Hockenheim – Race 1: Auer emerges from the chaos and comes back to within 2 points of Van der Linde!

The Lucas Auer – Sheldon van der Linde duel is well and truly underway! The two men at the head of the championship monopolized the first two places in Race 1 at Hockenheim. It was the Austrian who gained the upper hand over the South African by converting his pole into victory. The pilot Mercedes won their second victory of the season and are now only two points behind the championship leader. Auer won after a chaotic race, marked by violent accidents and a red flag.

Tense start, Safety Car from the first lap

Even before the start, there was already one, or rather two, events: the 10-place grid penalties inflicted on Sheldon van der Linde, championship leader, and Thomas Preining, 4th. Both drivers were penalized for a violation of the tire regulations during qualifying. Respectively relegated to 16th and 18th place, Van der Linde and Preining saw the task become complicated with a view to the championship…

For this penultimate round of the championship DTM, the start was very tense on the Hockenheimring. Lucas Auer managed to maintain the lead ahead of Wittmann, Rast, Stolz and Bortolotti. Sheldon van der Linde and Thomas Preining quickly moved back into the top 10, taking advantage of the chaos in the peloton. Very quickly, the Safety Car was deployed to evacuate the Mercedes of Arjun Maini, who lost control of his car at the start of the straight. A few meters further on, one of Kelvin van der Linde's tires came loose after contact with Luca Stolz. The South African had to stop and left last behind the safety car.

Multiple accidents and red flag

After a race neutralization of more than 10 minutes, Lucas Auer was able to restart the race... before chaos emerged. At the first corner, Philipp Eng, initially hit by Nico Müller, caused a big pile-up with Rolf Ineichen, Marius Zug, Mikaël Grenier and Clemens Schmid. Several drivers on the floor but no Safety Car deployed... until a second big box at turn 8. Side by side with Thomas Preining in the fast curve of turn 7, David Schumacher est revenu trop agressivement sur la piste et a été percuté par le pilote Porsche. Les deux hommes, en perte de contrôle, ont ensuite tapé très violemment le mur à l’extérieur du virage 8. L’Autrichien, contraint à l’abandon, a vu ses chances de titres s’envoler avec cet accident.

Just behind, Ricardo Feller completely missed his braking and sent Dennis Olsen directly into the wall, this time on the inside of the 8th turn. The impact was so violent that the No. 94 Porsche even lost its gearbox before starting to catch fire. Fortunately, all the pilots emerged safely from this huge accident, after a medical check-up. In total, 8 drivers had to retire on the restart lap!

#DTM – Look what happened at #Hockenheim pic.twitter.com/abAuhOl7CB

— Porsche Motorsport (@PorscheRaces) October 8, 2022

Auer escapes on restart, Bortolotti misses the boat

For the second restart, the commissioners made the decision to restart the peloton in a single file, unlike the first restart which led to chaos, with a ranking similar to that of the first restart. Lucas Auer immediately escaped into the lead, while Luca Stolz took the gamble ofundercut. A choice followed by René Rast then by Auer and Wittmann, who responded in the next round. The Team WinWard driver emerged just ahead of the BMW in the pits and well ahead of Stolz and Rast on the track.

Sheldon van der Linde, who stopped a few laps later, put on a show on the Hockenheim track. Coming out 5th on the track, he managed to overtake Rast, Stolz and Wittmann with a very efficient and fast BMW in a straight line. For Mirko Bortolotti, on the other hand, it was a disaster in the pits. His stop went badly and the Italian lost more than ten seconds! The Lamborghini driver came out behind the other favorites. Lucas Auer managed to hold on until the finish line, taking advantage of contact behind him between Dev Gore, who had not stopped and hampered the leading drivers, and Sheldon van der Linde.

A duel for the championship!

This victory for Lucas Auer puts him just two points behind leader Sheldon van der Linde, who more than saved the day after his penalty before the start. The title will therefore be decided for the last event, during Race 2. René Rast and Mirko Bortolotti, respectively relegated to 21 and 28 points behind the South African, still have a tiny chance of gleaning the crown, but they will need one day perfect Sunday and misadventures for the two protagonists of the championship to hope for anything.

The classification of Race 1: 

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