Big fight from WINWARD at the finale
Lucas Auer and Maro Engel finish the last DTM race of the year in the points and secure third place in the final drivers’ and teams’ standings.
In front of a dream backdrop of 95,000 motorsport fans, the DTM went into its winter break with an exciting 2024 season finale. The championship was only decided in the final contest of the year at the Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg, unfortunately not in favour of Maro Engel and the Mercedes-AMG Team WINWARD. The 39-year-old Monaco resident finished the Sunday race in tenth place in the Mercedes-AMG GT3 designed in the colours of “130 Years of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport” and RAVENOL. In the overall DTM standings this meant third place. After second place the day before, team-mate Lucas Auer (30, Kufstein) rounded off a positive final weekend in eighth in the car entered by the Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER.
The tricky starting position of Maro Engel, who went into the final day 20 points behind, was made even harder, quite literally, by a technical reclassification of the Mercedes-AMG GT3 and 15th place on the grid. “We’ve given ourselves a lot of work there,” the Munich native knew even before the start. Luggi Auer’s qualifying with the eighth-fastest time also did not go quite as he had hoped.
As on the previous day, the two WINWARD cars made a good start and came back from the turbulent first lap in fifth (Auer) and 13th (Engel). Engel gained two more places before his mandatory pit stop, and then the WWR mechanics pulled off their own masterpiece: 5.8 seconds to change all four wheels was the season record for the entire field! Auer’s mandatory stop also went well once again, so the two Mercedes-AMG GT3 settled into fifth and ninth. Unfortunately both lost some ground in the final laps, so Auer crossed the line in eighth, two places ahead of team-mate Engel. With that, the WINWARD drivers also secured third place in the final teams’ standings.
Maro Engel commented calmly on his race Sunday: “We had a strong season and were in the title fight until the last race. We need to analyse why we weren’t strong enough here to win the championship in the end. Today in particular was really difficult. But overall the Mercedes-AMG Team WINWARD gave me a very well prepared race car all year. Everyone in the team literally gave everything to create the best possible conditions for us drivers. Everyone pulled together, and we can be really proud of that performance. Today’s mega pit stop was the icing on the cake of a strong team performance.”
Lucas Auer, who had to carry 10 kilograms of success ballast after his second place the day before, also spoke of a “difficult race. The start and the first laps went great, but then the extra weight became more and more noticeable. After the pit stop I was stuck behind the Porsche but couldn’t get past, and at the end I was unfortunately overtaken by three rivals. Of course I would have liked to bring fifth place home, but even so the race was okay.”
“We gave everything, showed a good finale and can be satisfied with our performance,” summarised WWR team principal Christian Hohenadel. “We knew that given the situation we were the outsiders. Nevertheless we gave everything, as our pit crew’s sensational wheel change proves. I know how much the guys longed for this first mandatory stop under 6.0 seconds, and I’m delighted for them that it worked out in the last race. Congratulations to Mirko Bortolotti and the SSR team, who deserved the DTM title. All in all we can be satisfied with our season. Over the winter we will prepare as well as possible to come back even stronger next year.”
The 2025 DTM season opener takes place from 25 to 27 April at the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben.