Lucas Auer and Mercedes-AMG secure runner-up spots in DTM drivers’ and manufacturers’ standings

Lucas Auer and Mercedes-AMG secure runner-up spots in DTM drivers’ and manufacturers’ standings

After a one-year hiatus, DTM returned to the Hockenheimring for its season-ending event in 2022. A traditionally fixed element of the race calendar, the 4.57 kilometres long track in Baden-Württemberg already frequently hosted the season opener or the finale of the sprint race series in the past. But seldom before did it promise to be so exciting as in the 15^th and 16^th race of this year’s season.

For the first time in DTM history, ten drivers at least still had theoretical chances of securing the drivers’ title in the final race weekend in which there were still, as usual, 58 points at stake. Among them were Lucas Auer (Mercedes-AMG Team WINWARD / 11 points down), second in the standings, Luca Stolz (GER / Mercedes-AMG Team HRT / 28) and defending champion Maximilian Götz (GER / Mercedes-AMG Team WINWARD Racing / 56).

Saturday: Lucas Auer secures pole position and victory in the first race

In qualifying on Saturday morning, Auer and Stolz immediately underlined their title ambitions. With a time of 1m 36.479s, Auer put the #22 Mercedes-AMG GT3 on pole position that earned him three valuable points. Around six hundredths of a second down, Stolz completed the front row for the 100^th DTM race to be held at Hockenheimring.

After a turbulent start, there were multiple position changes early in the race in the afternoon. Lucas Auer was able to defend his lead, but Luca Stolz dropped back to fourth place. That was the order as the safety car was deployed for the first time after the opening lap. After the subsequent restart, there were multiple severe accidents to which race control responded with the red flag. Thankfully, everyone involved escaped from these situations without major injuries.

Damaged barriers and plenty of debris on track led to an extended interruption of the race. As the field was released once more after around 30 minutes, there were only 17 of the original 27 cars on track. Auer was still in the lead, Luca Stolz was one of the first drivers to come in for the mandatory pit stop just a little bit later.

After the mandatory tyre change, Auer had dropped back to what virtually was second place. For the remainder of the race, the Austrian had to work hard to defend his position, but also made big steps to close up to the race leader at the same time. On the penultimate lap, he claimed back first place while accelerating out of the hairpin and then brought this position home without any problems.

As a result, Auer came within two points from the championship leader prior to the finale on Sunday. Luca Stolz finished ninth and dropped out of the title race at a late stage following outstanding achievements in his debut season. Maximilian Buhk (GER) of Mercedes-AMG Team Mücke Motorsport scored his first championship point of the season by finishing tenth. For Buhk, it was a silent farewell after a long and successful career as a member of the Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing family. Prior to the season finale on Sunday, the 29-year-old, who, among others, won the Blancpain GT Series endurance classification title and the Spa 24-hour race with Mercedes-AMG, announced his retirement from motorsport as a driver.

Sonntag: aborted qualifying prevents better result for Lucas Auer

After the accidents from the previous day, some drivers, including David Schumacher (GER), weren’t given permission to start. Moreover, many cars, like the ones of Mikaël Grenier (CAN) and Arjun Maini (IND), were damaged beyond immediate repair. For the final qualifying of the season on Sunday, the field was accordingly reduced to 20 participants.

A red flag just before the end of the 20-minute session prevented a second run with fresh tyres for most of the drivers which deprived Lucas Auer among others of the chance of a good grid position. As the best-placed Mercedes-AMG driver, Maximilian Götz started the race from ninth place, Auer started from eleventh position. His title rival qualified fifth and was therefore in a better position for the one-hour season finale.

In spite of 25 kilograms of success ballast plus another five kilograms following a last-minute chance of the balance of performance, Auer had a good start of the race. He made up some positions and was already up in seventh place on lap three. His teammate Maximilian Götz, meanwhile, had to park his #1 Mercedes-AMG GT3 having innocently become involved in a collision.

At the high-speed track, the considerable additional weight still became apparent as the race went on. Instead of looking ahead, Auer had to defend his position on track. Therefore, Mercedes-AMG Team WINWARD opted for the earliest possible pit stop after ten minutes. However, Lucas Auer wasn’t able to continue his recovery drive with fresh tyres either.

With a spirited and faultless performance, he still brought a respectable seventh place home, but as his opponents still did a little bit better, the DTM stalwart ended up in runner-up spot of the standings, eleven points down. Luca Stolz finished ninth in the final race of the year in which only twelve cars made it to the finish. By virtue of this result, Mercedes-AMG concluded the manufacturers’ championship in a strong second place, only just missing out on a successful title defence in the process.

A season with highs and lows for Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing

After the impressive 1-2 by Lucas Auer and Luca Stolz in the opening race at Portimão, the Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing Teams experienced a DTM year with highs and lows. A chaotic race weekend at Norisring remains in memory, just like Luca Stolz’s maiden win at DTM Nürburgring powered by Mercedes-AMG and the dramatic season finale at Hockenheim. In total, the eight Mercedes-AMG GT3s scored three race wins and eight further podium results in the 16 races at eight European circuits in 2022.

During the Hockenheimring race weekend, DTM still left it open when and where the sprint series will get its next season underway. Irrespective of that, Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing will again be on the grid with a high-quality line-up. Which drivers and teams are involved will be announced at the beginning of next year.

Christoph Sagemüller, head of Mercedes-AMG Motorsport:“All in all, the DTM finale at Hockenheim was a thrilling showdown of a hard-fought season. Lucas Auer kept his title chances alive until the end and got himself in a very good position for the grand finale with his victory on Saturday. Too bad that he was deprived of a better grid position because of the aborted qualifying. In the second race, he extracted the maximum from our Mercedes-AMG GT3. More couldn’t be done in this constellation. Nevertheless, we are happy with runner-up spots in the drivers’ and manufacturers’ championships and of course, my congratulations to Sheldon van der Linde on the championship.”

Thomas Jäger, Sporting Director DTM:“We are happy with Lucas Auer’s runner-up spot. In spite of some setbacks this year, we were in a position to compete for the championship until the end. We thank all the Mercedes-AMG Teams and congratulate the deserving champions Schubert Motorsport and Sheldon van der Linde for the title. Now, the focus is on next year. We are already looking forward to an exciting 2023 season.”

Lucas Auer, driver, Mercedes-AMG Team WINWARD #22: “First of all, congratulations to Sheldon and Schubert Motorsport who have done a super job. Today, I was unable to do anything, I could hardly brake with the additional weight anymore. But that is what motorsport is like. This season, the Mercedes-AMG GT3 has again proven to be an all-rounder that enabled us to be in contention at the front until the end.”

Luca Stolz, driver, Mercedes-AMG Team HRT #4: “After I was still in contention for the championship going into the weekend, I had expected a little bit more. In the end, we gave it our all and we have nothing to accuse ourselves of. We finished in the points twice which definitely is a success this weekend. Now, we have to look ahead and attack again in 2023.”

Maximilian Götz, driver, Mercedes-AMG Team WINWARD Racing #1: “When you have #1 on your car, you want to keep it, of course, and repeat the title win, which is very difficult in DTM. This season, we had good and bad times. Ninth place in qualifying today was okay, but unfortunately, I had to park the car after contact with an opponent. Now, my goal is to be in contention at the front in DTM again next year.”