Antti Buri wins eventful Race 2 at the Nürburgring
Antti Buri won the second race of the weekend at Nürburgring in his LMS Racing Audi. The Finn came home ahead of stable-mate Sheldon van der Linde, with Harald Proczyk completing the podium in his HP Racing SEAT.
Drama started just a few yards after the lights went off, as the pole-sitting Audi of Max Hofer was deemed guilty of starting a collision, which ended up into retirement for Opel’s Dino Calcum and championship leader Josh Files.
Calcum swept to the right and was clipped by the Honda driver behind him and had nowhere to go, triggering a catastrophic accident for the Astra TCR, which was heavily damaged after the incident. Buri took the lead ahead of Honda’s Steve Kirsch and van der Linde as the safety car went out.
At the restart on lap six, Buri was followed very closely by Kirsch, but the Finn managed to stay in front. A mistake at Turn 2 allowed the Honda driver through to the lead, which also allowed him to open a small gap. Meanwhile, a spectacular scrap for fifth between Mike Halder, Proczyk and Niels Langeveld became a battle for fourth when Hofer took his drive-through penalty.
On lap ten, the safety car was out again as Audi’s Sven Markert stopped with a technical problem in a dangerous position. Then Kirsch appeared to have a technical issue at the NGK chicane and had to limp back to the pits, the German appearing furious at losing a potential win.
Buri’s second restart from the lead was better than the first, the Finn catching out Sheldon van der Linde behind and opening a gap immediately as the Audi driver defended from Halder. The Wolf-Power Racing driver made a mistake at the NGK chicane, which allowed Proczyk through in third.
A little further back, SEAT’s Fabian Danz made full use of the battle between Opel’s Jasmin Preisig and Volkswagen’s Luca Engstler, jumping up to ninth ahead of the pair.
There was more drama when the battle for the last podium spot between Proczyk and Halder brought them both across the pit lane entry line as the Austrian defended desperately from his stable-mate, an action for which he received a black and white flag post-race.
Antti Buri won the race ahead of van der Linde and Proczyk, with Mike Halder finishing in fourth just behind his fellow SEAT driver. Niels Langeveld came home fifth ahead of Audi stable-mate Sandro Kaiback, with Jürgen Schmarl a little further back in seventh for Target Competition.
The Fugel Motorsport Honda of Moritz Oestereich finished in eighth ahead of Fabian Danz and Jasmin Preisig, completing the top ten.
The next up round of the TCR Germany series is at the Sachsenring on September 17th.
