Important points for WINWARD Racing on Sunday
Fifth place for Max Götz and WINWARD Racing in the second race of the 2022 DTM at Portimão. A strong showing by David Schumacher.
Mercedes-AMG Team WINWARD Racing also delivered a strong performance in the Sunday DTM race at the Algarve Circuit near Portimão. In fifth, defending champion Maximilian Götz (36, Uffenheim) was the best representative of Mercedes-AMG. With a superb drive, David Schumacher (20, Salzburg/A) worked his way up to 15th. Lucas Auer (27, Kufstein/A), on the other hand, was very unlucky. Running fourth, the previous day’s winner was thrown far back by a problem at his mandatory pit stop.
With a rocket start from the fifth row, Maximilian Götz put his BWT-liveried Mercedes-AMG GT3 right behind colleague Lucas Auer, who had been the best representative of the three-pointed star in qualifying in fourth and, despite his car’s high weight (under the regulations he carried 25 kilograms of extra ballast after his Saturday win), immediately showed good race pace.
A problem with a wheel gun at the mandatory pit stop at the end of lap 6 brought the Austrian’s charge to an abrupt end. For safety reasons the WWR pit wall called Auer back into the pits. As a result the Knaus car fell to the back of the field, and nothing more than 22nd was possible. “Despite the extra weight, another top result would have been possible today. Of course something like this can happen in motorsport, but I’m still extremely disappointed,” said Auer.
Champion Götz, meanwhile, held firm in the leading group. In the end the good team performance was rewarded with fifth place. “We improved significantly compared to yesterday,” praised the Franconian. “Qualifying went much better, I made another super start, and the guys conjured up a perfect pit stop. The pace was great, even though I couldn’t hold off the BMW in the end. With P5 we scored important points, and we can build on that.”
David Schumacher also delivered a great performance. Starting only from the twelfth row after a qualifying that didn’t go to plan, the 20-year-old DTM rookie shone with good speed and several successful duels. A late pit stop at the end of lap 18 not only gave him his first laps in the lead in the DTM but also helped a great race performance. At times the son of six-time Formula 1 Grand Prix winner Ralf Schumacher was the fastest man on track, and he set the fifth-fastest race lap in his Ravenol/Schaeffler-Paravan car in the field of 29 top-class supercars.
“The car was great,” beamed Schumacher. “After we made an annoying mistake in qualifying, we planned a late pit stop from the start, hoping to catch a safety car phase at the right moment and then attack on fresher tyres. The safety car didn’t come, but I was still really quick and had great battles. That was real fun. Did I mention how hot it gets in these cars …?”
WWR team principal Christian Hohenadel commented on the race with mixed feelings: “Today we again proved that as a team we are fully competitive in this top-class field. Max proved it with a great drive. David again gave us a lot of joy today; he is showing an impressive development curve. We have to apologise to Luggi for his bad luck at the pit stop – he would have been a contender for a top place again today. Overall I’m very satisfied with our performance here at the season opener. But there is still room for improvement in some areas, and we won’t stop working on ourselves.”
After the opening DTM weekend in Portugal, WWR drivers Auer (26 points) and Götz (10 points) are third and ninth in the standings.
Rounds 3 and 4 of the 2022 DTM take place on 21/22 May at the Lausitzring. As last year, the DTM again uses the spectacular layout with the more than 250 km/h passage through Turn 1, the first corner of the tri-oval. Mercedes-AMG Team WINWARD has good memories of the track near Klettwitz. Last year Philip Ellis won the first race in the WWR Mercedes, and the later champion Max Götz the second.