Reason to be happy for Martin Andersen (27, Denmark) and the Liqui Moly Team Engstler. Last year’s runner-up won the Saturday race of the ADAC TCR Germany at the Nürburgring and was crowned half-time champion of the series. After seven races, the Dane is leading the overall standings by 22 points. In glorious sunshine, Andersen narrowly edged out Jonas Karklys (32, Lithuania, NordPass), who saw the checkered flag 0.274s behind the Honda rider and finished second in his Hyundai i30. Jessica Bäckman (24, Sweden, ROJA Motorsport by ASL Lichtblau) finished 2.023 seconds after Karklys and made the podium in the ADAC TCR Germany perfect.
“It was a super tough race because Jonas Karklys gave everything until the end. We had to fight for every centimeter, so the 25 points feel even better. We have the speed and are happy with the season so far,” says a delighted Andersen on his second win of the season. “At the end my tires went down a bit, so Karklys kept getting closer and we had to fight again. It was a cool race.”
Andersen breaks away – Bäckman fights against Ladniak
Right from the start, Martin Andersen was the fastest driver on the track. Behind him, Jonas Karklys was able to take advantage of an unsuccessful overtaking maneuver by Szymon Ladniak (19, Poland, Liqui Moly Team Engstler). The Pole, who finished the race as the best junior on P4, wanted to attack his teammate Andersen, who in turn closed the door. Karklys was the laughing third, pushing past Ladniak.
For Karklys it was the first podium since the second race of the season in Oschersleben. The Lithuanian was accordingly satisfied after the race: “I had a very good start and a good race overall. In the end I had better pace, but I didn’t want to risk anything. Second place is a very good result. We had last not the pace, but today it was there and we can finally be at the front again.”
Behind Andersen and Karklys, Ladniak and Bäckman fought for third place for a long time. After it went back and forth for six laps, the Swede was able to assert herself and chased the top two. In the end, however, Bäckman ran out of time, so she finished third, two seconds behind the leaders. “It was a good race. I had a lot of duels and had to fight a lot. I was very fast at the end, but there wasn’t enough time left. I was hoping for a few more laps, but that’s not how racing works. Tomorrow I really want to do a better qualifying so that I’m up front right from the start.”
Teammates get in each other’s way
Further back in the field there was a duel between the two ROJA drivers Robin Jahr (31, Potsdam) and René Kircher (21, Hünfeld). Both got too close in a duel, which ended badly for the team. Robin Jahr received a drive-through penalty for the incident and Kircher had to pit with a puncture. Jahr finally finished the race in eighth place, Kircher was twelfth.
Patrick Sing (30, Germany, RaceSing) completed a convincing race in the Hyundai i30. The 30-year-old, who was already setting good times in the practice sessions, finished the race in fifth place and thus achieved his second-best result of the current season. Behind Sing, Vincent Radermecker (55, Belgium, Maurer Motorsport) in the Holden Astra TCR finished sixth and best Trophy driver. Seventh place went to junior guest driver Marco Butti (17, Italy, Elite Motorsport) in the Audi RS3. Behind Robin Jahr in eighth place, Audi driver Kai Rosowski (28, Germany, K-Ro Racing) and Trophy driver Roland Hertner (62, Germany, Liqui Moly Team Engstler) completed the top 10.
The second qualifying session of the weekend starts on Sunday morning at 8:05 am. The second race of the TCR Germany starts at 11:35 am. All ADAC TCR Germany races are live streamed free of charge on the sports platform sport.de to see.
Dates of the ADAC TCR Germany 2022, subject to change:
April 22-24, 2022: Oschersleben ADAC GT Masters
May 20-22, 2022: Red Bull Ring ADAC GT Masters
June 17-19, 2022: Salzburgring ADAC Racing Weekend
August 05-07, 2022: Nürburgring ADAC GT Masters
August 19-21, 2022: Lausitzring ADAC GT Masters
September 23-25, 2022: Sachsenring ADAC GT Masters
October 21-23, 2022: Hockenheimring ADAC GT Masters
Press contact ADAC TCR Germany
Marcel Nieveler, SID Marketing
T +49 170 44 59
T +49 221 99 88 03 05
Email [email protected]
ADAC registered association
Oliver Runschke
T +49 89 76 76 69 65
Email [email protected]
Kay Oliver Langendorff
T +49 89 76 76 69 36
Email [email protected]
adac.de/motorsport
adac.de/tcr-germany
This was a proSportPresseService program with a media release from ADAC Motorsport.
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