Antti Buri dominates wet TCR Germany Race 1 at Lausitzring
Hyundai Team Engstler’s Antti Buri secured a commanding victory in the opening TCR Germany championship race of the weekend at the Lausitzring.
The Finn started second on the grid but seized the advantage from a fast-starting Dominik Fugel (Honda) before building a healthy lead.
His winning margin at the end was a little over 12 seconds from points leader Harald Proczyk, with Albert Legutko third.
Torrential rain throughout the weekend remained for the duration of the 30-minute race, with pole-sitter Proczyk getting a poor start off the line in his HP Racing International Hyundai i30 N TCR and dropping to fifth.
Dominik Fugel leapt off the line from fifth on the grid to lead approaching the first corner, but the Honda Civic Type-R TCR driver ran slightly wide under braking which allowed second-placed starter Buri to assume the lead.
The Team Engstler Hyundai driver then built an almost five-second margin over Albert Legutko’s Honda Civic Type-R FK2 TCR by the end of the first lap, with the Finn extending this advantage to over 12-seconds at the flag.
Behind, the action was frenetic, as Buri’s Engstler team-mate Nico Gruber wrestled his way ahead of Team Öttinger Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR driver René Kircher before challenging the back of Proczyk for fifth.
Proczyk, having slipped behind Fugel at the first corner, began to attack the back of the Honda, eventually sliding by into fourth, which became third after his HP Racing Interantional team-mate Jan Seyffert went off track at Turn 6.
Seyffert ran deep under braking and was forced to use the long run-off escape road, cutting out Turns 7 and 8, and eventually rejoined at Turn 9, albeit last of the ten runners.
Despite this excursion, the Hyundai driver caught and passed a struggling Dominik Fugel on the final lap, as the Honda driver outbraked himself in a similar fashion at Turn 3.
To add insult to injury, Fugel was then handed a drivethrough penalty, converted into a 30-second post-race penalty for cutting the corner and retaining his on-track position. He was ninth in the overall results, as brother Marcel retired.
Both Marcel and Dominik Fugel had been squabbling over eighth and ninth after Seyffert’s initial off, before closing in on the back of Dziugas Tovilavicius’s Skuba Racing Team Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR.
Dominik got past the Lithuanian at the penultimate corner, while Marcel attempted to dive down the inside at the final turn. But contact was made and the front-right suspension of Marcel’s car broke, ending his race early.
Out front, it was a relative cruise for Buri, who beat Proczyk to the line by 12.139s at the finish.
Legutko claimed the final step on the podium, ahead of Gruber and Kircher.
Team Engstler’s VIP car driver – and TCR Germany newcomer – Laura Kraihamer was a promising sixth in her first outing. She headed Seyffert and Tovilavicius at the line, while Dominik Fugel was a disappoining ninth.
Race 2 is scheduled to take place tomorrow at 11:30 CET.
