Lights-to-flag win for Mike Halder at Most

Mike Halder pipped pole sitter Harald Proczyk at the start of TCR Germany’s Race 1 at Most and claimed a lights-to-flag victory; the second from him so far in the season. The bad start meant that Proczyk dropped to fourth during the opening lap, behind Max Hesse and Dominik Fugel, but the reigning champion eventually recovered the third place in the last lap.
In the championship standings, Halder has stretched his leadership to 12 points over Hesse and 26 over Proczyk.
During the opening lap there were a couple incidents: Marcel Fugel and Lukas Niedertscheider made contact and cut straight through the first chicane, while Hyundai guest driver Jessica Bäckman was pushed off. The safety car was deployed in order to recover her car from the gravel trap.
The four leaders pulled away, with Halder followed by Hesse, Fugel and Proczyk, while Antti Buri overtook Théo Coicaud for fifth and tried to catch up with the quartet.
Another incident happened on lap 7, when Marcel Fugel missed the braking point and collected Julien Apotéloz’s CUPRA that was running in eighth position; they both retired.
During the final laps, Dominik Fugel, Proczyk and Buri joined Hesse in the fight for the second position, but a few corners before the end Fugel went wide and Proczyk went through.
Halder won from Hesse, Proczyk, Fugel, Buri, Coicaud, the young Malaysian Mitchell Cheah and Michelle Halder. Cheah and Michelle were first and second in the Junior class.
Race 2 takes place Sunday at 11.40 CET, with Steve Kirsch’s Opel and Michelle Halder’s Honda sharing the front row of the top-ten reverse grid; live streaming at www.tcr-series.tv.

Race 1
1. Mike Halder (Profi-car Team, Honda Civic FK7), 18 laps
2. Max Hesse (Team Engstler, Hyundai i30 N), 1.260
3. Harald Proczyk (HP Racing International, Hyundai i30 N), 2.384
4. Dominik Fugel (Profi-car Team, Honda Civic FK7), 3.168
5. Antti Buri (LMS Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS), 4.029

Championship points
1. Halder 123 pts; 2. Hesse 111; 3. Proczyk 97