Harald Proczyk claims victory in Hockenheimring race one

Reigning TCR Germany champion Harald Proczyk moved himself closer to the top of the table with an authoritative victory in race one at the Hockenheimring, with the podium completed by fellow Hyundai racers Max Hesse and Theo Coicaud.

Proczyk led the race from lights-to-flag, never really being challenged beyond the start of the race. When the lights went out he had to hold his line from Andreas Bäckman and Mike Halder, who slotted into second, but the Austrian was then able to open up a comfortable gap.

Although Halder was into second early on, the Team Honda ADAC Sachsen driver fell behind both the Team Engstler Hyundais of Theo Coicaud and Max Hesse on lap two, as he went wide at the final corner and dropped to fifth.

Coicaud and Hesse then followed race leader Proczyk, swapping positions on lap 11 as Hesse, in title contention, took second.

The race eventually finished behind the safety car after Proczyk’s team-mate Lukas Niedertscheider, engaged in a race-long battle with LMS Racing’s Antti Buri, crashed into the Finn at the Mercedes arena and left his stricken car in the gravel on the exit of the corner.

Halder took the chequered flag in fourth, after re-taking the position from Andreas Bäckman on lap nine, just after a first three-lap safety car period which was needed when Marcel Fugel crashed his FK2 Honda Civic into the barriers at the final corner when he suffered a failure on his front-left wheel.

Halder’s team-mate Dominik Fugel was fifth, ahead of the Steibel Motorsport CUPRA of Pascal Eberle in sixth.

Jessica Bäckman was seventh, ahead of her brother Andreas in eighth, who lost a handful of positions when he tried to go three-wide with Niedertscheider and Buri on lap 12 before outbraking himself at the hairpin.

Sebastian Steibel was the best Volkswagen driver in ninth, whilst Buri completed the top ten after limping to the end in his damaged Audi.

Mitchell Cheah was 11^th in his Team Oettinger Volkswagen, ahead of René Kircher’s Racing One Audi.

Victory for Proczyk (327 points) moves him to just 13 points behinds series leader Buri (340) in third in the standings, whilst Hesse (337) is just three points behind the Finn ahead of Sunday’s second race.

Race result

POS	NO	DRIVER	NAT	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	1	Harald PROCZYK		HP Racing International	Hyundai i30 N TCR	16	16 LAPS	1:49.309	1
2	19	Max HESSE		Hyundai Team Engstler	Hyundai i30 N TCR	16	0.401	1:49.318	4
3	27	Theo COICAUD		Hyundai Team Engstler	Hyundai i30 N TCR	16	1.157	1:48.974	3
4	7	Mike HALDER		Profi-Car Team Honda ADAC Sachsen	Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR	16	2.656	1:49.873	5
5	88	Dominik FUGEL		Profi-Car Team Honda ADAC Sachsen	Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR	16	3.560	1:50.342	9
6	28	Pascal EBERLE		Steibel Motorsport 2	CUPRA TCR	16	4.325	1:50.362	8
7	101	Jessica BÄCKMAN		Target Competition	Hyundai i30 N TCR	16	4.713	1:50.625	6
8	9	Andreas BÄCKMAN		Target Competition	Hyundai i30 N TCR	16	4.993	1:49.431	2
9	23	Sebastian STEIBEL		Steibel Motorsport	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	16	5.399	1:50.826	13
10	13	Antti BURI		LMS Racing	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	16	9.165	1:50.458	10
11	29	Mitchell CHEAH Min Jie		VW Team Oettinger	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	16	9.458	1:51.334	11
12	8	René KIRCHER		racing one	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	16	10.055	1:51.108	15
13	53	Michelle HALDER		Profi-Car Team Halder	Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR	16	10.644	1:51.307	20
14	50	Kai JORDAN		VW Team Oettinger	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	16	11.837	1:51.787	14
15	98	Jan SEYFFERT		Lubner Motorsport	LADA Vesta TCR	16	12.291	1:52.121	19
16	105	Franz SIMON		Hyundai Team Engstler 2	Hyundai i30 N TCR	16	12.762	1:52.822	16
17	31	Mario ANDEREGG		TOPCAR Sport 2	CUPRA TCR	16	13.433	1:52.472	18
18	22	Julien APOTHÉLOZ		TOPCAR Sport	CUPRA TCR	15	+ 1 LAP	1:50.496	12
R	42	Lukas NIEDERTSCHEIDER		HP Racing International	Hyundai i30 N TCR	12	DNF	1:50.376	7
R	55	Marcel FUGEL		Profi-Car Team Halder	Honda Civic Type R FK2 TCR	4	DNF	1:51.092	17
NS	6	Bradley BURNS		Team Pyro Motorsport	Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR	–	DNS	N/A	–