WINWARD Racing on the up

Thanks to a strong performance by driver and pit crew, Austrian Lucas Auer and his Mercedes-AMG Team WINWARD took important points in the Saturday race at Nuremberg’s Norisring. After an exciting hour in sweltering heat, the 28-year-old from Kufstein drove his 550 hp Knaus Mercedes-AMG GT3 to fourth, missing his first podium of the 2023 DTM season by just 1.5 seconds. Team-mate David Schumacher (21, Salzburg) worked his way up to 14th in the Ravenol sister car after a poor qualifying and also added to his points tally.

The Altendiez pit crew played a major part in the good showing of both drivers, servicing each car in 6.0 seconds for the mandatory change of all four wheels – the fastest pit stops of the entire field. Team principal Christian Hohenadel was thrilled too: “The guys are delivering incredible pit stops at the moment. And I know exactly: tomorrow they’ll try to shave off another tenth!”

The WWR crew thus played a key role in helping their drivers move well forward from grid positions 8 (Auer) and 19 (Schumacher). “It was a satisfying race,” said Lucas Auer. “In qualifying we’re still not one hundred per cent sorted. But as in the Saturday race at Zandvoort, we had a perfect start, a super strategy and a mega pit stop. Now we just need to find a bit more speed, then we can fight for podiums or more again.”

David Schumacher was also happy with his race: “Driving from 19th on the grid into the points isn’t bad. At the start I got squeezed a bit and lost a few positions. The pace was very good, but overtaking wasn’t easy. But it was a good race. We could certainly have finished further up if qualifying had gone better.”

Team principal Hohenadel had little to add: “Today’s race was another step in the right direction. Improving our qualifying pace remains our main focus. We are working our way back step by step to where we belong. And we won’t let up.”

The Sunday race at the Norisring again starts at 1.30 pm. As always, ProSieben broadcasts live from 1 pm.