Positive haul for WINWARD Racing
Maro Engel collects more important points with fifth place in the DTM Sunday race at the Sachsenring. Another tough race day for Lucas Auer.
The Mercedes-AMG Team WINWARD also collected important points in the fight for the 2024 DTM title in the Sunday race at the Sachsenring. Maro Engel (39, Monaco) finished fifth in the Mercedes-AMG GT3 designed in the colours of “130 Years of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport” and RAVENOL and, with four races to go, remains in a promising third place in the DTM standings. Team-mate Lucas Auer (29, Kufstein) had another difficult race day on the 3.6-kilometre rollercoaster track near Hohenstein-Ernstthal and finished 13th in the sister car entered by Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER.
Starting from seventh on the grid, Engel got away superbly and turned into the first corner in fourth. In the typical jostling there, however, the Munich native not only lost two positions but also took several hits that left marks on his Mercedes-AMG GT3. Another lightning-fast mandatory tyre change got Engel past two rivals and also gave him the chance to attack title contender Kelvin van der Linde into the first corner. Unfortunately the overtaking move around the outside didn’t work; instead, defending champion Thomas Preining went past on the inside.
In the end, fifth place left him 15 points behind leader van der Linde before the last two DTM events of 2024 at the Red Bull Ring and Hockenheim. Engel was satisfied overall with the weekend’s haul: “I had a good start, but then I was pushed from behind into the car in front. My car took quite a bit of damage and the balance wasn’t perfect for the rest of the race. In between, things looked quite good again thanks to the super pit stop. I had to try the attack on Kelvin, a shame it didn’t work. Overall it was a good, positive weekend with lots of points that we’re happy to take.”
Lucas Auer, meanwhile, is hoping that his run of bad luck will finally end at his home race in three weeks. Qualifying again did not go to plan. Six tenths of a second off pole meant only 13th on the grid, which once again shows how incredibly close the DTM is. After the start, the “MANN-FILTER Mamba” was also hit several times in the chaos and picked up some damage. “That was a really tough weekend,” sighed the 2022 DTM runner-up. “I gave absolutely everything. Free practice still went well, but from the first qualifying onwards we were no longer competitive. We need to analyse that very carefully.”
WWR team principal Christian Hohenadel drew mixed conclusions from the weekend in Saxony: “With Maro we certainly got the maximum of what was possible and we’re still well placed in the title race. Fifteen points is not a small gap, but far from impossible to close. A positive today once again was the great pit work of our crew, who deserve my praise and thanks. Both tyre changes were absolutely top. We need to look closely at what went wrong for Luggi so we can get him back where he belongs as quickly as possible.”
The seventh and penultimate race weekend of the 2024 DTM season takes place on the last weekend of September at the Red Bull Ring near Spielberg in Styria.