Lucas Auer took his second DTM victory of the season in dominant fashion at Hockenheim while Saturday’s winner Kelvin van der Linde was hampered by a double penalty.
Van der Linde qualified on pole again, and led away at the rolling start. But, carrying 25 kilos of success ballast, the Audi driver was passed by Auer into turn two.
Auer pulled away in his Winward Mercedes while van der Linde squabbled over second with chief title rival Liam Lawson. Lawson twice moved ahead at the hairpin, only to be retaken by van der Linde at turn eight on both occasions. However, the South African picked up a 5s time penalty for the second overtake, having clipped the back of Lawson’s Ferrari before moving by.
Lawson was the first to pit at the end of lap six but, despite a slow stop, was able to move ahead of van der Linde, who also had a slow pitstop one lap later. Having not served his time penalty in the pits, van der Linde was awarded an additional 5s time penalty.
Auer retained the net lead after pitting on the same lap as van der Linde, and controlled the remainder of the encounter.
Once Audi’s Mike Rockenfeller pitted from the lead, Auer moved back in front before taking the win by over 6s from Red Bull junior Lawson, who regained the championship lead.
HRT Mercedes driver Maxi Goetz passed van der Linde, and then came out on top in a battle with Daniel Juncadella in the GruppeM Mercedes to finish third, the position which he also holds in the championship.
Phill Ellis passed Juncadella on the final lap to take fourth in the other Winward Mercedes, having started 11th.
Having finished sixth on the road, van der Linde was classified 10th as a result of his time penalties, and dropped to second in the championship.
Alex Albon was promoted to sixth, having carried 18 kilos of success ballast in his Ferrari after finishing second in Saturday’s race.
Marvin Dienst came from 18th on the grid to finish seventh in his Mercedes for Mucke Motorsport ahead of GetSpeed’s Arjun Maini, who qualified third but served a 5-place grid penalty for his collison with Auer on Saturday.
Vincent Abril was ninth for HRT Mercedes, while Mike Rockenfeller missed out on the points in 11th, having slowed in the final laps to ensure Audi team-mate van der Linde scored the final point.
Several other drivers received time penalties in the race, including championship contender Marco Wittmann, who failed to score a point across the weekend.
Rowe BMW driver Sheldon van der Linde retired early on with a puncture, as did Sophia Floersch, who damaged her Audi in a collision with Esmee Hawkey. Esteban Muth was the other non-finisher in a Lamborghini.
Race result (34 laps)
1 Lucas Auer Mercedes
2 Liam Lawson Ferrari 6.388s
3 Maximilian Götz Mercedes 12.080s
4 Philip Ellis Mercedes 12.748s
5 Daniel Juncadella Mercedes 13.361s
6 Alexander Albon Ferrari 15.243s
7 Marvin Dienst Mercedes 17.457s
8 Arjun Maini Mercedes 19.418s
9 Vincent Abril Mercedes 22.115s
10 Kelvin van der Linde Audi 24.161s
11 Mike Rockenfeller Audi 27.116s
12 Marco Wittmann BMW 27.260s
13 Nico Müller Audi 28.110s
14 Hubert Haupt Mercedes 46.727s
15 Timo Glock BMW 50.958s
16 Esmee Hawkey Lamborghini 58.142s
17 Dev Gore Audi 1m01.886s
18 Lucas di Grassi Audi 8 laps
DNF Esteban Muth Lamborghini
DNF Sophia Flörsch Audi
DNF Sheldon van der Linde BMW
Featured image credit: @amgmotorsport official twitter
