Andreas Bäckman deprives Dan Lloyd of victory at Oschersleben

Andreas Bäckman took a sensational first victory in the first race at Oschersleben, getting back ahead of early race leader Dan Lloyd with three laps to go, with the Target Competition Hyundai driver launching himself into second in the drivers’ standings.

There was a gap on the grid in third place at the start, as yet another radiator problem befell WRT’s Santiago Urrutia, with the Uruguayan forced to start from the pit lane in his Audi RS 3 LMS after a last-minute repair.

At the start, Bäckman was outpaced by the Brutal Fish Racing Team Honda Civic TCR of Dan Lloyd who took the lead into Turn 1, while behind him Jessica Bäckman had a good run to move up to third in her Hyundai, passing Nelson Panciatici’s M Racing Hyundai into the first corner.

Light touch between the two unsettled Jessica’s i30 N TCR at the exit of the corner however and she fell down the order, with Panciatici up to third ahead of the fast-starting Honda Civic of Tom Coronel.

There was further trouble as Jessica Bäckman then spun at the exit of Hasseröder, collecting Natan Bihel’s Hyundai who also hit Aurélien Comte’s Peugeot 308TCR, with all three drivers effectively out of the race with damage.

Championship front-runner Gilles Magnus was also a first lap retirement in his Comtoyou Racing Audi RS 3 LMS.

Lloyd continued to lead the race but was under continuous pressure from Bäckman’s Hyundai, who clearly had the faster car during the race.

Further behind, the Cupra TCR of Davit Kajaia was also showing good pace, as the Georgian battled his way into the top ten, but a move on Alex Morgan which took the Wolf-Power Racing driver out of tenth was deemed too excessive, and he was given a drive-through penalty, which was escalated to a black flag when he failed to serve it.

On lap 14, Lloyd ran wide at the exit of Hasseröder, which allowed Bäckman through into the lead with Panciatici following him through.

Bäckman then went on to win the race by two seconds over Panciatici, with Lloyd having to settle for third, just ahead of Coronel and Files.

Files’ fifth place helps extend his championship lead to 218 points, now 48 points clear of his closest rival, which is now his Target Competition team-mate Andreas Bäckman, with Julian Briché’s 12th place helping him move ahead of Luca Engstler’s M1RA Hyundai.

The second race of the weekend, with Alex Morgan starting from pole position in the Cupra ahead of his former Renault Clio Cup rival Josh Files, takes place at 13:30 CEST tomorrow.