Fans at the Hockenheimring for Saturday’s opening race of the DTM season were treated to a spectacular race with a dramatic finish. For long periods, pole-sitter Lucas Auer (Mercedes-Benz) looked like the sure winner. However, Timo Glock (BMW) caught the 22-year-old in the closing laps and proceeded to put him under pressure in a spectacular battle for the win. However, Auer was able to fend off all of Glock’s overtaking attempts and went on to claim the second win of his DTM career.
Mike Rockenfeller produced a tactical masterstroke. The Audi driver, who started the race from 16th on the grid, came in early on lap nine for his mandatory pit stop. He then fought his way through the field on fresh tyres and was ultimately rewarded with third place and a spot on the podium. Fellow Audi driver Mattias Ekström enjoyed success with the reverse strategy. The Swede drove a long first stint and only came into the pits for a tyre change on lap 26. This move allowed Ekström, who was 17th in qualifying, to make up twelve places and finish the opening race of the season in fifth place, just behind Edoardo Mortara (Mercedes-Benz) in fourth.
“The changes to the sporting regulations paid off, as that fantastic race showed. The newly-developed Ventus Race from Hankook delivered a great performance and behaved exactly as stipulated in the specifications. This made a host of different race strategies possible, which made it all the more exciting. It is also important that the drivers are now the decisive factor again,” said Manfred Sandbichler, Hankook Motorsport Director Europe.
