Auer Wins Red Flag-Affected Hockenheim Opener

Lucas Auer won a red flag-affected penultimate race of the DTM season at Hockenheim but Sheldon van der Linde kept ahead of the Austrian in the points by taking second.

Pole-sitter Auer, driving the No. 22 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, resisted pressure from Marco Wittmann after the pit stops until van der Linde moved his Schubert Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 past Wittmann’s BMW for second in the final minute.

The result provisionally gives van der Linde, who claimed an extra point for the fastest lap, a slim two-point lead over Auer heading into qualifying for Sunday’s title decider.

While Auer put in a stellar drive to win, it was also a standout race for van der Linde who rebounded from starting 16th following a 10-place penalty for tires being illegally mounted on his car before qualifying.

The opening race of the weekend started in chaotic fashion, as four separate high-speed accidents eliminated 10 cars. One further mechanical retirement meant that only 16 of the 27 starters reached the checkered flag.

The first drama occurred on the opening lap when Arjun Maini’s HRT Mercedes-AMG veered off the road and struck the barriers at the exit of Turn 3.

A two-by-two restart was held after the ensuing safety car period, only for another incident to occur at Turn 1 as several mid-pack competitors collided through the apex.

The chain reaction ended with Rolf Ineichen’s Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo, which had wheel damage, helplessly running straight into Marius Zug’s Attempto Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II, sending both cars clattering into the left-side wall.

Later in the lap, two huge accidents occurred at the entrance to the Turn 8 left-hander.

David Schumacher and Thomas Preining made side-on contact and struck the right-side barriers heavily, while just behind them Dennis Olsen rotated after a touch with Ricardo Feller.

Olsen’s SSR Performance Porsche 911 GT3 R caught the edge of a promontory in the tire barrier. The violent impact spun the car around multiple times and ripped the engine out from the rear of the Porsche, resulting in a brief burst of flames on the track.

All drivers walked away from the various incidents, but the scale of the cleanup prompted race control to red-flag proceedings.

After a lengthy stoppage and with 34 minutes left on the clock, a single-file restart got the race back underway with Auer leading from Wittmann.

Almost immediately, teams started bringing their drivers in for pit stops. Auer and Wittmann came in together, but the latter’s Walkenhorst Motorsport crew was unable to jump ahead of Winward.

Once the pit stops had shaken out, Auer continued to lead Wittmann, while van der Linde had advanced to net third with overtakes on Luca Stolz and Rene Rast.

Dev Gore was the surprise race leader at this stage, however race control placed his mandatory pit stop under investigation.

Auer managed to keep his Mercedes-AMG ahead of Wittmann’s BMW — despite the pair momentarily swapping around at the Turn 6 hairpin with six minutes to go — and took Gore for the lead when the Team Rosberg Audi driver ran wide into the same corner.

Van der Linde then successfully dived underneath Wittmann into Turn 8 for second, which enabled the South African to maintain the championship lead.

Gore crossed the line in fourth ahead of Rast, Philipp Eng and Mirko Bortolotti, who made up several places in his Lamborghini’s second stint after a slow pit stop.

RESULTS: Hockenheim Race 1 (provisional)