Photo: TCR Germany

Luca Engstler fastest in delayed and then red flagged first practice

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Engstler Motorsport’s Luca Engstler was fastest of all on his TCR International Series debut at Oschersleben, leading Craft-Bamboo Racing’s Pepe Oriola in a session which was red flagged with five minutes to go after reigning champion Stefano Comini put down gravel on the circuit, with a number of cars sliding off.

Team WRT’s Rob Huff set the early going in his Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR, but Huff’s time was soon eclipsed by the rival Volkswagen of Engstler, who was over two seconds faster on new tyres as a new entry this weekend.

Engstler ended up fastest on a time of 1:32.043, fastest by almost a second at the end of the session ahead of the SEAT León TCR of Pepe Oriola, with Team WRT’s Jaap van Lagen third fastest in the team’s all-new Golf GTI.

A number of drivers ran into difficult during the session including Audi driver Stefano Comini and WRT’s van Lagen.

Late in the session, Comini made a mistake at Turn 9 and cut across the entry, bringing a large amount of gravel onto the circuit.

Soon behind, both van Lagen and M1RA Honda driver Roberto Colciago slid off on the gravel and into the following gravel trap, while Craft-Bamboo’s Dan Lloyd soon found himself beached in the gravel trap directly, as more and more cars lost control at the corner.

The race director chose to red flag the session, and with the timetable already behind after a power cut stopped all morning activity, it was not resumed, with Engstler on top of the time sheets.

Behind the top three was WRT’s Rob Huff, with Aurélien Panis fifth on his International Series debut with Boutsen Ginion Honda. Dan Lloyd was sixth in the Craft-Bamboo SEAT, ahead of Stian Paulsen’s SEAT.

Giacomo Altoe was eighth fastest in his WestCoast Racing Volkswagen, with the GE-Force Alfa Romeo of Dusan Borkovic and the Comtoyou Audi RS 3 of Fred Vervisch completing the top ten.

Championship contender Jean-Karl Vernay was 12th in the third Team WRT Volkswagen, while points leader Attila Tassi, carrying 30kg of success ballast this weekend, was 15th in his M1RA Honda Civic.

Free Practice 2 follows at 12:35 CET.