A strong team performance by WINWARD Racing
Third podium of the 2022 DTM season for Lucas Auer in the Sunday race at the Nürburgring. Maximilian Götz a strong fifth, Schumacher retires.
Mercedes-AMG Team WINWARD Racing followed a very pleasing Saturday race at the fifth meeting of the 2022 DTM season at the Nürburgring with an equally strong Sunday. Lucas Auer (27, Kufstein) finished third in the Mercedes-AMG GT3 in Knaus colours, taking his third podium of the season and moving up from fifth to third in the DTM standings. He is just four points behind second place. Maximilian Götz (36, Uffenheim) made an even bigger jump in the standings, moving up to eleventh overall with fourth on Saturday and fifth on Sunday in the BWT car. Team youngster David Schumacher (20, Salzburg), on the other hand, retired from both races in the Ravenol car, as at the Norisring.
After morning qualifying with tenth on the grid had not gone entirely to his liking, Lucas Auer took off like a rocket when the race started and moved straight up to seventh. Even more decisive was the safety car phase that followed, triggered by a collision between David Schumacher and a rival, during which a good two thirds of the field came in for the mandatory pit stop at the same time at the end of lap seven. Not only did the WWR pit crew conjure up the second-fastest tyre change of the entire field on Auer’s car, the Tyrolean also nailed the restart on lap ten so perfectly that he immediately found himself in third.
“The two great starts and above all the fantastic pit stop were the key today,” beamed Auer. “Big compliment and many thanks to my guys, who delivered a perfect tyre change under this incredible pressure. The pace wasn’t outstanding today either, but it was good enough to hold third safely, especially as van der Linde and Bortolotti were fighting hard behind me, which suited me just fine. I tried to put pressure on Olsen while saving my tyres in case another safety car came. So I’m absolutely happy with third.”
Maximilian Götz also improved on his seventh grid position and finished fifth. “A very pleasing weekend in which we confirmed our upward trend and made a big jump forward in the championship,” said the defending champion. “The car wasn’t quite as fast today as yesterday. In qualifying we got the tyre pressures slightly wrong, and in the race I had slight balance problems. I also took a few knocks at the restart. I couldn’t get the tyres into the operating window as quickly as yesterday. Small things, but they don’t change the fact that it was a very good weekend for us.”
David Schumacher, on the other hand, made no secret of his annoyance: “The fifth retirement in a row – it’s really frustrating. I was faster than Rast and wanted to get past quickly so as not to lose touch. He left me very little room, but of course the collision is partly my fault too.”
WWR team principal Christian Hohenadel drew a positive conclusion from the race weekend in the Eifel: “We scored a total of 47 points here, and Luggi and Max each made a good jump in the standings. They owe that not only to their great performance but also to their pit crews. Luggi’s stop in particular, amid around 15 cars in the pit lane, was first class. David must not bury his head in the sand now but keep working with focus. When Maxi is seventh in qualifying just a tenth of a second off pole, it shows how incredibly high the level in the DTM is. The road to the top is a rocky one.”
The 2022 DTM now comes thick and fast. The last three events of the season follow at two-week intervals at Spa-Francorchamps/B (10/11 September), the Red Bull Ring/A (24/25 September) and Hockenheim (8/9 October).