Josh Files wins incident-packed race at Oschersleben

Reigning TCR Germany champion Josh Files started the season on top, winning the first race of the year at the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben.

At the start of the 30-minute race, poleman Target Competition’s Kris Richard took the lead in his Honda Civic TCR, ahead of Josh Files, Steve Kirsch and Sheldon van Der Linde in the first of the Audi RS 3 LMSs.

At the end of the first lap, Files made a move at Zeppeling Kurve to take the lead. Kirsch and van Der Linde followed on lap two, with Richard falling to fourth position

On lap five Simon Reicher (Audi) pushed Jason Wolfe (Volkswagen) off the track at Shell Kurve. Recovering Reicher was also on Ronny Jost’s way on the following corner, with both colliding and the SEAT driver spinning out of the race. The safety car was deployed for three laps whilst the marshals recovered the cars, with Ronny Jost not succeeding in getting pushed back on the track.

The race was restarted on lap eight, but a first corner incident caused the safety car to come into action for the second time. The track was green again with eight and a half minutes on the clock, with the first positions remaining stable.

Antii Buri and Sven Markert collided, with the German stopping at the trackside, whilst the Finn was able to make it back to the pits. Kristian Poulsen was also involved in a collision with only five minutes remaining on the clock, with the safety car being called into action for the third time.

The safety car returned to the pits with only a handful of seconds on the clock, with the race being restarted for one final flying lap.

Files led the pack, with Richard trying to make a move on van Der Linde at Turn 1. The positions remained set until the chequered flag, with Josh files taking victory ahead of Steve Kirsch and Sheldon van der Linde.

Target Competition’s Kris Richard and Jürgen Schmarl followed, with Pascal Eberle sixth in his SEAT León for Steibel Motorsport.

The Audi RS 3 LMS of Tim Zimmermann, Max Hofer and Tom Lautenschlager followed, with Florian Thoma, with a Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR from Junior Team Engstler completing the top ten.

Luca Engstler, at the wheel of a Volkswagen Golf from his father’s team, recovered from 28th on the grid to 17th to take victory in the Rookie Challenge.

Race 2 takes place tomorrow at 14:50 CET.