Race report
DTM Hockenheimring
DTM Hockenheim: Auer beats van der Linde in crash-filled race
Mercedes driver Lucas Auer moved within two points of DTM championship leader Sheldon van der Linde with victory in the penultimate race of the season at Hockenheim, which was overshadowed by a violent multi-car pile-up and a Porsche engine catching fire.
Rachit Thukral
Edited: Oct 10, 2022, 8:45 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
The race was red-flagged following a chaotic restart on lap 6 that saw Thomas Preining and David Schumacher smashing into the barriers on the run to Turn 8 following contact, and Dennis Olsen hitting the wall rear-first just seconds later after a separate incident with Ricardo Feller.
All cars were heavily damaged in the incident, with the engine from Olsen's Porsche being thrown out of the car on impact and immediately catching fire.
Only 17 out of 27 cars returned on track when the race resumed after a long red flag, as several others had retired earlier in crashes on the opening lap and again on lap 6 prior to the carnage that ensued at Turn 8.
Polesitter Auer was able to hold the lead with ease at the second restart following DTM's decision to abandon the much-maligned double-file restart procedure, with Marco Wittmann closely following the Winward Mercedes driver in his Walkenhorst BMW.
Both drivers headed to the pits at the same time on lap 11, with Auer hanging on to position despite a quicker stop by the Walkenhorst crew.
Wittmann tried to put pressure on Auer on the out lap, but the Austrian was able to withstand the pressure and eventually eke out a one-second buffer over the two-time champion.
Two-time champion Wittmann mounted a second attack on lap 26 and even managed to move his nose ahead of Auer into the hairpin, only to run deep and allow the latter back through into the net lead.
Auer was then able to pass the Rosberg Audi of Dev Gore - who had moved up the order controversially with a pitstop that remains under investigation - to score his first win since the season opener at Portimao.
However, this wasn't enough to take the lead of the championship following an inspired recovery drive from Sheldon van der Linde, who rebounded from a 10-place grid penalty to finish right behind him in second.
The Schubert BMW driver jumped from 16th to eighth at the original start, avoiding the mess that ensued between Turns 1 and 2 as well as the errant wheel thrown off his brother Kelvin's Audi, before charging past his rivals including Rene Rast to move up into the podium positions.
When Wittmann got held up by the struggling Audi of Gore on the penultimate lap, van der Linde sent his BMW up the inside of the German to claim a crucial second position in his pursuit of a maiden title.
Abt Audi's Rast was another driver to make rapid gains on the opening lap, jumping from seventh to third, but was powerless to defend from van der Linde's BMW as he crossed the finish line in fifth behind Gore.
Mirko Bortolotti was the last of the frontrunners to pit after dropping from third to fifth at the original start, but a slow 13.5s pitstop left him tumbling down the order and with a mountain to climb in the remainder of the race.
Bortolotti did manage to regain several positions in the closing stages of the race to finish seventh behind the second Schubert BMW of Philipp Eng, whose result helped the squad clinch the teams' title over Abt Sportsline with a race still to run.
The top 10 was rounded out by Team Rosberg's Nico Muller, Luca Stolz (HRT Mercedes) and Maximilian Buhk (Mucke Mercedes).
Ahead of Sunday's finale, van der Linde leads the championship by two points over Auer, with Rast 21 points adrift in third and Bortolotti 28 in arrears in fourth.
Team Bernhard Porsche driver Preining is effectively out of the title battle following his horrific incident with Schumacher's Winward Mercedes earlier on lap 6.
Race results:
Cla # Driver Car Gap 1 22 Lucas Auer
Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 2 31 Sheldon Van Der Linde
BMW M4 GT3 0.681 3 11 Marco Wittmann
BMW M4 GT3 1.907 4 12 Dev Gore
Audi R8 LMS Evo II 3.099 5 33 René Rast
Audi R8 LMS Evo II 5.053 6 25 Philipp Eng
BMW M4 GT3 5.849 7 63 Mirko Bortolotti
Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 6.296 8 51 Nico Müller
Audi R8 LMS Evo II 9.324 9 4 Luca Stolz
Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 14.350 10 18 Maximilian Buhk
Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 19.652 11 88 Maro Engel
Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 20.105 12 3 Kelvin van der Linde
Audi R8 LMS Evo II 21.259 13 74 Felipe Fraga
Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 21.822 14 92 Christian Engelhart
Porsche 911 GT3 R 22.486 15 1 Maximilian Götz
Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 31.218 16 10 Leon Köhler
BMW M4 GT3 41.545 6 Alessio Deledda
Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 11 Laps 37 Nick Cassidy
Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 24 Laps 7 Ricardo Feller
Audi R8 LMS Evo II 24 Laps 24 Thomas Preining
Porsche 911 GT3 R 24 Laps 27 David Schumacher
Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 24 Laps 94 Dennis Olsen
Porsche 911 GT3 R 24 Laps 55 Mikael Grenier
Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 24 Laps 85 Clemens Schmid
Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 24 Laps 19 Rolf Ineichen
Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 24 Laps 66 Marius Zug
Audi R8 LMS Evo II 24 Laps 36 Arjun Maini
Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo View full results
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Hockenheim DTM race red-flagged after scary crashes
Next article Audi boss calls for DTM BoP change after Saturday "farce"
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Rachit Thukral
Ducati: Aprilia got “unlucky” in Australian GP, can win every race from now
MotoGP
MotoGP
Australian GP
7 h
Ducati: Aprilia got “unlucky” in Australian GP, can win every race from now
Toyota’s new GR GT3 to make early debut in Japan next month
Super GT
Super GT 15 h
Toyota’s new GR GT3 to make early debut in Japan next month
Latest news
Manthey acknowledges IMSA to be "tougher than expected" despite two wins
IMSA
IMSA IMSA 44 min
Manthey acknowledges IMSA to be "tougher than expected" despite two wins
How a philosophy shift brought BMW to new heights in 2026
IMSA
IMSA IMSA 45 min
How a philosophy shift brought BMW to new heights in 2026
Fred Vasseur reveals two costly moments that denied Ferrari US GP double podium
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
48 min
Fred Vasseur reveals two costly moments that denied Ferrari US GP double podium
Cleetus McFarland set to compete full-time for 2027 ARCA championship
ARCA
ARCA ARCA 2 h
Cleetus McFarland set to compete full-time for 2027 ARCA championship
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe