Late satisfaction for WINWARD Racing
A penalty against Lucas Auer in the Saturday race at the Red Bull Ring is overturned afterwards. Götz scores again, Schumacher also strong.
Lucas Auer and Mercedes-AMG Team WINWARD Racing’s chances of winning the 2022 DTM title are still intact – which did not look to be the case immediately after the Saturday race at the Red Bull Ring. The 28-year-old Austrian had crossed the line fourth in the KNAUS Mercedes-AMG GT3 after a strong drive, but a 10-second time penalty for exceeding the 60 km/h pit lane speed limit initially dropped the local hero to ninth.
The penalty caused some irritation in the team, as the excess of 3 km/h was recorded not at the entry or exit of the pit lane but right on the approach to the pit box. “I have no explanation for it,” said Auer with a shrug. “I didn’t overshoot the line at pit entry, nor did I press the speed limiter button too early at the exit.”
Although a time penalty imposed during a race cannot be appealed, Mercedes-AMG Team WINWARD Racing asked the officials afterwards to check the GPS system used to monitor pit lane speed. “If an infringement happens at the beginning or end of the pit lane, the explanation is usually very simple. But if the speed is right everywhere and an excess of 3 km/h suddenly appears only on the approach to the box, that certainly raises questions about the accuracy of the measurement. So we asked for the matter to be reviewed – the DTM regulations don’t allow any more than that anyway,” explained WWR team principal Christian Hohenadel.
After a thorough investigation, race control revised its decision and removed the ten penalty seconds against Lucas Auer from the result. And because championship leader Sheldon van der Linde (BMW) failed to score in the Saturday race, the Kufstein driver cut his deficit in the standings to 20 points, significantly improving his title chances three races from the end, even though he dropped from second to third in the interim standings.
It was the reward for a flawless drive by the Tyrolean, who gained two places with clever moves on the first lap from seventh on the grid. After the pit stop Auer overtook another rival and settled into fourth. “Our pace was good, though not good enough to put pressure on the leaders. Still, it was a good day, because after the penalty was withdrawn we were able to gain ground on van der Linde in the standings. I hope we manage that tomorrow too,” said Auer.
In all the commotion, an equally strong performance by his team-mates went unnoticed. Maximilian Götz (34, Uffenheim) was not unhappy with ninth in the BWT car with number 1, but had hoped for a bit more from eighth on the grid. “At the start I had to back off so as not to hit Luggi and promptly lost another position,” the defending champion said. “Unfortunately we didn’t get the tyre pressures perfect on the second set. I couldn’t match the pace of the leaders for the whole race. But that was the case for all the Mercedes-AMG drivers today. So this top-10 place was the maximum.”
David Schumacher’s 16th place was not least due to a sub-optimal qualifying in the morning and 23rd on the grid. As several times this season, the DTM rookie showed strong race pace in the RAVENOL car and worked his way forward quickly – even though overtaking proved difficult on the 4.3-kilometre circuit in Styria. “Actually it was almost impossible,” sighed the son of six-time Formula 1 Grand Prix winner Ralf Schumacher. “The pace was really good again, especially on old tyres. The crux was qualifying. I had a really good feeling on the second set, but the time still didn’t come, which I found pretty strange.”
Team principal Hohenadel was satisfied with his trio’s performance: “Overall we can be happy with our pace. We had already feared beforehand that the Red Bull Ring would not be one of the best tracks for the Mercedes-AMG GT3. Now we have to make sure we make the best of it again tomorrow.”
The 14th race of the 2022 DTM season also starts at 1.30 pm on Sunday. ProSieben broadcasts live from 1 pm, and on tv.dtm.com racing fans can find all the information about cars and drivers.