Engstler and Andersen fill the front row for Race 2 at Oschersleben

The Hyundai Team Engstler domination of the opening weekend of TCR Germany continued in Qualifying for Race 2 at Oschersleben, which saw Luca Engstler secure pole position ahead of his teammate Martin Andersen in a reversal of the front row for the previous day’s Race 1.
A change to the rules for 2021 mean that there is now a Qualifying session ahead of both TCR Germany races – a change that has clearly benefited Engstler in the series’ first event of the season. After qualifying second on the grid for Race 1, Engstler made a far better start than Andersen and went on to take a lights-to-flag victory.
In Qualifying 2, the first driver to set a competitive lap time was Eric Scalvini, whose CUPRA Leon Competición lapped in 1:34.388 before improving on the next lap with a 1:33.076. However, the Team Engstler cars had all headed for the pits for a tyre change and when they emerged, Engstler set the quickest time of the session with a 1:30.808. The Volkswagen Golf of René Kircher went P2 with a lap of 1:31.867 with Marcel Fugel’s Honda Civic then going third-fastest with a 1:32.091. 
Both Andersen (1:31.470) and Nico Gruber (1:31.135) then beat both those times to take it in turns to be in P2 behind Engstler, although Gruber would then have his lap time cancelled, along with Robin Jahr and Günter Benninger, the latter also receiving a three-place grid penalty for speeding in the pit lane. Dominik Fugel then moved into P4 with a 1:31.727 and Kircher improved his best lap time with a 1:31.737.
With less than eight minutes remaining, Scalvini also improved his time with a lap of 1:31.390 but an incident involving Scalvini and his Wimmer Werk Motorsport teammate Peter Gross brought out the red flags with a little over five and a half minutes of the twenty-minute session remaining.
When the session resumed after around eight minutes, the weather had taken a turn for the worse and the Race Director declared the session wet. Unsurprisingly, most drivers headed for the pits after a single lap and there were no changes in positions.
The second race will start at 14:10 local time (CEST); live streaming at www.tcr-series.com. 

Oschersleben – Qualifying 2
1:30.808 Luca Engstler (Hyundai Team Engstler, Hyundai i30 N)
1:31.359 Martin Andersen (Hyundai Team Engstler, Hyundai i30 N)
1:31.390 Eric Scalvini (Wimmer Werk Motorsport, CUPRA Leon Competición)
1:31.727 Dominik Fugel (Honda ADAC Sachsen, Honda Civic Type-R)
1:31.737 René Kircher (Volkswagen Team Oettinger, Volkswagen Golf GTI)

Championship points
1. L. Engstler 43 pts; 2. D. Fugel 31; 3. M. Andersen 28 

Picture: ADAC Motorsport/Gruppe C Photography