Photo: TCR Germany

Petr Fulín wins second race at Most as Luca Engstler celebrates prematurely

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Petr Fulín won the second TCR Germany race at Most ahead of Michelle Halder in second who claimed points for victory as Fulín is not entered for the championship.

Fulín made a strong start to claim the lead from reversed grid pole sitter Theo Coicaud of Team Engstler who made a very slow getaway and was also passed by Michelle Halder and Luca Engstler.

Volkswagen driver Engstler put hard pressure on Cupra driver Fulín toward the end of the race and was briefly in the lead on the penultimate lap before Fulín was able to respond and re-take the lead.

As they came out onto the start and finish straight for the penultimate time, Engstler thought it was the final lap and started to celebrate scoring maximum points, weaving his Volkswagen and locking the brakes when going over the finishing line. Before the Team Engstler driver realised his mistake, Michelle Halder was able to get past to claim second place.

Fulín won the race just over one second ahead of Michelle Haler while a thoroughly disappointed Engstler finished third, two tenths behind.

Niels Langeveld of team Racing One finished fourth after a tough fight with HP Racing International driver Harald Proczyk in the closing stages of the race. Proczyk made a tough move with a couple of laps left and claimed fourth, only for Langeveld to reclaim the position a couple of corners later, a move leaving Proczyk visibly angry, waving his hands inside the car.

Max Hesse of PROsport Performance was involved in the top three fight earlier in the race but dropped down to finish sixth ahead of Team Honda ADAC Sachsen driver Dominik Fugel while Niko Kankkunen rounded off the top eight.

There was two safety car sessions in the race, with the final one caused as Audi driver Sandro Kaibach pushed Coicaud into the gravel and retirement. Kaibach was given a drive through penalty for the incident.

Yesterday’s pole sitter Mike Halder was also given a drive through penalty for an incident with Coicaud earlier in the race. Halder fought his way back to finish tenth behind Justin Häussermann of Team Engstler.

Proczyk heads the championship on 118 points with Engstler second, eight points behind, and Langeveld third, 18 points behind. The next race of TCR Germany will be held on June 10th at the Red Bull Ring in Austria.