- Second and third place for Maro Engel and Arjun Maini in Saturday's DTM race
- Mercedes-AMG extends its lead in the manufacturers' championship ahead of the finale
- ADAC GT Masters: Historic quintuple victory for Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing Teams
Mercedes-AMG and Maro Engel (GER) maintained their title ambitions on the seventh and penultimate DTM race weekend of the season in Spielberg. The driver from Mercedes-AMG Team WINWARD secured his seventh podium finish of this year's DTM season with second place on Saturday. Arjun Maini (IND) from Mercedes-AMG Team HRT finished third in the first race at the Red Bull Ring to complete the double podium. The Indian also put in a strong performance on Sunday, when he again finished third from eighth on the grid after a successful overcut. Maro Engel also scored valuable championship points with eighth place. He now heads to the season finale at Hockenheim 20 points behind the championship leader, with a total of 56 points still to be awarded. Mercedes-AMG extended its lead in the manufacturers' standings to 24 points thanks to this strong overall result.
Saturday's race: Pole position and double podium for Mercedes-AMG
The Mercedes-AMG GT3 demonstrated its potential right at the start of the weekend. In the first qualifying session on Saturday morning, Arjun Maini emerged as the man of the hour in challenging conditions on the drying track. The Mercedes-AMG Performance Driver completed his final lap with a time of 1m 30.128s and clinched the first pole position of his DTM career. Never before had an Indian driver qualified for first place on the grid in the DTM. Title contender Maro Engel, 15 points behind the championship leader before the weekend, started Saturday's race from third position. With Luca Stolz and Lucas Auer on the third row of the grid, all four Mercedes-AMG drivers took on the race within the top six.
The one-hour race in the afternoon also took place on drying asphalt, which is why all four Mercedes-AMG drivers initially opted for wet tyres. Maro Engel took the lead in the #130 on the very first lap, but had to relinquish it midway through the first stint due to the tyre pressure being too high and was placed in second position from then on. Shortly before the halfway point of the race, the track was dry enough to switch to slick tyres. Accordingly, the four Mercedes-AMG drivers came in early to change tyres after the pit stop window opened. Maro Engel was able to continuously make up ground on the first-placed driver and set the fastest lap of the race with a time of 1m 29.929s. However, it was not enough for a decisive attack. He finished the first race of the weekend in second place, 1.161 seconds behind the leader and in front of Arjun Maini, who claimed his second podium of the season. Maini's Mercedes-AMG Team HRT team-mate, Sachsenring winner Luca Stolz, took the chequered flag in fourth. Lucas Auer finished seventh in his home race in the #22 Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER car, rounding off a very strong result for Mercedes-AMG.
Sunday's race: Overcut strategy earns Arjun Maini next DTM podium
Luca Stolz and Arjun Maini finished seventh and eighth in qualifying on Sunday. Lucas Auer secured tenth position on the grid, while Maro Engel started the race from 13th place. As on the previous day, Maro Engel got off to a good start in the race and made up two places during this phase. With tarmac temperatures of around 20 degrees, the Mercedes-AMG Teams decided in favour of a late pit stop and opted for an overcut. This approach turned out to be the right strategy. When the pit stop window closed, Arjun Maini was in third position, which he successfully defended despite the cold tyres and ultimately brought home. Maro Engel worked his way up to eighth place, which earned him eight important championship points. Luca Stolz retired the #4 Mercedes-AMG GT3 early for safety reasons due to a technical issue. Lucas Auer also failed to see the chequered flag following a puncture.
Race Facts, DTM in Spielberg
Fastest pit stop by #22 Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER on Saturday (6.0 seconds)
1st DTM pole position for Arjun Maini on Saturday
5th DTM fastest race lap by Mercedes-AMG Team WINWARD
7th DTM podium of the season for Maro Engel
10th DTM pole position for the Mercedes-AMG GT3
>> Race result DTM Red Bull Ring
>> DTM Media Guide 2024
ADAC GT Masters: Historic quintuple victory for Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing Teams
The weekend in Spielberg was also successful in the ADAC GT Masters. After Max Reis (GER) secured his first pole position in qualifying on Saturday in the #5 car of the Haupt Racing Team, the five Mercedes-AMG GT3s were also strong in the race. His HRT team-mates Jannes Fittje and Finn Wiebelhaus (both GER) secured their first win of the season, which was also AMG's 40th success in the prestigious GT3 series. Salman Owega and David Schumacher (both GER) finished second, helping HRT to a one-two victory. Third place went to Tom Kalender (GER) and Elias Seppänen (FIN) from Landgraf Motorsport, who further extended their lead in the drivers' standings. The historic quintuple victory was completed by two more Mercedes-AMG GT3s from the Haupt Racing Team in fourth and fifth place. Fifth-placed guest entrants Dennis Fetzer and Hubert Haupt (both GER) also won the Pro-AM class on their series debut.
On Sunday, Tom Kalender and Elias Seppänen followed up with another victory for Mercedes-AMG. Starting from pole position, the duo scored the fourth win of the season for Landgraf Motorsport, further underlining their championship ambitions. Ahead of the season finale in Hockenheim, they have a 29-point lead in the drivers' standings. Fetzer and Haupt finished the race, which ended prematurely due to a red flag, in fifth position and first place in the Pro-AM category.
>> Race result ADAC GT Masters Red Bull Ring
"A very successful DTM weekend for us with three podium finishes. It was a strong performance here in Spielberg, especially from Arjun. We scored good points again and achieved our goal of keeping the championship fight open for Hockenheim. We have also successfully defended our lead in the manufacturers' standings, and we want to bring that to the finish line at the season finale. Of course, we are also very happy about the strong performance in the ADAC GT Masters on Saturday with the quintuple victory – a great success for our Customer Racing programme. We are now preparing for Hockenheim and hope that we can still get involved in the DTM championship fight there."
Thomas Jäger, Sporting Director DTM
"We can be satisfied with second place from third on the grid, even though we would obviously have liked to have taken the lead to the finish on Saturday. In hindsight, we started with a little too much tyre pressure and were therefore unable to keep up with the competition. Nevertheless, it was a good race. Today was a difficult day in which we struggled both in qualifying and in the race. In this respect, we got the maximum out of it and will now analyse everything carefully in order to fully attack at the finale in Hockenheim."
Maro Engel, Mercedes-AMG Team WINWARD #130
"I had a good start on Saturday on the still wet track, but unfortunately I didn't have the necessary pace. After the tyre change, things went much better on slicks, but the gap to the front was already too big. The podium feels good, but I would still have liked to have won after my first pole position. I'm very, very happy after the podium today, because I started from further back and it was a difficult race. Thanks to Mercedes-AMG Team HRT for providing me with a really fast car here all weekend."
Arjun Maini, Mercedes-AMG Team HRT #36
"Third and fourth place on Saturday are a good team result. We didn't make any mistakes in difficult conditions, which is something we can be very proud of. Unfortunately, it ended early today. I didn't really find my way into the race and then had a strange feeling on the brakes. Fortunately, nothing happened, but we then decided to retire the car for safety reasons."
Luca Stolz, Mercedes-AMG Team HRT #4
"Seventh place on Saturday was not ideal when you started sixth. The pace wasn't good enough, neither in the rain nor in the dry. Today I had a puncture in the second stint immediately after passing the pit entry, which is why I had to retire the car. There was a contact before that. But I can't say whether that was the reason."
Lucas Auer, Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER #22
