Photo: TCR Germany

Josh Files takes tense Nürburgring win

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Championship leader Josh Files resisted intense pressure from pole-sitter Mike Halder to win the first race of the weekend at the Nürburgring. Niels Langeveld completed the podium in his Racing One Audi.

At the start, Halder placed his SEAT on the inside line, but a remarkable launch off the grid allowed Files to take the lead ahead of the Wolf-Power Racing driver, with Racing One’s Niels Langeveld in third. There was drama at the start further back, as a number of cars were involved in a first-corner incident. The accident knocked several drivers out of the race, including Gosia Rdest, Sven Markert, Niko Kankkunen, Jason Wolfe and Kai Jordan. This resulted in a safety car period, which froze the situation until the sixth lap.

At the restart, Audi’s Antti Buri overtook Sandro Kaibach, as Halder stayed glued to the rear bumper of the Target Competition Honda Civic TCR driven by Files. As the German attacked, he lost momentum and was attacked by Langeveld on lap eight, the SEAT driver managing to overtake his Audi rival after two corners.

Luca Engstler and Lukas Niedertscheider had a touch, with the latter damaging the front left suspension of his SEAT and retiring. This triggered a second safety car, which lasted until three laps to go. Files had a positive restart, but Halder looked to have superior pace and attacked him aggressively, even ending up ahead of the Brit on the finish line with two laps to go. Files pulled off a flawless defensive drive to finish ahead of the SEAT driver, with Langeveld managing to defend from Opel’s Dino Calcum.

A consistent drive from Antti Buri allowed him to progress up to fifth position, the Audi driver using the restart to jump ahead of Harald Proczyk’s SEAT, who finished in sixth. Steve Kirsch was seventh at the flag in his Honda Civic TCR, finishing ahead of Audi’s Sheldon van der Linde. Honda’s Moritz Oestreich and Audi’s Max Hofer completed the top ten.

The second race of the weekend will start at 12:00 CET tomorrow, with Max Hofer’s Audi on the reversed grid pole.