Dominik Fugel returns to victory in a red-flagged Race 2

After finishing second yesterday in TCR Germany’s Race 1 at the Nürburgring, behind his teammate Mike Halder, Dominik Fugel returned to victory more than two years after his maiden win at Oschersleben in 2016.
Fugel and his Honda Civic FK7 led Race 2 from the start until the red flag was waved with five minutes left, after Daniel Davidovac’s Opel Astra crashed on lap 12, damaging the tyre wall. Benjamin Leuchter and Halder completed the podium.
At the start, Fugel sprinted from fourth on the grid and squeezed between pole sitter Luke Wankmüller and Leuchter; the latter moved into second at Turn 1, while Oliver Holdener followed in fourth position ahead of the fighting trio of Halder, Harald Proczyk and points leader Niels Langeveld.
On lap 2, Proczyk and Halder overtook Holdener moving up to fourth and fifth respectively, and one lap later Halder overtook Proczyk for fourth.
Two pairs of cars were leading the field: Fugel’s Honda and Leuchter’s Volkswagen were fighting for the lead, while Halder’s Honda overtook the Opel of Wankmüller for third on lap 5. The Hyundai cars of Luca Engstler and Théo Coicaud were moving up through the field to sixth and eighth respectively, with Max Hesse’s Audi in seventh position.
On lap 8, Halder joined the leading duo and on lap 11 he managed to outbrake Leuchter at the chicane, but the latter was able to retake the position at the exit of the following turn.
What promised to be a thrilling fight for victory was frozen by Davidovac’s crash that prompted the safety car into action with 11 minutes to go. Six minutes later, the race was red flagged.
After being ousted from the points leadership yesterday by Langeveld, Proczyk returned on top of the standings, with a margin of 10 points over the Dutch driver. Engstler is still in third position, 21 points off the leader, while fourth-placed Mike Halder has significantly cut his gap to 29 points.
The next event of TCR Germany will be at Zandvoort in two weeks.