Antti Buri took the lead of the ADAC TCR Germany series for the first time this year with victory in race one at Oschersleben, as title rival Harald Proczyk could only manage sixth in a sedate race.
From pole position, Buri assumed the led when the lights went out at the start, as fellow front-row starter Tiago Monteiro slotted into second, although without posing a threat to Buri.
Dominik Fugel started from third and, despite his best efforts could not keep pace with the leading duo, eventual completing the podium just over eight seconds adrift.
As a guest entry although Monteiro finished ahead of Fugel in the race, the WTCR regular is ineligible to score points and so did not take points away from his fellow Honda racer by finishing ahead.
Volkswagen racer Dziugas Tovilavicius took fourth, the Lithuanian driver getting a superb start to jump ahead of Harald Proczyk and Jan Seyffert at the start.
Tovilavicius proved to be a cork in the bottle in the early laps, holding up the chasing Honda of Marcel Fugel and effectively the rest of the field, before opening up a more comfortable gap in the closing laps.
Marcel Fugel took fifth, ahead of erstwhile points leader Proczyk, who was simply unable to pass for the duration of the race, despite trying several times.
Seyffert followed his team-mate home in seventh, ahead of the Engstler Motorsport Hyundai of Nico Gruber in eighth. His team-mate and guest entry Luca Engstler retired on the opening lap after pulling off with damage on his car.
The top ten was completed by the Volkswagen of René Kircher and Honda of Albert Legutko.
Buri now holds an eight-point lead over Proczyk and a 16-point lead over Dominik Fugel heading into Sunday’s final race of the season, which takes place at 09:25 GMT (10:25 CET).
Race result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 13 | Antti BURI |  |
Hyundai Team Engstler | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 20 | 20 LAPS | 1:32.313 | 1 |
| 2 | 18 | Tiago MONTEIRO |  |
Honda ADAC Sachsen | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 20 | 1.808 | 1:32.535 | 2 |
| 3 | 88 | Dominik FUGEL |  |
Honda ADAC Sachsen | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 20 | 8.207 | 1:32.733 | 3 |
| 4 | 92 | Dziugas TOVILAVICIUS |  |
SKUBA RACING TEAM | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 20 | 27.789 | 1:33.963 | 6 |
| 5 | 55 | Marcel FUGEL | |
Honda ADAC Sachsen | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 20 | 28.025 | 1:33.936 | 7 |
| 6 | 2 | Harald PROCZYK |  |
HP Racing International | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 20 | 31.438 | 1:33.551 | 4 |
| 7 | 98 | Jan SEYFFERT | |
HP Racing International | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 20 | 31.626 | 1:33.238 | 5 |
| 8 | 97 | Nicolas GRUBER | |
Hyundai Team Engstler | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 20 | 32.074 | 1:33.391 | 9 |
| 9 | 8 | René KIRCHER | |
Volkswagen Team Oettinger | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 20 | 34.383 | 1:33.633 | 8 |
| 10 | 17 | Albert LEGUTKO |  |
Albert Legutko Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FK2 TCR | 20 | 52.133 | 1:34.031 | 11 |
| R | 108 | Luca ENGSTLER | |
Hyundai Team Engstler | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 1 | DNF | N/A | 10 |
