Lucas Auer and Jamie Green are the two winners from the DTM season opener at Hockenheim which concluded today. Auer won race 1 yesterday for Mercedes-AMG while Green emerged victorious in race 2 today driving an Audi RS5 DTM.
For Auer, the 22-year old Austrian driver started from pole and never relinquished the position till chequered flag. This was his second DTM career win and things look promising if he retains the same momentum. Timo Glock finished race 1 in second place behind Auer, Audi’s Mike Rockenfeller finished third after one of the most thrilling drives in his career. He started from 16th place but a brilliant stop strategy allowed him to capitalize on valuable time before scooping a podium win. Rockenfeller was the first driver to pit, on lap 9.
Edoardo Mortara is with AMG this season and he managed a strong fourth place ahead of Mattias Ekstrom. The latter was the second last driver to stop for tires having pitted on lap 25 and the strategy worked out in his favor. Ekstrom was of course doubling at Hockenheim in two camps, DTM and FIA Rallycross. He won Rallycross in what was his third straight win of the season, driving an Audi S1 RX.
Sixth place went to Audi’s Rene Rast followed by Gary Paffett, Paul Di Resta, Nico Müller, and reigning DTM champion Marco Wittmann.
Race two favored Audi’s Jamie Green who scored his 14th win in DTM today. Gary Paffett came home second while Wittmann made it an even podium by claiming third for BMW. Rast had a bad start in this race, and Glock led immediately after the start, but the safety car was deployed on lap 1 when Wickens hit Muller who in turn hit Duval.
After restart, Green jumped into the lead, Glock dropped back as Auer slotted into second. Green was handed a five seconds penalty for inappropriate restart. There was heavy rain in this race and those who made good calls on the tires benefited the most. For some like Auer, his slicks only made it worse and he was forced to pit while in the top three due to the drastic change of track conditions. He rejoined in fourth, behind Wittmann.
Muller finished in fifth behind Auer, and ahead of Di Resta, Rockenfeller, Glock, Spengler and Engel.
Next stop is Lausitzring on May 19.
