A positive end to a tough weekend
Lucas Auer also scores points for WINWARD Racing in the DTM Sunday race at the Red Bull Ring. A good race from David Schumacher.
After another disappointing qualifying session, Mercedes-AMG Team WINWARD again produced a strong comeback in the Sunday race of the seventh DTM weekend of 2023 at the Red Bull Ring. Starting only from 21st, Lucas Auer (29, Kufstein) worked his way up to eleventh at the finish in the Knaus Mercedes-AMG GT3 with a perfect strategy and strong race pace. Team-mate David Schumacher (21, Salzburg) was also quick on the 4.3-kilometre track in Styria, gained seven places in the race and brought his Ravenol car home in 18th.
Once again, morning qualifying proved decisive. On a completely dry track this time, all Mercedes-AMG GT3 struggled. The best-placed representative of the three-pointed star qualified only 16th. To make matters worse, Auer’s two best lap times were deleted for exceeding track limits. On Schumacher’s car, both front brake discs had to be changed in a hurry before his fast laps. So grid positions 21 and 25 were anything but an ideal starting point.
In the race, however, both WWR cars really got going. After a great opening lap, Luggi Auer came past start and finish in 14th for the first time. David Schumacher, on the other hand, had to avoid a rival spinning in front of him in turn 1 and found himself at the back of the field. The key to an ultimately pleasing result was a good strategy and fast pit stops. With light drizzle starting again, both WWR cars came in relatively late for the mandatory tyre change, at the end of laps 22 (Auer) and 25 (Schumacher), and each gained several positions with this overcut strategy, which they then brought safely to the finish.
“It was a tough weekend in general,” admitted Auer. “Especially on a dry track you could see that the Mercedes-AMG GT3 weren’t fast enough. We as a team weren’t perfectly sorted either. Even so, our race performance both yesterday and today wasn’t bad. So we were able to move forward well in both races. Now we have to analyse the weekend thoroughly and then attack again at the finale in Hockenheim.”
Team-mate Schumacher was also not unhappy with his race: “After another unlucky qualifying, we made the best of the poor starting position in the race. Strategy and pit stop were perfect. Apart from some fairly strong understeer at times, the car’s balance was OK, and so was my race pace. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough for overtaking, so moving into the points wasn’t possible.”
“We knew a difficult task awaited us at the Red Bull Ring,” said WWR team principal Christian Hohenadel. “After all Mercedes-AMG GT3 were not competitive in qualifying on a dry track, we did very well in the race. The overcut strategies worked very well on both cars, as did the pit stops. There was no more possible today. At the finale the cards will be reshuffled. We’re looking forward to it!”
The big showdown of the 2023 DTM takes place on 21/22 October at the Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg. Next weekend the WINWARD team is already in action in Barcelona, Spain. Circuit Catalunya hosts the fifth and final round of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup powered by AWS. At the three-hour race near the Catalan capital, WWR again fields two Mercedes-AMG GT3 for the driver trios Marius Zug/Miklas Born/David Schumacher and Philip Ellis/Indy Dontje/Russell Ward.