Harald Proczyk wins and retakes the points lead

Harald Proczyk and his HP Racing International Opel Astra won the first race of the TCR Germany season finale at Hockenheim. Victory also meant that the Austrian driver retook the leadership in the standings, four points over Luca Engstler who was classified third.
Niels Langeveld has kept himself in contention, salvaging a fourth place that helped him to stay at striking distance, 22 points off the leader; the Dutchman will have an advantage in tomorrow’s Race 2, starting from third on the grid, with Engstler and Proczyk ninth and tenth respectively.
The battle for the title enlivened the race, with the three main contenders and Mike Halder – fourth in the standings – delivering a series of close fights.
The pack was regrouped twice by the safety car that circulated from lap 9 to 11 when Jasmin Preisig’s Opel stopped along the track and then from lap 14 to 16 after a contact between Antti Buri and Pascal Eberle, who were fighting for the fifth position, that ended with the Finn’s Audi stranded in the gravel.
Three drivers were dropped on the grid: Luke Wankmüller from 7^th to 28^th for an engine change, Benjamin Leuchter from 5^th to 10^th and Niko Kankkunen from 13^th to 18^th for red flag infringements.
At the start Engstler was faster than pole sitter Proczyk and took the lead; the first three laps provided a thrilling battle between the four title contenders. Proczyk and Halder overtook Engstler on lap 2, while Langeveld moved up from seventh on the grid to fourth behind Engstler.
As the race went on, Proczyk was able to build a small margin clear of Halder who did the same with Engstler. The latter was committed to defend the third position from the Langeveld’s assaults; he dropped behind the Dutchman during the penultimate lap, but managed to strike back a couple of turns later. 
Race 2 will start tomorrow at 14:50 CET (live streaming at www.tcr-series.tv).