Racing One’s Niels Langeveld claimed victory in a heavily interrupted first TCR Germany Series race of the weekend at Zandvoort, which was marred by a red-flag stoppage caused by an opening lap shunt.
UPDATE – A raft of penalties were handed out to 15 drivers following the race for not having their tyres on at the three-minute signal prior to the restart, significantly changing the race result. Click here for more information.
At the start of the race pole-sitter Harald Proczyk got off to a poor start to allow Mike Halder and Steve Kirsch to get past in the first corners, whilst further behind a big accident on the start / finish straight caused the red flags to be flown.
The incident was sparked when Lubner Motorsport’s Jasmin Preisig swerved into the Honda of Moritz Oestreich, who then ricocheted into Engstler Motorsport’s Florian Thoma, taking all three drivers out of the race.
A lengthy half hour delay then followed as medics at the circuit attended to Thoma, who was unable to exit his vehicle unassisted despite the damage not appearing to be significant.
When the race eventually resumed, rain clouds had gathered in the area around the coastal circuit and a wet race was declared, although not all runners opted to change their rubber.
A safety car restart saw Halder lead initially from Kirsch, but it wasn’t long before Langeveld ended up in the lead courtesy of some suave racing.
There would be little further racing before another safety car intervention, which was caused when Target Competition’s Kris Richard slipped off the circuit at Slotemakerbocht and hit the Armco heavily in his Honda.
Another race neutralisation followed, with Langeveld leading Engstler Motorsport’s Jason Wolfe and Bas Koeten Racing’s Rik Breukers on his TCR Germany début.
On lap nine racing resumed once again, although once again it would only be for a lap before Target Competition’s Tom Lautenschlager was helped into the barriers at Gerlachbocht by Luca Engstler and Steve Kirsch, who both managed to continue.
Another two-lap safety car pause meant the race would go down to a final two-lap sprint at the end, with further rain falling once again.
In the end Langeveld prevailed to claim his second successive win, ahead of Wolfe and Breukers, who took their first podiums in the series.
Championship leader Josh Files was fourth, despite contact with Thomas Kramwinkel on the penultimate lap that saw the latter in a hard brush with the barriers at Slotemakerbocht.
Prosport Performance’s Max Hofer was fifth, ahead of Wolf-Power Racing duo Halder and Alex Morgan, with the latter having at one stage been in contention for a podium.
Engstler claimed eighth, ahead of the second Prosport Audi of Sheldon van der Linde in ninth, who had to fight his way into the position from 38th on the grid after a penalty for changing engine ahead of the race.
Kramwinkel completed the top ten, despite completing the final lap and a half with an ailed and crabbing car.
Several drivers encountered issues before the start of the race and failed to start, including Jaap van Lagen, José Rodrigues and Kai Jordan, the latter having pitted at the end of the warm-up lap.
The results have allowed Files to further extend his championship lead to 104 points over new second-place driver Halder.
Race two takes place at 12:00 CEST on Sunday (11:00 BST).
Original race result (subsequently amended)
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 14 | Niels LANGEVELD |  |
Racing One | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 13 | 13 LAPS | 1:50.325 | 9 |
| 2 | 38 | Jason WOLFE |  |
Team Engstler USA | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 13 | 4.416 | 1:53.960 | 5 |
| 3 | 58 | Rik BREUKERS | |
Bas Koeten Racing 2 | SEAT León TCR | 13 | 4.685 | 1:52.871 | 15 |
| 4 | 1 | Josh FILES |  |
Target Competition UK-SUI | Honda Civic Type R TCR | 13 | 5.227 | 1:56.074 | 7 |
| 5 | 19 | Max HOFER |  |
AC 1927 Mayen e.V. im ADAC | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 13 | 6.484 | 1:51.953 | 13 |
| 6 | 7 | Mike HALDER |  |
