Martin Andersen quickest in wet Hockenheim practice
Recently crowned TCR Germany champion Martin Andersen emerged as the quickest driver in the penultimate free practice session of the season at Hockenheim.
The Honda Civic Type-R driver posted a time of 2:05.838 to end up just over three-tenths of a second quicker than the NordPass Hyundai i30 N TCR of Jonas Karklys.
René Kircher made it two Hyundais in the top theee in the best of the ROJA Motorsport machines, while Comtoyou Racing’s Jessica Bäckman was only 10th.
The morning session was declared wet, meaning times were much slower than usual, and Karklys was the early pacesetter on a 2:07.212 as the drivers gradually got up to speed.
It didn’t take long before Andersen assumed the head of the field, setting what would ultimately be the fastest time halfway into the session.
Karklys’s deficit at the time was a substantial 1.374s but the Lithuanian driver chipped away at Andersen’s effort throughout the remaining minutes, getting to within eight-tenths of a second before finishing 0.387s away after his final lap.
Kircher also benefited from a late surge in his Hyundai, having languished towards the back of the top 10 for much of the session. Both he and the Gruhn Stahlbau Racing Audi of Max Gruhn found significant time in the closing stages.
Completing the top five runners was the second ROJA Motorsport Hyundai of Tim Rölleke, who found himself in a back-and-forth with the Honda of Albert Legutko.
The pair were close on times throughout the session and swapped fourth and fifth fastest times in quick succession. Legutko had dropped to eighth but improved on his last effort to finish sixth ahead of Team Engstler’s Szymon Ladniak.
Maurer Motorsport’s Vincent Radermecker was ninth in his Holden, while Bäckman was 10th, some 3.411s off the pace.
Next up for TCR Germany is second practice, which is scheduled to take place this afternoon at 13:40 CET.
