Photo: ADAC TCR Germany media

Antti Buri steals win from Josh Files in shortened Zandvoort race

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Finland’s Antti Buri took victory from the clutches of Target Competition Honda driver’s Josh Files on the final lap at Zandvoort in a race which was drastically shortened after a crash on the opening lap.

At the start of the race, Niklas Mackschin struggled to get away from seventh on the grid in his Engstler Volkswagen Golf and was collected by Bas Koeten Racing’s Bas Schouten, whose SEAT León TCR suffered terminal suspension damage and was left stranded by the side of the track.

From fifth on the grid, Antti Buri had made a great start in the LMS SEAT León TCR and was up to second ahead of Honda Team ADAC’s Steve Kirsch with Files retaining his lead, but the safety car was shortly called as the recovery began of Schouten’s stricken SEAT.

The marshals deposited the car at the end of the pit lane, with the race director opting to red flag the race after four laps, with the Bas Koeten team visibly unhappy with the handling of their car’s recovery.

The race was restarted on lap six with just seven minutes of green flag racing remaining, with Files leading the race ahead of Buri and Kirsch.

Kirsch was passed by Engstler Motorsport’s Mike Halder around the back of the circuit on the first racing lap, but the Honda driver made a forceful move to retake the spot back a lap later, forcing Halder wide and dropping him back two positions.

Files had Buri’s SEAT right with him throughout, with a train of five cars lining up behind the Briton. The Finn made his move at Turns 12 and 13 on the final lap and grabbed the lead, while Files was immediately under attack from Kirsch’s Honda. As Files defended, Kirsch was trapped on the outside and lost position to the SEAT of Harald Proczyk, who made his way past as did Engstler Volkswagen’s Tim Zimmermann, leaving Kirsch to finish in fifth position.

Buri’s win is his third of the season, while Files is comfortably on course for the title, now leading Proczyk by 58 points with just 80 points remaining from the last three races of the season.

Race 2 gets underway at 9:30 CET on Sunday, with Target Competition’s new driver Simon Larsson starting from pole position on the reversed top ten grid following Benjamin Leuchter’s exclusion after qualifying yesterday due to a technical infringement.