A conciliatory season finale for WWR
Lucas Auer brings his Mercedes-AMG GT3 into the top 10 in the last DTM race of 2023. David Schumacher drops back after a foul.
The DTM said goodbye for the winter with a festival of racing. A total of 88,000 spectators at the Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg saw two exciting races, of which Sunday’s finale went much better for Mercedes-AMG Team WINWARD than the day before. Lucas Auer produced a great comeback on the 4.5-kilometre Grand Prix circuit and drove from 18th on the grid to eighth at the finish. David Schumacher, who was even faster than his experienced team-mate in morning qualifying, dropped out of the points after contact that was not his fault and finished 16th.
One day before his 22nd birthday, Schumacher started strongly and moved up two places to eleventh. But after being pushed onto the grass at full speed by a rival, the Ravenol Mercedes-AMG GT3 dropped back seven positions. Despite a strong pit stop by the WWR crew as early as lap eleven, 16th place was all that was possible in the end. “The start was great, the first laps too. The car was good, the pace was right, the top 10 were in sight. Unfortunately this unfair move ruined my race. The underbody of my car was damaged, there was nothing more possible really. Thanks a lot to my colleague!” said the annoyed Austria-based driver.
Meanwhile, Auer gained five positions in the first few kilometres with a superb opening lap, then benefited from his stablemate’s bad luck and brought his Knaus car into the pits two laps after Schumacher, where the WWR crew delivered the fastest pit stop of the day in 5.7 seconds. As a result, the 29-year-old from Kufstein was eighth when the pit window closed, a position he held to the finish. “After the difficult qualifying, the race went great. After the start I was aggressive and could gain a few positions. My guys’ pit stop was super! If you go from 18th to 8th in the DTM, you have to be satisfied, and I am,” said the Tyrolean.
The two WWR drivers’ verdict on the season was positive overall. “Of course we had other plans before the season, but on the whole I’m happy with the season. After the crash in Daytona I could be glad to be on the grid at all. We had some good races and podiums, so overall I’m satisfied,” said last year’s runner-up Auer. Team-mate Schumacher added: “My second season in the DTM was certainly a good step forward from the first. Not least because of the new tyre, we struggled as a team at times. It wasn’t an easy season, there was the odd scuffle again. But there were some highlights – here too we had good pace all weekend. I’m not unhappy.”
WINWARD team principal Christian Hohenadel agreed with his drivers: “The 2023 season was not an easy one for the whole team. We were beaten below our value more than once and could not quite meet our own high standards. But that spurs us on even more to work harder over the winter so that we are back where we belong next season. Because for me there is no doubt that my team has the potential to fight at the very front, even in this high-class field.”
The 2024 DTM season starts from 26 to 28 April at the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben. Once again, eight events with 16 races are on the programme.