Harald Proczyk claimed victory in the opening ADAC TCR Germany series race of 2018 at Oschersleben, after early race leader Mike Halder was hit with a penalty for taking out Florian Thoma.
At the start pole-sitter Halder got off to an average getaway, allowing Team Engstler’s Thoma to attempt a pass on the inside at Turn 1. However, Halder clipped the kerb on the inside of Turn 2 and tagged the rear of Thoma’s Volkswagen, spinning him into the gravel and out of the race.
That allowed Proczyk to briefly take the lead at Turn 3, but Halder fought back and re-passed further around the opening lap.
The safety car was then called upon to allow Thoma’s car to be cleared, with Halder leading ahead of Proczyk, Niels Langeveld and Antti Buri.
The race resumed on lap three, but only briefly as Brui ran wide approaching the Turn 8 chicane and when he re-joined his Audi made contact with the innocent passing Honda of Dominik Fugel, who was sent spinning into the tyre barriers.
That necessitated another safety car intervention for two laps, during which time race leader Halder was handed a drive-through penalty for the incident, handing the lead to Proczyk.
The Opel racer got a clean restart, and sustained pressure from Langeveld for the remainder of the race to claim his third TCR Germany victory.
Langeveld took second, unable to challenge Proczyk, despite being allowed a one-lap chance at the end of the race when, after a third safety car pause to collect Marcel Fugel’s Honda and Max Hesse’s Audi, the race went green for a final sprint to the flag.
Luca Engstler completed the podium, despite strong pressure from Buri and YACO Racing’s Simon Reicher late in the race.
Buri originally finished in fourth but was given a post-race penalty of 30 seconds added to his time for the incident with Fugel.
Prosport Performance’s Sandro Kaibach was sixth, ahead of the second HP Racing Opel of Luke Wankmüller in seventh.
The leading CUPRA was Petr Fulín in eighth, ahead of Team Engstler’s Niko Kankkunen in ninth.
Benjamin Leuchter completed the top ten after a strong drive from the back of the grid, after having had his qualifying times on Friday disallowed due to an underweight car.
Kai Jordan headed an Engstler Motorsport trio in 11th, having a few laps earlier been hit by team-mate Kankkunen and dropped out of the top ten. Just behind him were French rookie Theo Coicaud in 12th and Justin Häußermann in 13th.
Mike Halder pulled into the pits before the end of the race to retire, whilst Marcel Fugel, who had earlier made contact with Loris Prattes, retired with a front-right puncture.
The second TCR Germany race at Oschersleben takes place at 10:00 CEST on Sunday (09:00 BST).
Revised race result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 22 | Harald PROCZYK |  |
HP Racing International | Opel Astra TCR | 18 | 18 LAPS | 1:34.092 | 3 |
| 2 | 14 | Niels LANGEVELD |  |
Racing One | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 18 | 1.238 | 1:34.320 | 7 |
| 3 | 8 | Luca ENGSTLER |  |
Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 18 | 2.502 | 1:34.186 | 9 |
| 4 | 54 | Simon REICHER | |
YACO Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 18 | 4.041 | 1:34.313 | 6 |
| 5 | 44 | Sandro KAIBACH | |
Prosport Performance | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 18 | 4.372 | 1:34.217 | 14 |
| 6 | 11 | Luke WANKMÜLLER | |
HP Racing International | Opel Astra TCR | 18 | 4.698 | 1:34.558 | 5 |
| 7 | 2 | Petr FULÍN |  |
Fullin Race Academy | CUPRA TCR | 18 | 4.982 | 1:34.611 | 10 |
| 8 | 47 | Niko KANKKUNEN |  |
Team Engstler Europe | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 18 | 5.079 | 1:33.985 | 13 |
| 9 | 10 | Benjamin LEUCHTER | |
Max Kruse Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 18 | 5.938 | 1:34.103 | 28 |
| 10 | 3 | Kai JORDAN | |
Team Engstler Germany | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 18 | 6.045 | 1:35.005 | 15 |
| 11 | 27 | Theo COICAUD |  |
Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 18 | 6.374 | 1:34.987 | 18 |
| 12 | 77 | Justin HÄUßERMANN | |
Team Engstler Germany | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 18 | 6.698 | 1:34.634 | 16 |
| 13 | 53 | Michelle HALDER | |
Profi-Car Team Halder | CUPRA TCR | 18 | 7.094 | 1:34.495 | 19 |
| 14 | 29 | Jussi KUUSINIEMI | |
Positione Motorsport | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 18 | 7.574 | 1:35.009 | 23 |
| 15 | 6 | Oliver HOLDENER |  |
Wolf-Power Racing | CUPRA TCR | 18 | 8.496 | 1:34.897 | 17 |
| 16 | 42 | Lukas NIEDERTSCHEIDER | |
Niedertscheider Motorsport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 18 | 8.687 | 1:34.742 | 11 |
| 17 | 17 | Jasmin PREISIG | |
Steibel Motorsport | Opel Astra TCR | 18 | 9.464 | 1:35.551 | 12 |
| 18 | 60 | Loris PRATTES | |
TOPCAR Sport | CUPRA TCR | 18 | 10.072 | 1:34.682 | 24 |
| 19 | 99 | Maurits SANDBERG | |
Racing One | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 18 | 10.519 | 1:35.258 | 26 |
| 20 | 33 | JC REYNOLDS | |
TOPCAR Sport | CUPRA TCR | 18 | 15.088 | 1:36.322 | 27 |
| 21 | 23 | Sebastian STEIBEL | |
Steibel Motorsport | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 18 | 21.352 | 1:35.156 | 20 |
| 22 | 30 | Antti BURI | |
LMS Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 18 | 33.023 | 1:34.199 | 8 |
| 23 | 5 | Alex MORGAN |  |
Wolf-Power Racing | Renault Mégane TCR | 17 | + 1 LAP | 1:36.695 | 22 |
| R | 7 | Mike HALDER | |
Team Honda ADAC Sachsen | Honda Civic TCR 2018 | 16 | DNF | 1:32.668 | 1 |
| R | 19 | Max HESSE | |
Prosport Performance | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 14 | DNF | 1:34.014 | 21 |
| R | 55 | Marcel FUGEL | |
Profi-Car Team Halder | Honda Civic TCR 2018 | 14 | DNF | 1:35.189 | 25 |
| R | 88 | Dominik FUGEL | |
Team Honda ADAC Sachsen | Honda Civic TCR 2018 | 3 | DNF | 2:30.892 | 4 |
| R | 39 | Florian THOMA | |
Team Engstler Europe | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 0 | DNF | N/A | 2 |