Photo: TCR Germany

Harald Proczyk takes lights-to-flag win as Josh Files hits trouble

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Pole sitter Harald Proczyk retained the lead at the start to never look back, claiming his maiden TCR Germany win at the Sachsenring. The HP Racing driver led home fellow SEAT driver Antti Buri, with Liqui Moly Team Engstler’s Tim Zimmermann completing the podium in his Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR.

At the start, Proczyk retained the lead as Josh Files went wide from second and slipped down to sixth. The Target Competition SEAT driver made contact with team-mate Jürgen Schmarl, with the German beached in the gravel and causing the deployment of the safety car as the Brit limped back to the pits to retire. Wolf-Power Racing’s Mario Dablander was also involved in the accident and dropped to the back of the field.

At the restart, Proczyk once again kept the lead ahead of Buri and Honda’s Steve Kirsch, while Bas Schouten slipped down from fifth to seventh as fellow SEAT drivers Mike Halder and Pascal Eberle overtook him.

The race was pretty much uneventful until lap 16 of 20, with Kirsch making a mistake and losing two places to eventual podium finisher Zimmermann and Mike Halder. The Honda driver was however able to jump back up to fourth on the following lap, just as Bas Schouten climbed back up to sixth by overtaking Eberle.

Proczyk therefore led a SEAT 1-2 ahead of Buri, with Zimmermann completing the podium for Volkswagen and Kirsch claiming fourth for Honda ahead of Halder.

The race winner is now also the championship leader, as the points collected today lift Proczyk up to 60 points, five more than former championship leader Josh Files.

The second race will start at 10.25 on Sunday.