A rollercoaster ride for WINWARD Racing
With fourth place in the Sunday race at Spa, Lucas Auer makes a big jump in the 2022 DTM standings. No points for Götz and Schumacher.
In the second race of the sixth DTM weekend on the legendary “Ardennes rollercoaster” at Spa-Francorchamps, Mercedes-AMG Team WINWARD Racing again experienced real ups and downs. On his 28th birthday, Austrian Lucas Auer (Kufstein) gave himself a strong fourth place in the Knaus Mercedes-AMG GT3 and moved up to second in the overall standings. This time, however, it was team-mate Maximilian Götz (34, Uffenheim) who finished outside the points after a puncture on the BWT car. And David Schumacher (20, Salzburg), who shone with the second-fastest race lap in his Ravenol car, again came away empty-handed after an early penalty and a late accident.
As on the previous day, morning qualifying turned into a weather lottery. In the end, those at the front were the ones who managed to cross the line once more on slicks on the drying track shortly before the 20 minutes ran out – which Auer, for example, missed by a few seconds. Even so, grid positions 6 (Götz) and 8 (Auer) promised a good starting position for the race. Schumacher’s 23rd was irrelevant, as the DTM rookie still had a drive-through penalty to serve for track limits violations in the previous day’s race.
While Schumacher served the penalty right at the start of the race, Götz and Auer again made a superb impression in the pack after the rolling start and moved up to fourth and fifth over the first two laps. Because Götz was struggling with heavy understeer, he let his colleague Auer through, who immediately set off after the leading group.
After the round of pit stops, birthday boy Auer still had the podium in sight but then lost a position. “On the new tyres the pace was very good, but as the race went on performance dropped off, so I couldn’t hold off the Porsche,” said the Tyrolean, who made one last attack after the restart following a “Full Course Yellow” (recovery of a stopped car), but had to settle for fourth, which moved him up to second in the standings. With two race weekends left in the season, the motto for “Luggi” is clear: “From now on there’s no more tactics. At the Red Bull Ring and Hockenheim it’s all about attack!”
Max Götz, on the other hand, suffered a setback after his great podium the day before. Carrying 15 kilograms of success ballast, and despite a less than perfect pit stop, the defending champion was holding seventh when this time he was hit by a puncture: “A real shame, because until then it had gone very well,” regretted the defending champion, who had to settle for 15th in the end. “Those would have been valuable points again. The second pit stop of course threw us a long way back. Very disappointing, but at least we were fast today too, which makes me confident going into the last two race weekends.”
Finally, David Schumacher was once again not rewarded for a very good performance. Last after serving his penalty, the Austrian resident really turned up the pace, set the second-fastest race lap on the Belgian asphalt and was close to the top 15 again when he became the innocent victim of a multi-car collision after the restart on the final lap. “It was actually a very good weekend, because the pace was absolutely right,” said the DTM rookie. “Unfortunately I had a lot of bad luck again. This morning a rival got in my way on my last fast lap. In the race we were quick again. At the restart I unfortunately got squeezed in the melee, and shortly afterwards someone spun right in front of me. I couldn’t avoid him. Again nothing to show for it, but we’re heading in the right direction!”
“This weekend was nothing but ups and downs – a real rollercoaster ride,” said WWR team principal Christian Hohenadel, shaking his head. “Yesterday Luggi had the bad luck, today Max. I’m delighted for our birthday boy with fourth place, which brings us back within striking distance in the championship, even though 32 points behind van der Linde is a lot. But of course we won’t give up and will give him a hot fight. David again proved that he has the performance to run right at the front. The second-fastest race lap was impressive proof of that. What he lacks is a sense of achievement. Praise also to the crew – Auer’s and Schumacher’s stops were top!”
The penultimate race weekend of the 2022 DTM season takes place on 24/25 September at the Red Bull Ring near Spielberg in Styria.