Niels Langeveld of Racing One gave Audi its first victory in the TCR Germany, although the Dutchman is currently being investigated for an incident that eliminated Florian Thoma’s Volkswagen.
Thoma made an excellent start from P2 and took the lead ahead of Steve Kirsch (Honda), Luca Engstler (Volkswagen), Langeveld and Josh Files (Honda), while Gosia Rdest’s Audi was pushed against the wall and Sheldon van der Linde’s Audi stalled on the grid.
On lap 2, Langeveld took third from Engstler, but the safety-car was out to allow retrieving the Honda of Jürgen Schmarl from the gravel trap. At the restart there was a nice fight for the lead between Thoma and Kirsch, with the Swiss keeping the advantage, while Kirsch was defending the position from Langeveld. A slight contact between them sent Kirsch’s Honda into the gravel trap, with the safety-car out again, as Jasmine Preisig’s Opel was also stuck in the gravel.
Shortly after the restart, Thoma spun in the last corner and was luckily avoided by the other cars; he rejoined in P12. Langeveld inherited the leadership ahead of Files, who passed Engstler, with Race 1 winner Morits Oestreich (Honda) fourth ahead of Harald Proczyk (SEAT) and Tom Lautenschlager (Audi).
Files has further stretched his leadership in the championship classification to 87 and 88 points ahead of Oestreich and Thoma respectively.
The ADAC TCR Germany will resume on 22 and 23 July at Zandvoort, Netherlands.
