Top team performance from WINWARD Racing
Lucas Auer finishes a strong second in the Saturday race of the 2024 DTM finale at Hockenheim. Maro Engel keeps his title hopes alive with fourth.
The Mercedes-AMG Team WINWARD started the last race weekend of the 2024 DTM season with a strong team performance in the Saturday race at the Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg. Lucas Auer (30, Kufstein) finished second in the Mercedes-AMG GT3 entered by the Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER, giving the 2022 DTM runner-up his first podium of the season. His team-mate Maro Engel (39, Monaco) kept his title chances alive with fourth place in his car in the “130 Years of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport” and RAVENOL design. Before the final contest on the 4.6-kilometre Grand Prix circuit near Heidelberg, the Munich native is third in the standings, 20 points behind the new leader Kelvin van der Linde. A total of 28 points are still up for grabs on race Sunday.
As so often in the hard-fought DTM, an early decision was made in the morning qualifying session, in which Auer and Engel took second and ninth on the grid on a wet track. From the start Auer put pressure on van der Linde’s leading Audi, while Engel fought his way up to fifth with a brilliant opening lap. This order at the front remained unchanged until the pit window opened after 20 minutes of racing.
And here the WINWARD Racing pit crew once again tipped the scales. In a superb 6.0 seconds, the WWR mechanics changed all four wheels on Maro Engel’s Mercedes-AMG GT3, once again securing maximum points in the DTM Pitstop Challenge, in which WINWARD Racing is fighting Team Manthey EMA for the unofficial title of best pit crew of the year.
Right after his rival’s stop, Engel squeezed past title contender Mirko Bortolotti into fourth, while Lucas Auer’s 6.4-second stop was also almost perfect. The Tyrolean then built up more and more pressure on the leader and launched several attacks. In the end, “Luggi” was half a second short of his first win of the season.
“The race was tough but a lot of fun,” said Lucas Auer. “Compliments to Kelvin and ABT, who defended very well. I tried everything but unfortunately couldn’t find a way past. In one situation at the hairpin I was maybe five metres short. I braked extremely late and he defended hard. Unfortunately it wasn’t quite enough, and our pace was very similar. But I’m happy to be on the podium again.”
Maro Engel was also pleased with a strong race but is realistic about his title chances: “It was a good race. We gave everything and left nothing untried. The opening lap in particular went great, and the overtaking move on Mirko after the super stop was also important. So we’ve kept our title chances alive for tomorrow, even though the gap is of course relatively big. So there’s only one thing for tomorrow: flat out!”
WINWARD Racing team principal Christian Hohenadel once again praised his entire squad: “Big praise to every single person in the team. The guys once again delivered the best pit stops, which is all the more remarkable under this enormous pressure. Of course we would have liked to win the race. The speed was definitely there, which makes me optimistic for tomorrow. In the finale we will try to block out the title fight as much as possible. For us as outsiders the motto is: full attack!”
The big showdown of the 2024 DTM season starts tomorrow at 1.30 pm as always. ProSieben, JOYN and ran.de will broadcast the title decision live and in full.