Lucas Auer holds off competition to take second career victory

Mercedes AMG driver Lucas Auer held off his competitors in a fierce battle at the season opener today at Hockenheim to take the second win of his DTM career.

Dry weather and sunny skies welcomed the DTM field for the first race of the year. At the start Auer took the lead from pole position, followed by team-mate Gary Paffett and BMW’s Timo Glock, who overtook Edoardo Mortara at Turn 2. On lap 2 Timo Glock, who was significantly faster than his predecessor, overtook Gary Paffett at the Hairpin.

Jamie Green, who was battling with Maro Engel for tenth place, pushed the German at Mercedes Kurve on lap 4, causing him to spin out of the track. Green received a drive-through penalty for the manoeuvre. Robert Wickens was also penalised for pushing Tom Blomqvist.

BMW’s Augusto Farfus was the first to change tyres, coming into the pits at the end of lap 7. At that point in the race, both Paffett and Mortara were improving their lap times, recovering ground to Glock. The Briton tried overtaking on the following lap at Mercedes, but missed the braking point, going wide and losing a position to Mortara, who would then start his attack on Glock.

Mattias Ekström was also on a recovering mission having started from 17th on the grid. On lap 11, the Swede overtook his team-mate Nico Müller for eighth position, being the best Audi on the track.

Two laps later Lucas Auer started to lose performance on his tyres, shedding an increasing amount of time per lap to Glock. Wittmann and Ekström had a scrap for seventh place, with the Swede prevailing and breaking away from the reigning champion.

With 16 minutes to go, Ekström and Loic Duval were the only drivers to not have completed all of their pit stops and were heading the field. Auer soon reached the Frenchman, taking second place.

Ekström was 16 seconds ahead of Auer when he came for his tyre change on lap 27. The Swede had a tidy stop, returning to the track in eighth place, just behind fellow Audi driver René Rast.

Auer was in the lead as all pit stops were completed, with 2.6 seconds over Glock, who was lapping faster. Further back, Rast overtook di Resta for sixth, with Ekström following suit a lap later whilst clocking a new fastest lap and taking sixth from Rast with seven minutes to go.

Glock was lapping faster than Lucas Auer, reducing the gap to 1.1 seconds with seven minutes to go. The German was 0.9 seconds behind and within DRS distance a lap later, starting his attack on the Austrian. Meanwhile, Rockenfeller was closing the distance to the leading pair. Glock had to back off as he touched Auer on the penultimate lap.

At the chequered flag, Auer took his second career victory, followed by Glock and Rockenfeller on the podium.

Mortara completed his first race for Mercedes AMG in fourth position, with Ekström right up to his rear bumper over the finishing line. Rast had a solid performance taking sixth from Paffett in the closing stages, with Di Resta in eighth. Müller and Wittmann completed the top ten.