Winning debut for Thierry Neuville at the Nürburgring
Guest rally star Thierry Neuville completed an amazing debut in circuit racing, as he dominated the first TCR Germany race at the Nürburgring. After setting pole position in the morning, Neuville led for the whole distance and his supremacy was never questioned, not even when the race resumed after a safety car period.
With Neuville not eligible to score, his teammate Max Hesse happily settled in second position to take maximum championship points.
At the start, Neuville sprinted from the pole, while Harald Proczyk dived to the inside of Hesse at T1 and rammed Mike Halder’s car that spun triggering a chain reaction. Michelle Halder swerved onto the grass in avoidance; Théo Coicaud, Dominik Fugel and Karen Gaillard came together and spun; Anti Buri lost several positions.
Proczyk’s car was damaged after the incident and so the Austrian was passed by Lukas Niedertscheider, Julien Apothéloz, Buri and Mitchell Cheah, dropping from third to seventh.
On lap 5, Burns stopped his… burning Honda on the track and the safety car was deployed.
When the race restarted in lap 11, Neuville pulled away again, followed by Hesse, while Apothéloz and Buri began a thrilling fight for the third place that lasted until the end; the Swiss driver managed to close all the gaps and beat Buri by one tenth in the final sprint. Proczyk dropped further down and finished in 11th position, while half-a-dozen drivers were given a drive-through for jump-start, including the Halder siblings.
These results mean that Buri is still leading the standings, but Hesse has moved into the second place, his gap reduced to 24 points. Proczyk has slipped down to third, two points behind Hesse, while Halder is fourth with a gap of 44 points.
Race 2 takes place Sunday at 14:40 CET, with the CUPRA of Pascal Eberle and the Volkswagen Golf of Cheah sharing the front row of the reverse grid; live streaming at www.tcr-series.com and www.tcr-series.tv.
Race 1
1. Thierry Neuville (Team Engstler, Hyundai i30 N), 19 laps
2. Max Hesse (Team Engstler, Hyundai i30 N), 4.233
3. Julien Apothéloz (Topcar Sport, CUPRA), 10.525
4. Antti Buri (LMS Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS), 10.660
5. Lukas Niedertscheider (HP Racing International, Hyundai i30 N), 12.543
Championship points
1. Buri 302 pts; 2. Hesse 278; 3. Proczyk 276
