Disappointing race day for WINWARD
In the Saturday race of the 2023 DTM season finale at Hockenheim, the Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Auer and Schumacher missed the points.
The penultimate race day of the 2023 DTM season at the Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg was disappointing for Mercedes-AMG Team WINWARD. After a qualifying session that was difficult for all Mercedes-AMG GT3, Lucas Auer (29, Kufstein) and David Schumacher (21, Salzburg) narrowly missed the points in the Saturday race in 16th and 19th.
Starting 13th as the second-best Mercedes-AMG driver, Lucas Auer got through the scramble of the first laps well in the Knaus car and settled into eleventh. Unfortunately, for once the mandatory pit stop, normally a strength of the WWR crew, did not go as planned, and the Tyrolean lost four positions. Despite good race pace afterwards, last year’s DTM runner-up lost another place and slipped out of the points. “A race day to forget. We have to work out what went wrong today and do better tomorrow,” was Auer’s brief comment.
David Schumacher got into his stride on the 4.5-kilometre Grand Prix circuit near Heidelberg, set the best race lap of all Mercedes-AMG drivers in the Ravenol car and was at times the fastest man on track. “But from 22nd on the grid it’s just difficult,” said the Austria-based driver. “We have to make sure we start further up after qualifying; race pace is then less of a problem for us. The car was good, the race was fun, I had good battles – but the result just isn’t right.”
WWR team principal Christian Hohenadel agreed: “All Mercedes-AMG GT3 struggled in qualifying. On used tyres Luggi and David were going well, but that doesn’t help us much in this high-class field. Unfortunately both stops didn’t work out perfectly either, which I don’t hold against my crew. The guys have proved so often how good they are that I can live with it when a mishap happens.”
Tomorrow, Sunday, the WWR team has the chance of a positive end to the season. The 16th and final race of the 2023 DTM season starts at 1.30 pm. ProSieben and ran.de broadcast live from 12.55 pm.