Harald Proczyk, at the wheel of the HP Racing Opel Astra, signed his and Opel’s maiden win in the ADAC TCR Germany’s Race 1 at Hockenheim. Josh Files (Target Competition Honda Civic) mathematically secured his second consecutive title in the series before the final race that will start tomorrow at 15:15.
The race was red-flagged after the severe accident suffered by Jasmin Preisig in lap 9, but luckily the Swiss lady driver escaped the crash with bruises though she was later airlifted to the hospital for further medical checks.
The race had been lively but relatively uneventful until then. Proczyk managed to keep the advantage of the pole at the start, despite being fiercely challenged by Steve Kirsch (ADAC Sachsen Honda), Mike Halder (Wolf-Power Racing SEAT) and Sheldon van der Linde (AC1927 Mayen Audi) in the first lap. The Austrian was then able to build a sufficient gap, while Halder stabilized in second position and Kirsch passed van der Linde for third in lap 5, with Luca Engstler (Junior team Engstler Volkswagen) closing the top five.
A little further back, there was an entertaining battle for 6th between Niels Langeveld, Sandro Kaibach, Kris Richard, Antti Buri and Files. The Norwegian’s Racing One Audi kept the advantage, while Buri (LMS Racing Audi) completed two great overtaking manoeuvres to take P7. Files followed the quintet while visibly thinking about the championship.
Drama broke in lap 9, when Preisig (Lubner Motorsport Opel) hit the Armco twice after a contact with Jaap van Lagen (Certainty Racing Team Audi). It was a violent double impact that left the car stranded on the track among the debris. The safety-car was deployed to allow assisting the Swiss girl, while relevant medical protocols where followed prior to extract her from the wreckage as she suffered from pain to her back. Minutes after, the race was red-flagged.
