Best possible haul for WINWARD Racing
Maximilian Götz also scores points in the Sunday DTM race at the Norisring. His team-mates Auer and Schumacher again come away empty-handed.
Mercedes-AMG Team WINWARD Racing finished the Sunday DTM race at the Norisring in Nuremberg with the best possible result. As on the previous day, Maximilian Götz (36, Uffenheim) finished sixth in the BWT-liveried car with number 1, as the best-placed driver of a Mercedes-AMG GT3. His team-mates Lucas Auer (27, Kufstein) and David Schumacher (20, Salzburg), on the other hand, again came away empty-handed.
After his best qualifying of the season with fifth on the grid, Götz was also strong in the race on the 2.1-kilometre street circuit, even though he lost a position in the early phase. “With full tanks we struggled enormously this weekend. As the tank emptied and the car got lighter, it got better and better,” analysed the defending champion, who bravely fended off attacks from the Ferrari behind him all the way to the finish. Götz: “Sixth place yesterday and today was the maximum. There simply wasn’t more in it. The positive thing was that we managed a good qualifying again today. That makes me optimistic for the second half of the season.”
Season-opener winner Lucas Auer was in a somewhat worse mood. He had already struggled with an imperfect balance on his KNAUS Mercedes-AMG GT3 in qualifying and had to start the race from the seventh row. Early in the race the Tyrolean reported heavy understeer and a car that turned in only reluctantly. “We simply weren’t on the pace today. We need to analyse why. It’s a real shame, because I would have liked to thank my mechanics with a good result after they repaired my badly damaged car from yesterday in a night shift,” said Auer, who finished 13th without points.
Schumacher’s crew also had some rings under their eyes on Sunday, as the repair of the RAVENOL car had not been finished until well after midnight either. Their effort was poorly rewarded too. Schumacher destroyed his radiator in contact with a rival as early as lap 5, after which continuing was out of the question. “A bad weekend,” the DTM rookie summed up. “Partly it was bad luck, partly my own mistakes. We will learn from it and do better in the next races.”
WWR team principal Christian Hohenadel commented pragmatically on the race weekend at the Norisring: “If we are the best-placed Mercedes team in both races, we can’t have done much wrong. If no more than two sixth places come out of it, the reasons must lie elsewhere. In any case I’m hugely proud of my team, who with incredible commitment restored two badly damaged race cars to race-ready condition by 3 am. These guys never give up, and neither will we in the second half of the season. There are still four race weekends on the programme in which a lot can happen. We are ready!”
The DTM teams now take a six-week summer break. Races 9 and 10 of the season take place at the Nürburgring on 27/28 August.