Honda teammates on top in wet Qualifying at Sachsenring

Profi-Car teammates Dominik Fugel and Mike Halder placed their Honda Civic cars on top of the Qualifying for the ADAC TCR Germany finale at the Sachsenring.
The three main contenders in the title fight, Max Hesse, Antti Buri and the reigning champion Harald Proczyk qualified in sixth, fourth and third positions respectively a result that didn’t change significantly the situation in the standings. Hesse’s lead was reduced by two points over Proczyk and one over Buri, but the Engstler Motorsport driver retains margins of 12 and 20 points over the Austrian and the Finn respectively. Mike Halder cut three points off his gap, but is still 40 points behind the leader.
Young Moroccan rookie Sami Taoufik was the sensation of the day. On his first appearance in a TCR car – the Comtoyou Racing Audi RS 3 LMS – he showed remarkable progress: 12^th in FP1, 7^th in FP2, 3^rd in Q1 and 5^th in Q2 with a lap that was only 77 thousandths slower than Buri’s.
In a rainy day, Dominik Fugel and Mike Halder proved the fastest from the Free Practice; Halder was fastest in he first session and Fugel in the second. Then, Fugel outpaced the rest of the field in Q1, with a lap of 1:38.893 that was one second faster than Halder’s 1:39.894. Taoufik was third fastest (1:40.668) ahead of René Münnich (1:40.972) and Buri (1:40.992). Théo Coicaud, Hesse, Proczyk, Michelle Halder, Marcel Fugel, Phillip Regensberger (remarkable exploit on his first appearance in the Lubner Motorsport Opel Astra) and Julien Apothéloz completed the top-twelve for Q2.
In Q2, Fugel’s first lap out of 1:49.436 settled the matter for the pole position, as no one was able to beat it. Only Halder get very close to it with a 1:39.521 that placed him in second position. Proczyk (1:40.495) and Buri (1:40.519) locked up the second row of the grid for tomorrow’s Race 1; they were followed by the impressive Taoufik (1:40.596) and Hesse (1:41.058). Coicaud, Münnich and Marcel Fugel filled the positions between seventh and ninth, while Regensberger’s last gasp attempt resulted in a 1:41.365 that was worth the tenth position and, as a consequence, the pole on the top-ten reversed grid for Sunday’s Race 2.  
The first race will start tomorrow at 13:15 local time (CET); live streaming at www.tcr-series.com and www.tcr-series.tv.    

Qualifying
1. 1:39.436 – Dominik Fugel (Profi-Car, Honda Civic FK7)
2. 1:39.521 – Mike Halder (Profi-Car, Honda Civic FK7)
3. 1:40.495 – Harald Proczyk (HP Racing International, Hyundai i30 N)
4. 1:40.519 – Antti Buri (LMS Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS)
5. 1:40.596 – Sami Taoufik (Comtoyou Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS)

Championship points
1. Hesse 378; 2. Proczyk 366; 3. Buri 358