Johannes Leidinger wins race one at the Red Bull Ring

Liqui Moly Team Engstler’s Johannes Leidinger has won the first race of the day at the Red Bull Ring ahead of Jens Weimann, who spun out whilst lapping a battle in Division 2 late in the race.

2011 champion Leidinger got away well at the start in his BMW 320si, but had Weimann’s Thate Motorsport BMW on his tail never more than a second behind during the first ten laps of the race.

Reiner Kuhn, making his ADAC Procar Series debut in the second of Engstler’s BMWs was off the pace and fell to 40 seconds behind his team-mate by the finish line.

Weimann’s one shot at a pass for the lead came at Turn 3, trying to pass Leidinger around the outside, but the move failed and Leidinger maintained his lead until the end.

In Divison 2 the main battle was for second in class as Austrian David Griessner pulled away from the pack comfortably in his ETH Tuning Peugeot 207 Sport and took his fifth consecutive class victory.

Ralf Glatzel had made a great start in his Ford Fiesta 1.6 16v, but had 2011 Division 2 class champion Nils Mierschke right behind him in his Ford Fiesta ST. As the two battled they allowed the Liqui Moly Team Engstler Ford of Thomas Krebs to close up. Mierschke was eventually able to get ahead of Glatzel into Turn 1 on lap seven, but wasn’t able to pull away, with Glatzel hounding him for second in class for the remainder of the race.

At the end of lap ten, the Division 1 class leading battle of Leidinger and Weimann came across the Division 2 P2 battle between Mierschke and Glatzel. Leidinger was able to thread his way through, but Weimann spun around whilst trying to pass Glatzel’s Ford down the inside in the final corner and lost 15 seconds, but still was able to retain position two.

Leidinger now closes up to four points from Weimann in the drivers’ standings, whilst Griessner extends his points lead in Division 2.

The second race of the day takes place at 15:35 CET.