Hockenheim DTM: Muller wins disrupted finale, SUPER GT cars at back
Nico Muller ended the DTM season with victory in torrential conditions at Hockenheim after bizarre early scenes that included an Aston Martin catching fire and a SUPER GT car crashing
Muller held onto his lead at the start and was given an immediate boost as a five-car battle for second place instantly erupted between the fast-starters of Mike Rockenfeller and Marco Wittmann, as well as Rene Rast, Jamie Green and Timo Glock.
But the duel came to an end almost instantly when the R-Motorsport Aston Martin of Daniel Juncadella pulled off the track and then caught alight. The safety team was called to put out the fire under red-flag conditions.
That came after Juncadella's team-mate Paul di Resta had already retired on the formation lap due to an engine problem during a weekend in which R-Motorsport has been blighted by reliability problems.
Just before the red flag, Nick Cassidy had a spin into the wall through the Turns 7-9 complex after lightly tagging the side of WRT Audi's Jonathan Aberdein.
Cassidy had previously crashed the TOM'S Lexus during Friday's practice, limiting his track time as the SUPER GT runners acclimatise to the DTM's format before their main joint event at Fuji next month.
- SUPER GT versus DTM
-
Button explains where SUPER GTs lost out
Once the race resumed, Muller held onto his lead but came under fire from Rast - the victor of the earlier five-car battle - and the 2019 DTM champion took the lead from his former title rival after Muller initially defended resolutely at the hairpin.
Muller opted to make his mandatory pitstop on the sixth lap of 27 and Rast followed a lap later, with the Audi Rosberg driver enjoying a quicker pitstop.
Rast held the lead but lost it shortly after when he ran wide on the exit of the Turn 10 right-hander, allowing Muller past to cruise to victory.
Muller's status as winner took until the final lap to be confirmed as Audi's Jamie Green and BMW's Joel Eriksson ran until the penultimate lap before making their pitstops.
Rast would not finish second, however, as Rockenfeller had passed his Audi stablemate not long after Muller's eventual race-winning move.
BMW's Glock managed to hold off Green once the Audi driver returned to the track to take fourth, with Eriksson's identical strategy leaving him sixth.
Robin Frijns took his Abt Audi to seventh ahead of the highest-placed Aston Martin of Jake Dennis as Bruno Spengler and Loic Duval rounded out the top 10.
Wittmann had looked set to challenge for a podium finish but an unsafe release earned him a drivethrough penalty that meant he could only finish 12th.
His stablemate Philipp Eng and WRT Audi's Pietro Fittipaldi also earned drivethrough penalties, but their offences were failing to respect the three-minute rule under red flag conditions, which related to the tyres being fitted and the cars not being on their jacks three minutes before a race restart.
The 2009 Formula 1 world champion, Jenson Button, had warned on Saturday that wet conditions would not suit the SUPER GT cars.
His prediction proved accurate, as he finished a muted 16th place, but his Honda crew did significantly improve their pitstop after Saturday's delay.
The NISMO-run Nissan of Ronnie Quintarelli was 17th, having made a stop under the early safety car that meant he had to make his mandatory stop later in the race.
Race two result
Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Laps | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Nico Muller | Abt | Audi | 27 | 1h04m45.023s |
2 | Mike Rockenfeller | Phoenix | Audi | 27 | 3.835s |
3 | Rene Rast | Rosberg | Audi | 27 | 8.403s |
4 | Timo Glock | RMR | BMW | 27 | 11.849s |
5 | Jamie Green | Rosberg | Audi | 27 | 13.094s |
6 | Joel Eriksson | RBM | BMW | 27 | 16.248s |
7 | Robin Frijns | Abt | Audi | 27 | 22.172s |
8 | Jake Dennis | R-Motorsport | Aston Martin | 27 | 36.954s |
9 | Bruno Spengler | RMG | BMW | 27 | 51.319s |
10 | Loic Duval | Phoenix | Audi | 27 | 55.877s |
11 | Ferdinand Habsburg | R-Motorsport | Aston Martin | 27 | 58.838s |
12 | Marco Wittmann | RMG | BMW | 27 | 59.767s |
13 | Sheldon van der Linde | RBM | BMW | 27 | 1m00.417s |
14 | Philipp Eng | RMR | BMW | 27 | 1m01.873s |
15 | Pietro Fittipaldi | WRT | Audi | 27 | 1m30.051s |
16 | Jenson Button | Team Kunimitsu | Honda | 27 | 1m55.243s |
17 | Ronnie Quintarelli | Nismo | Nissan | 26 | 1 Lap |
- | Jonathan Aberdein | WRT | Audi | 14 | Retirement |
- | Paul Di Resta | R-Motorsport | Aston Martin | 0 | Not started |
- | Daniel Juncadella | R-Motorsport | Aston Martin | 0 | Retirement |
- | Nick Cassidy | TOM'S | Lexus | 0 | Retirement |
Final drivers' standings
Pos | Driver | Points |
---|---|---|
1 | Rene Rast | 322 |
2 | Nico Muller | 250 |
3 | Marco Wittmann | 202 |
4 | Mike Rockenfeller | 182 |
5 | Robin Frijns | 157 |
6 | Philipp Eng | 144 |
7 | Loic Duval | 134 |
8 | Jamie Green | 115 |
9 | Bruno Spengler | 106 |
10 | Jonathan Aberdein | 67 |
11 | Joel Eriksson | 61 |
12 | Timo Glock | 58 |
13 | Sheldon van der Linde | 42 |
14 | Daniel Juncadella | 23 |
15 | Pietro Fittipaldi | 22 |
16 | Paul Di Resta | 21 |
17 | Jake Dennis | 17 |
18 | Ferdinand Habsburg | 3 |
19 | Jenson Button | 0 |
20 | Andrea Dovizioso | 0 |
21 | Ryo Hirakawa | 0 |
22 | Ronnie Quintarelli | 0 |
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Autosport.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.
Top Comments