Wolf-Power Racing 2 | SEAT León TCR | 13 | 6.887 | 1:53.464 | 2 |
| 7 | 2 | Alex MORGAN | |
Wolf-Power Racing 2 | SEAT León TCR | 13 | 7.043 | 1:51.648 | 16 |
| 8 | 8 | Luca ENGSTLER | |
Junior Team Engstler | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 13 | 7.401 | 1:56.589 | 4 |
| 9 | 18 | Sheldon VAN DER LINDE |  |
AC 1927 Mayen e.V. im ADAC | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 13 | 8.277 | 1:50.703 | 38 |
| 10 | 82 | Thomas KRAMWINKEL | |
GermanFLAVOURS Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 13 | 11.381 | 1:51.285 | 21 |
| 11 | 99 | Tim ZIMMERMANN | |
Target Competition GER | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 13 | 11.548 | 1:50.698 | 37 |
| 12 | 10 | Antti BURI |  |
LMS Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 13 | 12.271 | 1:55.943 | 6 |
| 13 | 3 | Gosia RDEST |  |
Target Competition SWE-POL | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 13 | 13.38 | 1:51.455 | 28 |
| 14 | 41 | Steve KIRSCH | |
Team Honda ADAC Sachsen | Honda Civic Type R TCR | 13 | 14.048 | 1:56.226 | 3 |
| 15 | 12 | Simon LARSSON |  |
Target Competition SWE-POL | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 13 | 14.094 | 1:51.554 | 27 |
| 16 | 20 | Niko KANKKUNEN | |
LMS Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 13 | 15.517 | 1:52.139 | 30 |
| 17 | 22 | Harald PROCZYK | |
HP Racing | SEAT León TCR | 13 | 16.812 | 1:56.093 | 1 |
| 18 | 78 | Fabian DANZ |  |
Schläppi Race-Tec | SEAT León Cup Racer | 13 | 16.968 | 1:52.473 | 20 |
| 19 | 66 | Ronny JOST | |
TOPCAR Sport | SEAT León TCR | 13 | 17.908 | 1:52.081 | 33 |
| 20 | 57 | Michael VERHAGEN | |
Bas Koeten Racing 1 | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 13 | 18.337 | 1:52.591 | 29 |
| 21 | 54 | Simon REICHER | |
Certainty Racing Team | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 13 | 18.798 | 1:53.445 | 25 |
| 22 | 44 | Sandro KAIBACH | |
Aust Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 13 | 18.996 | 1:49.322 | 8 |
| 23 | 84 | Maurits SANDBERG | |
Racing One 2 | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 13 | 22.605 | 1:52.065 | 34 |
| 24 | 40 | Dillon KOSTER | |
Certainty Racing Team | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 13 | 23.108 | 1:52.170 | 32 |
| 25 | 64 | Sven MARKERT | |
GermanFLAVOURS Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 13 | 24.951 | 1:59.174 | 36 |
| 26 | 11 | Jürgen SCHMARL | |
Target Competition AUT-POR | Honda Civic Type R TCR | 13 | 25.332 | 1:56.775 | 35 |
| 27 | 28 | Pascal EBERLE | |
Steibel Motorsport | SEAT León TCR | 12 | + 1 LAP | 2:00.669 | 10 |
| 28 | 25 | Loris HEZEMANS | |
Aust Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 12 | + 1 LAP | 1:58.479 | 24 |
| 29 | 9 | Stefan GOEDE | |
Team Engstler USA | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 12 | + 1 LAP | 2:02.927 | 31 |
| 30 | 36 | Dino CALCUM | |
Lubner Motorsport | Opel Astra TCR | 12 | + 1 LAP | 1:57.516 | 11 |
| R | 98 | Tom LAUTENSCHLAGER | |
Target Competition GER | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 8 | DNF | 1:53.059 | 17 |
| R | 94 | Kris RICHARD | |
Target Competition UK-SUI | Honda Civic Type R TCR | 5 | DNF | 1:52.380 | 18 |
| R | 35 | Rudolf RHYN | |
TOPCAR Sport | SEAT León TCR | 1 | DNF | 2:59.489 | 22 |
| R | 39 | Florian THOMA | |
Junior Team Engstler | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 0 | DNF | N/A | 19 |
| R | 17 | Jasmin PREISIG | |
Lubner Motorsport | Opel Astra TCR | 0 | DNF | N/A | 23 |
| R | 88 | Moritz OESTREICH | |
Team Honda ADAC Sachsen | Honda Civic Type R TCR | 0 | DNF | N/A | 26 |
| R | 42 | Lukas NIEDERTSCHEIDER | |
Niedertscheider MSP | SEAT León TCR | 0 | DNF | N/A | 12 |
| R | 13 | Kai JORDAN | |
Racing One | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 0 | DNF | N/A | 14 |
| R | 27 | José RODRIGUES |  |
Target Competition AUT-POR | Honda Civic Type R TCR | 0 | DNF | N/A | 39 |
| R | 56 | Jaap VAN LAGEN | |
Bas Koeten Racing 1 | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 0 | DNF | N/A | 40 |