Team Honda ADAC Sachsen’s Dominik Fugel took a resounding victory in the opening ADAC TCR Germany race of the weekend at the Sachsenring, after pole-sitter Jan Seyffert dropped back in the race.
At the start, René Kircher initially edged his Volkswagen Golf ahead of pole-sitter Seyffert at Turn 1, but the Team Eottinger driver then went wide at the second corner, allowing Seyffert back in front.
HP Racing’s Seyffert then led the first half a dozen laps, at one stage opening up a lead of around a second, before the chasing Dominik Fugel cut the lead.
Fugel then pounced for the lead on lap seven, passing the Hyundai of Seyffert at Turn 14, before going on to open up a comfortable margin.
Clearly struggling for pace, Seyffert then dropped back into the clutches of the Honda of Marcel Fugel in the latter half of the race, with Fugel only finding a way past on the penultimate lap.
Approaching the penultimate corner at Turn 13, Fugel looked to the outside which allowed Antti Buri, who was in fourth and on the tail of the duo, to look up the inside.
As Buri and Seyffert then went wider at Turn 14, Fugel was able to cut back to the inside, taking second from Seyffert as Buri claimed third at Turn 1 after the trio went three-wide on the main straight.
Buri held on to complete the podium, just ahead of the late-charging Hyundai of Harald Proczyk in fourth, who had been allowed through by his team-mate Seyffert on the last lap.
2018 champion Proczyk had been forced to start the race from the back of the grid after a post-qualifying engine change, but the Austrian fought back early on in the race to run in fifth for most of the distance, before progressing past his team-mate.
Seyffert claimed fifth, a further three seconds back, after struggling in the final laps, ahead of Hyundai Team Engstler’s Nico Gruber in sixth.
After going off into the gravel on lap three, Kircher could only manage seventh, although the Volkswagen driver got past Albert Legutko’s older Honda a lap later.
Legutko claimed eighth, with the top ten completed by motorcycle racer and guest driver Marcel Shrötter and the Volkswagen of Dziugas Tovilavicius.
Positione Motorsport’s Harri Salminen was the only non-finisher of the race after retiring to the pits with three laps to go, the Finn having run in eighth until that stage.
Race two is scheduled to get underway at 11:30 CEST (10:30 BST) on Sunday.
Race result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 88 | Dominik FUGEL |  |
Profi Car Honda ADAC Sachsen | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 22 | 22 LAPS | 1:27.752 | 4 |
| 2 | 55 | Marcel FUGEL | |
Profi Car Team Halder | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 22 | 12.537 | 1:27.770 | 6 |
| 3 | 13 | Antti BURI |  |
Hyundai Team Engstler | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 22 | 14.200 | 1:28.164 | 8 |
| 4 | 2 | Harald PROCZYK |  |
HP Racing International | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 22 | 14.650 | 1:28.457 | 11 |
| 5 | 98 | Jan SEYFFERT | |
HP Racing International | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 22 | 17.904 | 1:27.873 | 1 |
| 6 | 97 | Nicolas GRUBER | |
Hyundai Team Engstler | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 22 | 23.768 | 1:29.356 | 3 |
| 7 | 8 | René KIRCHER | |
Volkswagen Team Oettinger | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 22 | 24.563 | 1:28.798 | 2 |
| 8 | 17 | Albert LEGUTKO |  |
Albert Legutko Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FK2 TCR | 22 | 46.327 | 1:29.995 | 5 |
| 9 | 123 | Marcel SCHRÖTTER | |
Hyundai Team Engstler | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 22 | 48.184 | 1:30.182 | 9 |
| 10 | 92 | Dziugas TOVILAVICIUS |  |
SKUBA RACING TEAM | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 22 | 48.335 | 1:30.063 | 7 |
| R | 51 | Harri SALMINEN | |
Positione Motorsport | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 19 | DNF | 1:29.272 | 10 |
