WINWARD Racing defies the fog chaos
Fifth 2022 DTM race weekend: Maximilian Götz and Lucas Auer finish fourth and fifth in the first race at the Nürburgring.
Mercedes-AMG Team WINWARD Racing narrowly missed the podium in a memorable first race of the fifth DTM event of the season at the Nürburgring. Maximilian Götz (36, Uffenheim) steered his Mercedes-AMG GT3 in BWT colours to fourth place. Team-mate Lucas Auer (27, Kufstein) finished right behind the defending DTM champion in the Knaus sister car. DTM rookie David Schumacher (20, Salzburg), on the other hand, was again unlucky and had to park his Ravenol car early after a collision.
It was by no means a race like any other. In fact, until late in the afternoon it was completely unclear whether the impressive field of 28 GT3 cars would be able to start at all. As so often in the unpredictable Eifel, thick fog had shrouded the traditional circuit, so the engines stayed silent until late in the afternoon.
Only at around 4.30 pm did it clear up somewhat, allowing race control to start the procedure after all and release the DTM field at exactly 5.15 pm. Because morning qualifying had also fallen victim to the fog, the grid was set according to the current DTM drivers’ standings. For the three WINWARD cars that meant grid positions 5 (Auer), 16 (Götz) and 26 (Schumacher).
Shortly after the start it was clear where things were heading for the WWR drivers: while Auer moved straight up to third, veteran Götz came back from the first lap in tenth and soon picked off two more rivals in one go. Youngster Schumacher also gained six positions in the first three laps and was making further progress when he clashed with a rival on lap four and had to park his car in the pits three laps later.
Meanwhile Götz overtook more rivals, including colleague Auer, who was struggling with a less than ideal tyre pressure and was therefore forced to make his mandatory tyre change at the end of lap nine, while Götz only came in to his pit crew on lap 20. After both tyre changes went well, the WWR duo settled into sixth and seventh and then benefited from a collision between the two drivers who had been leading until then.
Götz attacked the Audi ahead of him all the way to the finish but ultimately missed the last podium place by just four tenths of a second. “This fourth place feels like a podium. That was one of the coolest races I’ve ever driven,” the champion cheered afterwards. “I was clearly faster than the Audi, but of course I didn’t want to just push him out of the way, even though I had the chance once or twice. Two more laps and he would have been mine. But when you go from 16th to 4th, everything is great anyway. The car was fantastic from the first metre, the strategy was as good as the pit stop, and in one or two situations I also had that little bit of luck you need.”
Colleague Auer was a little frustrated with the first stint: “We definitely gave away a better result there. After getting through the first lap superbly, I had to switch to defence mode early because I was simply too slow. So we brought the stop forward, which certainly wasn’t ideal. In the second stint the pace was flawless again. I wouldn’t necessarily talk about a possible win, but a podium was definitely possible.”
David Schumacher, meanwhile, was thoroughly fed up; his opponent received a penalty for the rough incident: “At the start the lights went green while I was still turning onto the start-finish straight. I got away terribly but quickly noticed that the car’s balance was very good. I was able to gain a few positions until there was contact with the Audi. It was clear relatively soon that it was better to park the car. A shame, because with more luck the top 10 would have been possible.”
“A crazy day,” commented WWR team principal Christian Hohenadel. “The hours of waiting really frayed the nerves. Big compliment to the whole team, who were fully there when it mattered. The pit stops were flawless, and the drivers got the maximum out of these conditions. Special praise of course goes to Max: that charge through the field was great cinema! For tomorrow I wish all of us, and especially the great fans who held out so long even though no wheel turned, a normal race day with what will surely be another super exciting race.”
The Sunday race at the Nürburgring starts at 1.30 pm. ProSieben broadcasts the entire tenth round of the 2022 DTM season live from 1 pm. On tv.dtm.com racing fans can find all the information about cars and drivers.