Nuremberg. Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing finished on the podium once again at the DTM highlight at the Norisring. It was the fifth podium on the fourth race weekend of the current season for the performance and sports car brand from Affalterbach. On his 100th DTM start, Maro Engel (GER) finished second for Mercedes-AMG Team WINWARD on Sunday. In mixed weather conditions during the race weekend, the Mercedes-AMG drivers secured seven out of eight possible point-scoring results. Mercedes-AMG is in second place in the manufacturers' standings at the halfway point of the season.
The two qualifying sessions were each held in two groups due to the short length of the Norisring, which is only 2.162 kilometres long. The groups were determined on basis of the practice times on Friday. The drivers in the odd-numbered positions started in Group A, the drivers in the even-numbered positions in Group B. In qualifying on Saturday, Group A started first, followed by Group B. On Sunday, the groups started in reverse order.
Sunday's race: Maro Engel finishes second with pace and the right strategy
Maro Engel laid the foundation for his success in qualifying (Group A) on Sunday morning. The AMG brand ambassador missed out on pole position in the faster group by just 0.055 seconds, which meant third place on the grid for the race. This ensured him the best starting position of the four Mercedes-AMG GT3s in the field of 20 DTM drivers. Luca Stolz, Arjun Maini and Lucas Auer (AUT) started the race from grid positions six to eight.
With an air temperature of just 18 degrees Celsius and an asphalt temperature of 22 degrees, the conditions were significantly colder compared to Saturday. Unlike the in first race, however, it remained dry this time. After a controlled first stint, a safety car period caused by carbon debris on the track led to a showdown ten minutes before the end. Engel had made the leap from third to second position during the pit stop window with a successful undercut. There were still five minutes to go at the restart. Engel confidently maintained second place in the final stages and saw the chequered flag just 0.777 seconds behind the winner after 69 laps. Arjun Maini narrowly missed out on the podium in fourth place. The Indian also benefited from the undercut. He came into the pits in ninth position and used the right strategy to get into contention for the podium. In seventh and twelfth positions, Luca Stolz and Lucas Auer scored two more point-scoring results for Mercedes-AMG.
Saturday's race: Mercedes-AMG teams lacked the luck for the right tyre choice in the weather gamble
In Saturday's race, the Customer Racing Teams fell short of the high expectations despite scoring three point-scoring results. At the end of the pit stop window, a rain shower turned the first race into a lottery. The Mercedes-AMG drivers decided early on to switch to wet tyres. However, this strategy did not work out this time. The rain did not last, so slicks were ultimately the better tyre choice in the closing stages. At a disadvantage on wet tyres, Engel, Stolz and Maini still finished in the points in eighth, eleventh and 15th place. For Auer, the race once again did not bring the luck he had hoped for. The Austrian suffered a puncture on the right rear tyre at the start through no fault of his own. As a result, he had to retire his car prematurely.
"We are happy to have secured a podium finish at the Norisring. In general, we saw a very close competition at the weekend. Of course, we would have liked to have been involved in the action at the front with more cars. After difficult weekends, we were close to victory this time and that gives us a good feeling. We hope to be able to continue this trend in the second half of the season. We will use the six-week break in DTM to intensively analyse the first half of the season."
Thomas Jäger, Sporting Director DTM
"We had a great race on Sunday. Many thanks to the whole team for giving me a fast car all weekend. It was nice to realise that today after we had already shown the potential on Saturday. I gave it my all and kept putting the pressure on at the front, but Nicki had the lead under control. We are very happy with the podium. We had a difficult weekend at Zandvoort, but we analysed everything carefully as a team and drew the right conclusions. It feels good to be back."
Maro Engel, Mercedes-AMG Team WINWARD #130
"The weekend was up and down. We had two solid qualifying sessions, but we didn't realise our full potential. Things looked good in Saturday's race until the rain came. Unfortunately, we made the wrong decision with the tyre choice, which was also on me. On Sunday I had a bad start and I thought that there was not much more possible for me. But we had a very good pace in free air and my team did a great pit stop and a fantastic strategy. We can be more than satisfied with fourth place."
Arjun Maini, Mercedes-AMG Team HRT #36
"On Saturday, we simply made the wrong choice with the wet tyres and had no chance in these chaotic conditions. The race was fun because I had some nice battles. But eleventh place was not good enough for me. Things went better in qualifying on Sunday and we also got off to a good start in the race. The podium was within reach and we opted for a very early pit stop. I lost valuable time on my out-lap due to a collision involving two drivers in front of me, which meant that our strategy didn't work out. We also lacked a bit of pace in the second stint. We have to look at that. I hope that we will be back on course for a podium in the second half of the season."
Luca Stolz, Mercedes-AMG Team HRT #4
"We lacked that certain something on both days. We didn't get everything out of the qualifying sessions because we didn't put everything together on the crucial last lap. Nevertheless, the starting positions were okay. But I simply lacked the pace in the races. Unfortunately, the race on Saturday was over quickly for me. I had problems on the brakes the whole weekend. I had serious issues under braking. We need to take a close look at that, because the gap to the front was simply too big today."
Lucas Auer, Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER #22
