An off day for WINWARD Racing
In the DTM Saturday race at the Sachsenring, the Mercedes-AMG GT3 of David Schumacher and Lucas Auer went home without points.
Mercedes-AMG Team WINWARD came away empty-handed from the Saturday race of the 2023 DTM at the Sachsenring. Starting only from eleventh after a difficult qualifying, Lucas Auer (28, Kufstein) had to park his Mercedes-AMG GT3 in the pits ten laps from the end. His team-mate David Schumacher (21, Salzburg), who started from row 10, really got going during the one-hour race on the 3.6-kilometre rollercoaster track near Hohenstein-Ernstthal, but narrowly missed the points in the close field of 27 GT3 cars from six brands and finished 17th.
Lucas Auer’s hopes took a blow shortly after the rolling start, when a rival pushed his fellow brand driver Maro Engel into the Knaus car. Afterwards the Tyrolean complained of difficult handling in his 550 hp race car. After dropping out of the points following a trip into the gravel, “Luggi” parked his car in the pits. “It was a tough day,” sighed Auer. “We already struggled a lot in qualifying. That continued in the race. The car was difficult to drive, and I’m not happy with my own performance either. There’s a lot to work through. But tomorrow is a new day!”
Stablemate Schumacher put in a strong performance in the race. Especially on used tyres, the Austria-based driver set lap times on the level of the leaders. And the pit crew delivered a stop of the finest quality: the WWR crew changed all four wheels on the Ravenol car in 6.1 seconds, the best time of the entire field. Unfortunately, the jump into the points did not quite come off.
“Unfortunately we didn’t manage to get the maximum grip out of the new tyre today. That led to the poor grid position – and that is especially important on this track,” said Schumacher. “On used tyres the pace was really good, I could close up to the cars ahead and gain a few positions. Thanks to my guys too, the stop was top class! A pity it wasn’t enough for points. We now have to do everything to start further up in the Sunday race. Then a lot is possible.”
WINWARD team principal Christian Hohenadel spoke of “an off day, the kind that can happen. The tyres gave us a few puzzles today. When one Mercedes-AMG GT3 is on pole and the next is in the midfield six tenths behind, there’s a lot to analyse. Neither driver felt the peak of the tyre. The race pace, especially David’s, was absolutely OK, but in this close field you can’t move forward much from back there. Big compliments to the team for once again flawless pit stops. Tomorrow we want to attack again!”
The DTM Sunday race at the Sachsenring again starts at 1.30 pm. ProSieben broadcasts live as always from 12.55 pm, and online the exciting action from Saxony can be followed on ran.de.