KIRCHER | ROJA Motorsport by ASL Lichtblau | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 21 | 12.569 | 1:31.617 | 5 | |
| 5 | 11 | |
Vincent RADERMECKER | maurer motorsport | Holden Astra TCR | 21 | 13.059 | 1:31.780 | 9 | |
| 6 | 9 | |
Roland HERTNER | Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 21 | 29.972 | 1:32.467 | 6 | |
| 7 | 13 | |
Max GRUHN | Gruhn Stahlbau Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 21 | 32.184 | 1:32.030 | 10 | |
| 8 | 26 | |
Jessica BÄCKMAN | ROJA Motorsport by ASL Lichtblau | Hyundai Veloster N TCR | 21 | 32.662 | 1:31.535 | 1 | |
| 9 | 34 | |
Patrick SING | RaceSing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 21 | 38.648 | 1:32.736 | 8 | |
| 10 | 17 | |
Michael MAURER | maurer motorsport | Holden Astra TCR | 20 | + 1 LAP | 1:36.233 | 11 | |
| 11 | 22 | |
Robin JAHR | ROJA Motorsport by ASL Lichtblau | Hyundai Veloster N TCR | 19 | + 2 LAPS | 1:31.388 | 7 |