Dominik Fugel charges through to win first TCR Germany race at the Sachsenring
hyTCR Germany points leader Dominik Fugel stormed to a dominant victory in the first race of the weekend from seventh on the grid at the Sachsenring
The ADAC Sachsen Honda Civic Type-R driver made a strong start to run third in the opening corners and finished the first lap second following René Kircher’s off-track excursion.
Fugel then hunted down and passed pole-sitter Jan Seyffert in his HP Racing International Hyundai i30 N TCR before comfortably pulling away.
Seyffert was on course to finish second, but was overhauled by Marcel Fugel, a recovering Antti Buri as well as Harald Proczyk on the final lap.
Seyffert led the way on the opening lap but only after fellow front-row starter Kircher coughed up an early lead following an understeer moment which sent the Volkswagen driver across the grass at Turn 2.
This allowed Fugel up into second place, but the points leader had already benefited from a couple of post-qualifying grid changes which meant that he started one place higher than his eighth place.
Proczyk had qualified fifth but started from the back of the grid following an engine change, while Volkswagen Team Öttinger driver Dziugas Tovilavicius had all his times deleted by the officials.
Once in second ahead of brother Marcel, Fugel began his assault on Seyffert for the lead of the race, which he secured after a decisive manouevre under braking for the final corner.
Fugel showed his nose at Turn 13 after the fast downhill “Waterfall” section, which momentarily forced Seyffert wide on the exit, opening the door for the Honda Civic Type-R to seize the inside line for Turn 14.
Fugel quickly opened up a lead of nearly four-and-a-half seconds over Seyffert, who had to fend off the attentions of Marcel Fugel in the remaining 17 minutes.
With the leading Fugel in the clear, the battle for the final podium positions was hotly contested as Seyffert clung onto second place ahead of Marcel Fugel and a charging Buri.
Fugel had never been more than a second in arrears of Seyffert but struggled to find a way through around Sachsenring’s tight and twisty layout.
Fugel ran deep into the first corner on the penultimate lap, which allowed Buri to latch onto the tail of the Honda, but surprsingly Fugel found fresh momentum and piled on the pressure on Seyffert at Turn 13.
All three went side-by-side into Turn 14 and across the start/finish line with Fugel securing second at the first turn for the last time and Buri grabbing third from a hapless Seyffert on exit.
Seyffert, apparently struggling with his tyres, also fell behind Proczyk by the flag to fifth.
Volkswagen driver Harri Salminen was the only retirement.
Race two at the Sachsenring is scheduled to take place tomorrow morning at 11:30 CEST.
