Safety Car again
Although yet to make his mandatory stop, Kelvin Van der Linde led the race, more than twenty seconds
ahead of his pursuers, when the Safety Car came back out to clear debris. With his advantage wiped out, the
race turned gruelling for the Audi driver and, at the same time, opened up unexpected possibilities for the
others, including Marco Wittmann. The BMW man mounted a decisive attack on Lawson, forcing the Ferrari
driver off the track. A lap later, he made a similar move on Götz, becoming virtual race leader behind the two
ABT drivers, still with zero on the pit stop sheet. Lawson successfully imitated Wittmann, passing the
Mercedes driver and moving into virtual second place just before the commissioners decided to impose a
five-second penalty on Wittmann for his attack on the Ferrari driver. At this point, the German made his move
on Rockenfeller, extending his lead over the Ferrari man, who failed to get the better of the Audi driver. Two
laps from the end, with Wittmann almost ten seconds ahead of Lawson and the Audis pitting for their
respective stops, Bortolotti passed Lawson and finished just behind Wittmann.
New leader
This result put Lawson back on top of the championship standings, with 156 points, an eight-point lead over
the duo of Van der Linde and Wittmann and nine over Götz. Despite his zero, Albon held onto sixth position
with 94 points.
Race 2
Having moved to the top of the DTM standings after Race-1, Liam Lawson extended his championship lead
with second place in Race-2 at Assen. A quick Alex Albon finished fifth.
Aggressive
The Ferraris started from the second row, attacking Wittmann while the poleman Auer pulled away from the
group. Like yesterday, the BMW driver was very determined to protect his position and Lawson, despite
getting off to a faster start than his rival, was forced to postpone his attack and was passed by his teammate.
Undercut
Lawson decided to imitate the strategy that had proved successful in Race-1 by pitting on lap six, one lap
ahead of Wittmann and Albon. The New Zealander’s undercut proved successful, allowing the Red Bull AF
Corse driver to pull alongside the BMW man as he exited the pit lane, taking advantage of warmer tyres to
pass him on turn two. With Auer in the virtual lead and Lawson in second, the race was still open, waiting for
race leader Kelvin Van der Linde to pit.
Slipstream
The Audi driver made his mandatory stop on lap 21, returning just a few fractions ahead of Wittmann. In the
BMW driver’s slipstream and ahead of Maximilian Götz, Albon also tried to chase the South African, but with
no luck. At the front, Lawson cut the gap to Auer to just over a second, while Albon was five-tenths down on
Van der Linde, who was still battling it out with Wittmann.
Pulling away
A few seconds from the end of the 55-minute race, Juncadella, in third, stopped his Mercedes at the edge of
the track, allowing Wittmann to take his place on the podium. Two laps later, the chequered flag marked
Lucas Auer’s first win of the season, second place for Liam Lawson’s 488 GT3 Evo 2020 and Alex Albon’s
fifth. With two rounds to go, this result puts the Red Bull AF Corse driver on 175 points, extending his lead to
10 points over Marco Wittmann, 15 over Van der Linde and 20 over Maximilian Götz. Alex Albon is sixth on
104.
Appointments
With four races still to run, the DTM drivers will be back in action over the weekend of October 1-3 in
Hockenheim.
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