After following the likes of the FIA World Touring Car Cup (WTCR), the TCR Europe Touring Car Series and the TCR UK Touring Car Championship, TCR Talk will be following a new series for 2019:

The ADAC TCR Germany Series.



This series started off back in 2016 and since then, it has attracted large grids and plenty of mixture of the various TCR brands available. The ADAC TCR Germany Series is also recognised as one of the toughest national series currently running to TCR regulations.

Evidence of this is clear with only two men having claimed the Drivers Title in three seasons. Josh Files claimed the title in 2016 and 2017, driving for Target Competition in both seasons at the wheel of a Honda Civic FK2, whilst last year Harald Procyzk secured the title for HP Racing International, at the wheel of an Opel Astra.

The German TCR series often brings exciting racing as many teams and drivers compete in the series, offering a high level of competition and also the chance to race alongside other teams and driver in other TCR Series with the same machinery.

The 2019 ADAC TCR Germany Calendar:

After the 2019 Calendar was confirmed at the end of last season in Hockenheim, the only change made was to switch around the final two rounds, with the Sachsenring now replacing the Hockenheimring as the final venue of the year.

The calendar otherwise remains at a fourteen race schedule, running alongside the ADAC GT Masters Championship on most weekends.

26-28 April: Motorsport Arena Oschersleben

17-19 May: Autodrom Most

7-9 June: Red Bull Ring

9-11 August: Circuit Park Zandvoort

16-18 August: Nürburgring

13-15 September: Hockenheimring

27-29 September: Sachsenring

There is also the added incentive for the German TCR competitors this year as there are two German rounds in the 2019 TCR Europe Touring Car Series. So expect to see some of the TCR Germany regulars take on the best in TCR Europe:

24–26 May: Hockenheimring

3-4 August: Motorsport Arena Oschersleben

The 2019 ADAC TCR Germany Series Entry List:

For 2019, The ADAC TCR Germany Series has seen a drop in grid size, with 28 cars entered last year and now 21 entered for the new season. However, this has not dulled the quality of drivers in the field and has increased the number of brands taking part to 6: Hyundai, Honda, Audi, Volkswagen, CUPRA and Opel.

Driver No. Team Car Harald Proczyk 1 HP Racing International Hyundai i30 N TCR Bradley Burns 6 Pyro Motorsport Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR Mike Halder 7 ADAC Sachsen Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR René Kircher 8 Racing One Audi RS3 LMS TCR Antti Buri 13 LMS Racing Audi RS3 LMS TCR Max Hesse 19 Hyundai Team Engstler Hyundai i30 N TCR Julien Apothéloz 22 TOPCAR Sport CUPRA TCR Sebastian Steibel 23 AMC-Burgau e.V. Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR Theo Coicaud 27 Hyundai Team Engstler Hyundai i30 N TCR Mitchell Cheah 29 Volkswagen Team Oettinger Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR Joshua Reynolds 33 TOPCAR Sport CUPRA TCR Patrick Sing 34 RaceSing Hyundai i30 N TCR Steve Kirsch 41 ADAC Sachsen Opel Astra TCR Lukas Niedertscheider 42 HP Racing International Hyundai i30 N TCR Michelle Halder 53 Profi-Car Team Halder Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR Dominik Fugel 88 ADAC Sachsen Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR Jan Seyffert 98 Lubner Motorsport Opel Astra TCR Maurits Sandberg 99 Volkswagen Team Oettinger Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR TBC TBC Racing One Audi RS3 LMS TCR TBC TBC TOPCAR Sport CUPRA TCR VIP Car TBC Hyundai Team Engstler Hyundai i30 N TCR

The Title Contenders

The big news about this year is that there are a number of Hyundai cars entered as full-season entries and this includes by 2018 Champion Harald Proczyk who carries the number 1 on his brand new Hyundai i30 N TCR.

Proczyk is joined at HP Racing International by Lukas Niedertscheider, who last year drove a Peugeot 308 TCR in the series run by his own team. Both drivers are expected to be front runners this year, with Proczyk eager to defend his title.

Another team that is running Hyundai’s full time is Hyundai Team Engstler, who introduced the car into the series halfway through last season with both Luca Engstler and Theo Coicaud at the wheel. Engstler was able to haul himself into the title fight last season and more is expected by this crack team.

Theo Coicaud has already driven the car last year and in the new TCR Malaysia Series and will be joined by young charger Max Hesse in the team. Both men will be looking for a title fight this season.

Outside of the Hyundai charge, Honda are also expected to be within the title fight with ADAC Sachsen. Both Mike Halder and Dominik Fugel took race wins last year in their first season with the Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR.

Armed with a season of setup knowledge in the cars and also an unchanged calendar for 2019, both men will be upfront and aiming to stem the Hyundai tide. Michelle Halder will also be in a Honda run by the outfit.

Volkswagen Team Oettinger lead the VW charge with 2018 TCR Asia Series runner-up Mitchell Cheah joining Maurits Sandberg in the outfit whilst Antti Buri is the most experienced Audi driver on the grid and well overdue a title charge.

The Lone British Contender

A fourth Honda will be run for British driver Bradley Burns by Pyro Motorsport this year. After competing in Clio Cup racing last year, Burns makes the move to TCR, having tested the Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR that Ollie Taylor used to finish as runner-up in the 2018 TCR UK Touring Car Championship.

Whilst he has gone well in testing, it will be interesting to see how Burns finds the German Series this year, making his debut in one of the toughest national TCR series in Europe. With the team already familiar with the Honda, Pyro will be able to provide a good car for the young Englishman to race with.

Where can you watch the action?

The ADAC TCR Germany Series follows the successful route, which has worked for almost all TCR Series around the globe, of showing all of their races live on YouTube.

This is done on the ADAC YouTube Account which you can find here. The TCR Germany Series is also the only other series outside of WTCR, TCR Europe and TCR UK that has English commentary, so this allows for a wider audience to follow the series.

To catch up on the 2018 season and to see how that panned out, please find my own YouTube playlist of the season’s races here.

I will be keeping things up to date on here as well as in The Official TCR Talk Group & The TCR UK Fans Group where members will also be sharing their thoughts and any news from The 2019 FIA World Touring Car Cup (WTCR), The 2019 TCR Europe Touring Car Series, The 2019 TCR UK Touring Car Championship and other Domestic & Regional TCR Series from around the world.

All images are used in this blog are courtesy of ADAC Motorsport-Gruppe C Photography unless otherwise credited.

Until next time, all the best!

Phil!!!