Josh Files converted his pole position into an authoritative victory in the third round of the TCR Europe Series at Hockenheim. The Target Competition driver and his Hyundai i30 N took the lead at the start and pulled away. Not even a safety car period that re-grouped the field prevented Files from bidding farewell to the company once again. Behind him there was a close battle for the other podium positions between Luca Engstler, Maxime Potty and Julien Briché who eventually finished in this order.
Andreas Bäckman was a close fifth, while Santiago Urrutia recovered to sixth after making a poor start. Aurélien Comte and Gilles Magnus were classified seventh and eight, which was less than they expected, while the Clairet brothers rounded off the top ten, with Teddy ahead of Jimmy.
The victory helped Files to take the lead in the standings, 19 points clear of Magnus, while Briché has moved up into third.
The second race will start tomorrow at 11:35 with Briché and Jessica Bäckman sharing the front row of the top-ten reverse grid; live streaming at www.tcr-series.tv.

Key facts
Start – Files makes good use of the pole, while Engstler moves up into second at T1 on the outside line; Potty, Magnus, A. Bäckman, Comte and Briché follow; Urrutia has a poor start and drops down to the middle of the field
Lap 1 – Briché overtakes Comte for sixth
Lap 2 – Magnus makes a mistake and drops to seventh, behind Briché and Comte; Homola and Paulsen make contact; Lloyd retires after an incident with Morbidelli
Lap 3 – Briché overtakes A. Bäckman for fourth; Paulsen retires; Comte, Urrutia and L. Filippi have a close fight for seventh
Lap 4 – L. Filippi spins off after making contact with Borković
Lap 6 – Briché is chasing Potty for third
Lap 8 – Urrutia overtakes Comte for seventh; Homola spins off onto the gravel at T13 and the safety car is deployed
Lap 10 – when the race resumes, Panciatici and Coronel hit each other while fighting for 11^th; Urrutia overtakes Magnus for sixth
Lap 11 – Potty attacks Engstler for second, but has to defend his third position from Briché
Lap 12 – Engstler benefits from the fight between Potty and Briché to create a small gap; Borković, J. Filippi, Bihel and Kajaia are involved in the battle for the 14^th position; Comte and Magnus swap positions several times as they fight for seventh

Race 1
1. Josh Files  (Target Competition, Hyundai i30 N), 12 laps
2. Luca Engstler (M1RA Motorsport, Hyundai i30 N), 2.307
3. Maxime Potty (Team WRT, Volkswagen Golf GTI), 2.791
4. Julien Briché (JSB Compétition, Peugeot 308), 3.691
5. Andreas Bäckman (Target Competition, Hyundai i30 N), 4.309

Championship points
1. Files 97; 2. Magnus 76; 3. Briché 67