WWR drivers add to their points tally
Lucas Auer and Maro Engel bring their Mercedes-AMG GT3 home 5th and 11th in the first race of the DTM weekend at Zandvoort (NL).
Mercedes-AMG Team WINWARD collected more important championship points in the Saturday race of the third DTM event of 2024 at Zandvoort in the Netherlands. Starting from fifth, Lucas Auer (29, Kufstein) brought the Mercedes-AMG GT3 entered by Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER home in the same position. Team-mate Maro Engel (38, Monaco) fought his way forward bravely after a poor qualifying in the sister car in the colours of “130 Years of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport” and RAVENOL, and only just missed out on a top-10 finish. In the standings the Munich-born driver remains well placed in fifth, just nine points behind the leader.
For Auer, the first race on the 4.3-kilometre dune circuit was comparatively uneventful. The Tyrolean lost a position in a duel on lap three, but won it back thanks to another superb mandatory tyre change by the WINWARD crew and then brought fifth place home confidently. “The race went great, we had a good strategy and a very quick pit stop,” said Auer. “For once I wasn’t involved in many battles today because I had space in front and behind. I’d say it was a solid race, which also makes me confident for tomorrow.” In the overall standings “Luggi” is tenth, 18 points behind.
Maro Engel was rather sober about the first race day at the Dutch seaside resort. In a qualifying session in which no fewer than 17 GT3 cars from second place onwards were covered by exactly half a second, the Monaco resident found himself on the penultimate row of the grid. In the race Engel was as strong as ever and gained seven positions on the Zandvoort track, which is considered difficult for overtaking. “We limited the damage,” said the veteran. “Coming through from the back to P11 was good. And because all the drivers at the top of the championship had a bad day, we are still well in the running overall. But we need to understand what’s going on in qualifying. The pace hasn’t been good all weekend, and that on one of my favourite tracks, where I won a race last year. We need to analyse that.”
WWR team principal Christian Hohenadel was satisfied with his team’s performance: “Both drivers drove a flawless race, the pit crew delivered two strong stops. There’s little to criticise. The grid position is decisive in this championship. Maro proved it. With his lap times he could have kept up at the front. Where you start is where you finish. So we have to make sure we qualify further up.”
Because some DTM drivers have to complete their mandatory test laps for next weekend’s 24-hour classic in Le Mans tomorrow morning and then travel straight back to the Netherlands, the second race at Zandvoort will exceptionally start at 4.30 pm. The WWR drivers start from the grid positions already set on Friday evening, 7 (Auer) and 12 (Engel). Despite the unusual schedule, ProSieben and ran.de will broadcast all the action live and in full.