Solid start to the season for WINWARD Racing

Mercedes-AMG Team WINWARD made a solid start to the 2024 DTM season in the Saturday race at the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben. Lucas Auer (29, Kufstein) drove the Mercedes-AMG GT3 entered by Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER to sixth place. Team-mate Maro Engel (38, Monaco) had to settle for 13th after an unlucky first race day, but also scored his first points of the season.

As so often in the hard-fought DTM, morning qualifying proved decisive. While Lucas Auer was slightly held up on his best flying lap but still put the “MANN-FILTER Mamba” eighth on the grid, team-mate Maro Engel was hit much harder. Not perfect on his first fast lap, the veteran was stopped by red flags immediately afterwards when a rival went off the track. The sobering result for the Monaco resident, racing in the “130 Years of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport” and Ravenol design: 17th on the grid. Given how hard it is to overtake on the twisty 3.6-kilometre track near Magdeburg, anything but a promising starting position.

In the race, however, both WINWARD cars were strong. On the opening lap Auer gained one position and Engel even three. With a good strategy and a very fast mandatory pit stop, the Austrian gained another place by the finish and ended up a good sixth. “A solid start to the season,” said Auer. “After we struggled a bit in free practice yesterday, we improved step by step. I’m happy with my race. The guys did a super pit stop, and the pace was OK. We can build on that for the Sunday race.”

Stablemate Engel, fastest of all on Friday, was visibly disappointed: “Of course we had imagined this differently. In qualifying this morning we first didn’t get the tyres perfectly up to temperature and then were stopped by a red flag at the wrong moment. Coming through from 17th to 13th in the race certainly wasn’t bad, but there are a few details to work on there too. We’ll do that now and try to show our full potential tomorrow.”

WWR team principal Christian Hohenadel also spoke of a “solid race. We certainly stayed a bit below our potential, but Luggi’s sixth place is fine. Maro was unlucky in qualifying, and when you start that far back in such a close field, you can be glad of every point. And I am, especially as Maro’s pit stop wasn’t perfect for once. But we know our strengths and will attack fully again tomorrow.”

The Sunday race at the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben again starts at 1.30 pm. ProSieben and ran.de broadcast the racing spectacle in the Magdeburg Börde live and in full.