Max Hesse is champion as Antti Buri gets a penalty

Max Hesse secured the 2019 TCR Germany title at the end of a breathtaking race that ended with the four title contenders risking everything in a last gasp battle during the final lap of the second race at the Sachsenring.
In the final sprint, it was Antti Buri the first to cross the finishing line with a margin of 11 thousandths of a second over Hesse. A victory that would have given him the title, on equal points with Hesse, but by four victories to three. However the Finn was given a one second time penalty for a collision with Harald Proczyk at the beginning of the last lap that dropped him to third in the race and in the standings, 12 points behind Hesse and five behind Proczyk.
And so, the 18-year old Hesse became the first German champion of the series and the youngest.
At the start, Marcel Fugel pipped pole sitter Phillip Regensperger and took the lead from René Münnich, Hesse and Buri, but in the commotion of the first couple of turns, Buri dropped four places down to eight and Proczyk moved into fourth.
Hesse overtook Münnich for P2 and began chasing Marcel Fugel; they made contact a couple of times and then Hesse took the lead on lap 5. Two laps later the leading quartet in the championship was filling the first four positions in the race, with Hesse chased by Proczyk and Halder defending the third place from Buri who finally passed him in lap 15.
For the following four laps, Proczyk began eroding Hesse’s leading margin that was reduced to half-a-second, but the Austrian had to watch out for Buri who was shadowing him.
In Lap 19, Sophie Hofmann’s CUPRA was beached at T5 and this prompted the safety-car into action. Racing resumed for the final lap and Proczyk tried to outbrake Hesse at T1, but locked his front wheels and went a bit wide, opening the gap for Buri who dived into it. They made contact and Buri was through.
The Finn was on the tail of Hesse’s car and passed him a couple of corners before the end, but Hesse didn’t give up and so they entered abreast on the pit straight falling together on the finishing line.

Race 2
1. Max Hesse (Team Engstler, Hyundai i30 N), 21 laps
2. Harald Proczyk (HP Racing International, Hyundai i30 N), 0.548
3. Antti Buri (LMS Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS), 0.989
4. Mike Halder (Profi-Car, Honda Civic FK7), 1.202
5. Dominik Fugel (Profi-Car, Honda Civic FK7), 1.278

Championship points
1. Hesse 438 pts; 2. Proczyk 431; 3. Buri 426