Martin Andersen wins Lausitzring Race 1 as Jessica Bäckman spins
Team Engstler’s Martin Andersen made a huge step forward in the fight for the TCR Germany title at the Lausitzring, winning Race 1 as his main rival, ROJA Motorsport’s Jessica Bäckman, spun out of the race.
The field performed two formation laps around the Lausitzring as heavy rain had fallen all day over the German track.
Both Andersen and Bäckman got a poor start, with Team Engstler’s Szymon Ladniak taking the lead ahead of Andersen and Jonas Karklys (Hyundai), with Bäckman falling to sixth place.
Andersen attacked Ladniak on the third lap, overtaking for the lead and quickly built a gap.
ROJA Motorsport’s René Kircher fought with Karklys for third place, but the NordPass driver managed to stay ahead.
Bäckman overtook Maurer Motorsport’s Vincent Radermecker (Holden Astra TCR) for fifth place, but the ROJA Motorsport driver would spin off the track on lap four, with her Hyundai Veloster N TCR buried in the gravel trap and the safety car was called into action.
The race was restarted on lap eight, with Andersen maintaining his lead while Max Gruhn (Audi RS 3 LMS) went wide at Turn 1.
Kircher overtook Karklys for third place on lap nine, with the Hyundai driver struggling and soon fell into the grips of Radermecker. But the Hyundai driver recovered, keeping the Astra driver at bay and also closing the gap to Kircher in the final stages of the race.
Andersen took a dominant victory, with Ladniak and Kircher completing the podium. Karklys was fourth, ahead of Radermecker and Robin Jahr (Hyundai Veloster N TCR).
Roland Hertner was seventh with the third Honda from Team Engstler, ahead of Patrick Sing (Hyundai i30 N TCR), Gruhn and Michael Maurer (Holden Astra TCR) in tenth place.
After the first race at the Lausitzring, Andersen leads the drivers’ standings with 277 points, a full 54 points ahead of Bäckman.
The TCR Germany field returns to the track on Sunday morning for Race 2 at 11:30 CEST.
