Max Hart claimed his maiden TCR Europe victory in the opening race at the Hockenheimring, having jumped up to second at the start before passing early leader Nicol Baldan a few laps later.
Target Competition’s Hart made one of the best starts when the lights went out, briefly jumping up to second as pole-sitter Baldan held the early lead from a good start.
Hart fell quickly back to fourth after the first corner, but was into second after Butti made a mistake under braking for the hairpin a few corners later, before diving inside Eric Gené for second entering the stadium section.
The safety car had to be called upon at the end of the opening lap due to an incident involving Jean-Laurent Navarro’s Hyundai, which stopped on track at the hairpin, where there was also contact between Pierre-Arnaud Navarro and Filippo Barberi, causing the latter to retire and Navarro to have to pit for his loose rear bumper to be fixed.
Racing resumed on lap five and Baldan, who had built a large gap on the opening lap, came under immediate attack by Hart.
The Irishman dived inside at Turn 2 to take the lead from Baldan, who was then passed by Monlau Motorsport’s Gené and Marco Butti for second and third respectively under braking for the hairpin.
Gené only held second for one lap before Butti dived inside for second at the hairpin, and the CUPRA driver lost a place on the next lap to Baldan on the exit of the hairpin, before slipping to fifth a lap later when Jimmy Clairet dived inside at the hairpin.
The top places largely stabilised after that, although Jimmy Clairet passed Baldan for the final podium position on the penultimate lap.
Hart thus claimed his first win (and podium) in TCR Europe by three and a half seconds from MM Motorsport’s Butti, with Jimmy Clairet completing the podium.
Baldan was fourth, ahead of Gené in fifth and ALM Motorsport’s Ruben Volt in sixth.
Championship leader Teddy Clairet had been running in ninth when he made mistake under braking for the hairpin on lap 11, making contact with PMA Motorsport’s Nicolas Taylor and immediately retiring his Audi.
Taylor was able to continue, but dropped behind team-mate Felice Jelmini in the process, with Jelmini in seventh ahead of Canadian Taylor in eighth.
The top ten was completed by RC2 Racing’s Felipe Fernández and JSB Compétition’s Julien Briché.
Solite Indigo Racing’s Junui Park had been running in seventh, but the South Korean made a mistake in the stadium section on lap 11 and crashed his Hyundai into the barriers.
Race two is scheduled to get underway at 11:40 CEST (10:40 BST) on Sunday.
Race result
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 69 |  |
Max HART | Target Srl | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 14 | 28:19.898 | 1:48.710 | 3 | |
| 2 | 111 |  |
Marco BUTTI | MM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 14 | 3.555 | 1:48.487 | 1 | |
| 3 | 21 |  |
Jimmy CLAIRET | Team Clairet Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 14 | 3.976 | 1:48.321 | 9 | |
| 4 | 8 | |
Nicola BALDAN | Aikoa Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 14 | 4.774 | 1:48.824 | 2 | |
| 5 | 28 |  |
Eric GENÉ Casanovas | Monlau Motorsport | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 14 | 5.801 | 1:49.328 | 5 | |
| 6 | 27 |  |
Ruben VOLT | ALM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 14 | 9.030 | 1:49.379 | 8 | |
| 7 | 44 | |
Felice JELMINI | PMA Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 14 | 11.160 | 1:49.675 | 12 | |
| 8 | 17 |  |
Nicolas TAYLOR | PMA Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 14 | 13.556 | 1:49.799 | 6 | |
| 9 | 19 | |
Felipe FERNÁNDEZ Gil | Auto Club RC2 Valles | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 14 | 16.962 | 1:49.618 | 10 | |
| 10 | 4 | |
Julien BRICHÉ | JSB Compétition | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 14 | 18.128 | 1:49.873 | 15 | |
| 11 | 246 |  |
Jenson BRICKLEY | Monlau Motorsport | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 14 | 19.058 | 1:49.951 | 16 | |
| 12 | 48 |  |
Mikael KARLSSON | ALM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 14 | 19.509 | 1:49.757 | 13 | |
| 13 | 10 | |
Viktor ANDERSSON | MA:GP | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 14 | 22.566 | 1:49.846 | 7 | |
| 14 | 97 |  |
Junesung PARK | Solite Indigo Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 14 | 24.031 | 1:50.818 | 18 | |
| 15 | 45 | |
Victor FERNÁNDEZ Gil | Auto Club RC2 Valles | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 14 | 25.061 | 1:50.355 | 19 | |
| R | 87 | |
Junui PARK | Solite Indigo Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 10 | DNF | 1:49.399 | 4 | |
| R | 20 | |
Teddy CLAIRET | Team Clairet Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 10 | DNF | 1:49.713 | 14 | |
| R | 98 | |
Pierre-Arnaud NAVARRO | JSB Compétition | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 9 | DNF | 2:25.154 | 20 | |
| R | 33 | |
Santiago CONCEPCIÓN | Auto Club RC2 Valles | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 5 | DNF | 2:09.929 | 11 | |
| R | 80 | |
Filippo BARBERI | Aikoa Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 0 | DNF | N/A | 17 | |
| R | 6 | |
Jean-Laurent NAVARRO | JSB Compétition | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 0 | DNF | N/A | 21 |