Photo: ADAC

Harald Proczyk takes the first pole position of the year at Oschersleben

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HP Racing International’s Harald Proczyk, at the wheel of a Hyundai i30 N TCR, took pole position in Saturday’s qualifying session for the first round of the 2019 TCR Germany championship at Oschersleben. His result remains provisional as the German driver is currently being investigated for speeding during a red flag period.

Q1

Mike Halder, in hid Honda Civic TCR from Team Honda ADAC Sachsen, quickly rose to the top, continuously improving his lap times.

Behind him, Lukas Niedertscheider and Max Hesse, both with Hyundai i30 N TCRs from HP Racing International and Team Engstler, respectively, fought for the second place.

The final five minutes saw plenty of action, with Hesse rising to the top with a best lap time of 1:31.203, ahead of Bradley Burns, with a Honda Civic TCR from Team Pyro Motorsport. Halder was third, with Theo Coicaud, driving the second Hyundai i30 N TCR from Team Engstler in fourth. Mitchell Cheah was the fastest Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR in fifth.

Harald Proczyk, with a Hyundai i30 N TCR from HP Racing International was sixth, followed by team-mate Niedertscheider, with Antii Buri, at the wheel of an Audi RS 3 LMS from LMS Racing in eighth.

Dominik Fugel (Team Honda ADAC) and Michelle Halder (Team Halder), with their respective Honda Civic TCRs, completed the top ten.

Guido Naumann, with a Hyundai i30 TCR from Team Engstler 2 and Steve Kirsch, at the wheel of an Opel Astra from IMC Motorsport, completed the 12 cars going into the next leg of the qualifying.

Q2

The session started with all 12 cars immediately taking to the track, but was halted with a red flag after four minutes due to Bradley stopping on the track.

The session was restarted shortly afterwards with six minutes on the clock, with Proczyk rising to the top, albeit reported to the stewards for speeding under the red flag.

At the end of the session, Proczyk took the pole position for Race 1 with a best lap time of 1:30.666, followed by Hesse 0.179 seconds behind ad Mike Halder in third, 0.281 seconds off the pace.

Fugel was fourth, four-tenths off the pace, followed by Coicaud and Cehah Min in sixth, with the Malaysian driver nearly a second behind the pole position time.

Niedertscheider qualified in seventh, followed by Antii Buri in eighth as the only Audi in the top ten.

Michelle Halder was ninth, with Naumann completing the top ten and taking the pole position for Race 2.

Race 1 is scheduled for 15:25 CEST this afternoon.