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Race report

Lausitz DTM: Auer controls Race 2 for maiden victory

Mercedes driver Lucas Auer converted pole position in Race 2 at Lausitzring into his maiden victory in the DTM.

Lucas Auer, Mercedes-AMG Team Mücke, Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM

Lucas Auer, Mercedes-AMG Team Mücke, Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM

Alexander Trienitz

Lucas Auer, Mercedes-AMG Team Mücke, Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM
Lucas Auer, Mercedes-AMG Team Mücke, Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM
Mattias Ekström, Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline, Audi A5 DTM
Mattias Ekström, Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline, Audi A5 DTM
Robert Wickens, Mercedes-AMG Team HWA, Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM
Lucas Auer, Mercedes-AMG Team Mücke, Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM

Auer had at no point looked like losing the win, leading comfortably from the get-go and seeing out the race with ease after the mandatory stops.

While the Austrian's start from his career-first pole at the Nurburgring last year had not gone to plan, he completely nailed the getaway this time around, heading the field into Turn 1 as Mercedes stablemate Robert Wickens passed Timo Glock.

The Canadian remained within a second of his teammate early on, but soon dropped back, with Auer enjoying a lead of more than three seconds by the end of the first stint.

On lap 15, Wickens and Glock were the first to make use of the mandatory pit window for the frontrunners, and a bad stop for the latter proved costly - with Gary Paffett pitting a lap later to rejoin well ahead of Glock's BMW.

Auer himself would only wait until lap 17 to give up his lead for a mandatory stop - and, for a fair stretch, the race would instead be helmed by Mattias Ekstrom, who had benefitted from a late stop at Spielberg and opted for the same strategy here.

Having passed Audi teammate Jamie Green after the Brit's excursion to the grass, Ekstrom pitted on lap 25 - behind Green, who had stopped three laps earlier and was now chasing after Paffett for what was realistically third place.

Shortly thereafter, Green put paid to hopes of a Mercedes 1-2-3 by easing past Paffett at Turn 1, with Ekstrom completing the move in the very same spot the next lap, before eventually going on to overtake Green again as well.

By that point, Auer had already cycled back into the lead, enjoying a comfortable cushion of five seconds over Wickens, which would prove more than sufficient for the Austrian to coast to his first DTM victory.

Wickens himself, however, would fall prey to a DRS move from Ekstrom with two laps to go - but did manage to hold on to third place against Green.

Paffett took fifth, ahead of Marco Wittmann, who managed to defend against Christian Vietoris, the latter originally set to start on the front row before a five-place grid penalty for blocking.

A late-stop strategy allowed Nico Muller to finish eighth, with Bruno Spengler and Glock rounding out the points.

Four drivers of the 24 did not make it to the chequered flag, with Farfus punted off by Miguel Molina early on, Daniel Juncadella and Maximilian Gotz coming to a halt late in the race, bringing out a brief Slow Zone, and Paul di Resta calling it a day in the pits with five laps to go.

Race results

Pos. Driver Team Time/Gap
1 Lucas Auer Mercedes 1:02:11.261
2 Mattias Ekstrom Audi 3.763
3 Robert Wickens Mercedes 6.386
4 Jamie Green Audi 6.770
5 Gary Paffett Mercedes 12.292
6 Marco Wittmann BMW 16.839
7 Christian Vietoris Mercedes 17.355
8 Nico Muller Audi 18.099
9 Bruno Spengler BMW 21.872
10 Timo Glock BMW 24.865
11 Tom Blomqvist BMW 34.033
12 Edoardo Mortara Audi 34.173
13 Maxime Martin BMW 36.394
14 Antonio Felix da Costa BMW 36.827
15 Esteban Ocon Mercedes 41.508
16 Timo Scheider Audi 42.387
17 Mike Rockenfeller Audi 45.110
18 Martin Tomczyk BMW 51.198
19 Miguel Molina Audi 1:04.337
20 Adrien Tambay Audi 1:14.175
Ret Paul di Resta Mercedes 5 Laps
Ret Dani Juncadella Mercedes  
Ret Maximilian Gotz Mercedes  
Ret Augusto Farfus BMW  

 

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