Wolf-Power Racing’s Alex Morgan claimed his first win in the TCR Europe series in race two at Oschersleben, fending off a race-long challenge from Boutsen Ginion Racing’s Tom Coronel to win in a relatively sedate race.
The second race saw a disciplined field drive a clean race. CUPRA driver Alex Morgan won in front of Tom Coronel’s Honda Civic Type R and Josh Files’ Hyundai i30.
Wolf-Power Racing’s Morgan secured the victory in the second race of Oschersleben in front of Boutsen Ginion Racing’s Tom Coronel and Target Competition’s Josh Files.
Morgan had to no time to breathe, being under constant pressure from Coronel. Files followed the leading pack just over a second behind for much of the race.
From Morgan’s point of view it was a tough job to defend the lead: “After the first two or three laps I told the team that I had quite a lot of understeer which usually gets worse over the course of the race,” said Morgan to TouringCars.Net.
“When I crossed the line and saw that I there are still over 16 minutes left to go I thought ‘There is no way I am going to make this to the end in the lead.’
“In addition, Tom seemed to have a lot more front grip compared to me. So I tried to slow the car in the middle of the corner and then get a good exit which would make it difficult for Tom to attack me in the following corner.
“The only threat was the last corner of every lap where he came really close to me. I had just enough pace to stay in front of him.”
Having had a rather ‘boring race’ on Saturday, Coronel found himself back in action today, starting from third on the grid.
“Finally a trophy”, cheered Coronel. “It was a good race and I put a lot of pressure on Morgan. The speed was quite good. I just couldn’t overtake him because he was strong on the acceleration which is why I was unable to get close enough.
“I managed to be a tease but that’s about it. Still, I am very happy to have finally won a trophy.”
Despite his good results as well as being in the lead in the championship standings, Files said that he is still not fully satisfied.
“I’m disappointed because we have a small issue with traction that we don’t really understand yet. We have made a lot of changes to the car throughout weekend to at least get it to brake well, turn in and rotate.
“But I was struggling with the exits of the corners. During the small break we will take things apart to further look into this matter.”
As soon as the red lights went off, the drivers presented a clean race with mostly fair manoeuvres. An exception could be seen between Target Competition’s Mat’o Homola and Team WRT’s Maxime Potty. Homola pushed Potty into the barrier at the exit of Turn Seven. While Potty’s race was over immediately, Homola tried to get his car into the pits but was forced to stop right at the entry.
Next to the intense fights for positions, Saturday’s eventual race one winner Daniel Lloyd had to stop his smoking car between Turn 11 and Turn 12 after six laps.
About two laps later the tread of the tyre on the Volkswagen Golf GTI of Gianni Morbidelli went off, cutting itself through the front of the car causing a spectacular moment. Morbidelli immediately needed to stop his car. Furthermore, Davit Kajaia, Olli Kangas, Abdulla Ali Al-Khelaifi and Támas Tenke also failed to make it to the checkered flag.
With some of the incidents still being under investigations, Dominik Baumann, Santiago Urrutia, Jessica Bäckman, Luca Engstler, Nelson Panciatici, Andreas Bäckman and Gilles Magnus complete the top ten.
By finishing in third, Files has extended his points to 254 points, 78 points ahead of Engstler, who moved up to second after finishing in seventh.
Race result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 5 | Alex MORGAN |  |
Wolf-Power Racing | CUPRA TCR | 16 | 25:03.406 | 1:32.779 | 1 |
| 2 | 50 | Tom CORONEL |  |
Boutsen Ginion Racing | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 16 | 0.346 | 1:32.776 | 3 |
| 3 | 9 | Josh FILES | |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 16 | 1.294 | 1:33.128 | 2 |
| 4 | 58 | Dominik BAUMANN |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 16 | 1.682 | 1:33.113 | 4 |
| 5 | 55 | Santiago URRUTIA |  |
Team WRT | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 16 | 2.342 | 1:33.011 | 8 |
| 6 | 26 | Jessica BÄCKMAN |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 16 | 2.923 | 1:32.930 | 5 |
| 7 | 8 | Luca ENGSTLER |  |
M1RA Motorsport | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 16 | 3.553 | 1:32.456 | 12 |
| 8 | 12 | Nelson PANCIATICI |  |
M Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 16 | 5.163 | 1:33.035 | 7 |
| 9 | 19 | Andreas BÄCKMAN | |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 16 | 5.630 | 1:32.819 | 10 |
| 10 | 16 | Gilles MAGNUS |  |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 16 | 10.608 | 1:33.667 | 6 |
| 11 | 30 | Luca FILIPPI |  |
BRC Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 16 | 15.573 | 1:33.297 | 14 |
| 12 | 25 | Natan BIHEL | |
M Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 16 | 25.090 | 1:33.927 | 15 |
| 13 | 7 | Aurélien COMTE | |
DG Sport Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 16 | 25.445 | 1:33.926 | 16 |
| 14 | 24 | Julien BRICHÉ | |
JSB Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 16 | 25.968 | 1:33.864 | 22 |
| 15 | 112 | Jimmy CLAIRET | |
Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 16 | 26.187 | 1:33.827 | 20 |
| 16 | 67 | Zsolt Dávid SZABÓ |  |
M1RA Motorsport | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 16 | 26.788 | 1:34.000 | 21 |
| 17 | 111 | Teddy CLAIRET | |
Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 16 | 27.081 | 1:34.056 | 24 |
| 18 | 10 | Viktor DAVIDOVSKY |  |
PSS Racing Team | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 16 | 27.609 | 1:33.993 | 17 |
| 19 | 17 | Martin RYBA |  |
Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 16 | 33.115 | 1:34.154 | 28 |
| 20 | 88 | Maxime POTTY | |
Team WRT | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 16 | 34.297 | 1:33.210 | 19 |
| 21 | 77 | Sylvain PUSSIER | |
Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 16 | 42.921 | 1:35.028 | 27 |
| 22 | 3 | Davit KAJAIA |  |
PCR Sport with Georgia | CUPRA TCR | 13 | + 3 LAPS | 1:33.609 | 18 |
| R | 46 | Olli KANGAS |  |
WestCoast Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 10 | DNF | 1:33.889 | 23 |
| R | 45 | Gianni MORBIDELLI | |
WestCoast Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 8 | DNF | 1:33.183 | 11 |
| R | 96 | Abdulla Ali AL-KHELAIFI |  |
QMMF Racing by PCR Sport | CUPRA TCR | 7 | DNF | 1:34.094 | 25 |
| R | 123 | Daniel LLOYD | |
Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 6 | DNF | 1:32.845 | 9 |
| R | 70 | Mat’o HOMOLA | |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 4 | DNF | 1:33.756 | 13 |
| R | 23 | Tamás TENKE | |
Zengő Motorsport | CUPRA TCR | 3 | DNF | 1:34.936 | 26 |