Opening win for WINWARD Racing in Portugal!
Lucas Auer wins the 2022 DTM season opener at Portimão for Mercedes-AMG Team WINWARD. A good DTM debut for David Schumacher.
The 2022 DTM season began with a huge success for Mercedes-AMG Team WINWARD Racing. After an impressive drive, Lucas Auer (28, Kufstein/A) won the Saturday race at the spectacular Algarve Circuit near Portimão in his Mercedes-AMG GT3. His team-mates Maximilian Götz (36, Uffenheim) and David Schumacher (20, Salzburg/A), on the other hand, finished outside the points after a turbulent race.
Starting from third on the grid, Auer passed fellow Mercedes driver Mikaël Grenier for second as early as lap two and then stayed in touch with polesitter Mirko Bortolotti. When his Lamborghini got away badly at the restart after a safety car phase, the WWR driver seized his chance, took the lead and did not give it up until the finish after almost an hour of racing.
“It was an almost perfect race for me,” beamed the Tyrolean. “Good that I got past Mik so quickly. After that I could drive my own pace and follow Mirko well. The restart after the yellow phase of course played right into our hands. Big compliment to the whole team – the car was really good, and the pit stop went perfectly too. That was a textbook start. With the extra ballast, though, tomorrow’s second race will be a really difficult task.”
Under the regulations, the winner of a DTM race has to carry 25 kilograms of success ballast at the next round – though only in the race, not in qualifying.
Race Saturday was not quite as smooth for Auer’s stablemates. Defending champion Maximilian Götz, starting from ninth, got away very well at both the start and the restart but then lost some ground each time. “Both times it took a very long time to get the tyres into the right operating window. After that the pace wasn’t bad, but by then I had unfortunately already lost several positions,” explained the Franconian, who brought the BWT-liveried number 1 car home in eleventh.
David Schumacher, meanwhile, made a flawless DTM debut. After qualifying he was still frustrated with 18th on the grid, but the gap of just 0.6 seconds to pole already suggested that the GT rookie need have no fear of the DTM establishment, even given the enormous competitiveness. In the race Schumacher drove at the level of his fellow Mercedes drivers but lost many positions at the restart. “The first start went great, but the second went completely wrong,” reported the Austrian resident. “At exactly the moment the car in front of me braked, I heard the command ‘green, green, green’ on the radio. Three cars were straight past.”
The Mercedes-AMG junior in the #27 car of Ravenol and Schaeffler-Paravan was not entirely happy with 20th. “But my pace was more important. It was fine as long as I was driving alone. Close behind another car I got heavy understeer each time. And I need to go to the sauna more often at home. I underestimated how hot it gets in these cars.”
WWR team principal Christian Hohenadel was of course delighted above all with Auer’s great win: “That was a perfect start and the reward for the hard work of the last weeks and months. The whole team did a great job. But of course we will only be completely happy when we run at the front with all three cars. After today we still have some work to do there, especially regarding Max’s race performance. I’m completely satisfied with David. He works with great concentration and focus and delivered a really good performance in his first DTM race. He can build on that. We’re looking forward to tomorrow!”
The second race on the 4.65-kilometre Autódromo Internacional do Algarve starts tomorrow at 1.30 pm CEST. ProSieben broadcasts the entire event live from 1 pm, and on www.grid.dtm.com fans can find plenty of information and background on the DTM opener.