- Maro Engel commences Sunday’s race at the Nürburgring from pole position
- Mercedes-AMG drivers and teams collect essential championship points
- Maro Engel: “We would have liked to win on Sunday and were in the best position to do so”
Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing made a promising start to the second half of the 2024 DTM season this weekend, with the fifth of the eight stops on this year’s calendar scheduled for the two Performance Teams HRT and WINWARD at the Nürburgring from 16th to 18th August. Changeable weather presented the Mercedes-AMG drivers with enormous challenges. Maro Engel (GER) finished third in the rain on Saturday. On Sunday, the AMG brand ambassador drove to pole position. In the second race, he dropped back to second place due to a collision and thus achieved his fifth podium of the current season. As a result of the two podium finishes, the Performance Driver improved to third place in the drivers’ standings, twelve points behind the leader. Mercedes-AMG continues to occupy second place in the manufacturers’ standings. The gap to first place is three points.
Saturday’s race: Mercedes-AMG Team WINWARD impresses with podium and fastest pit stop
The first qualifying session was held in dry conditions on Saturday morning. Lucas Auer (AUT) made for the best-placed Mercedes-AMG GT3 in the field of 20 participants. The 29-year-old put the car in third place on the grid. Right behind him, Maro Engel also achieved a good starting position with fourth. Luca Stolz (GER) and Arjun Maini (IND) started the first of the two races over a distance of 60 minutes plus one lap from the fifth and seventh row on the grid respectively. The start took place at 13:30 local time in persistent rain and was conducted behind the safety car for safety reasons.
The changeable conditions suited Engel, who quickly got his wet tyres into the optimum temperature window and immediately took third place after the race went green. During Engel’s pit stop on lap 22, the WINWARD crew completed the fastest tyre change of the entire race in 6.4 seconds. The pit stops of Auer and Maini were the third fastest in the field at 7.0 seconds each. In the final stages, Engel put relentless pressure on the second-placed driver. After 37 laps, he crossed the finish line in third place, just one second behind. With this result, he also took third place in the overall standings. Auer rounded off the team result for WINWARD in fourth place. Maini from Mercedes-AMG Team HRT started the race from 14th on the grid and finished in tenth place. Team-mate Stolz started from tenth on the grid and finished in twelfth place. This meant that all Mercedes-AMG drivers finished inside the points.
Sunday’s race: Contact deprives Maro Engel of chance of first win of the season
In the second qualifying session on Sunday morning, changing weather again made for challenging conditions at the Nürburgring. Maro Engel coped well with slick tyres on the drying track. However, the team switched to wet tyres shortly before the end of the qualifying session as the rain returned. Driving the #130 Mercedes-AMG GT3, Engel claimed the first pole position for Mercedes-AMG in the 2024 DTM season in the final minute, scoring three important championship points in the process. Luca Stolz also gave Mercedes-AMG Team HRT a promising starting position for the second race with fourth place on the grid. Arjun Maini and Lucas Auer qualified ninth and tenth.
The second race took place in the afternoon in dry conditions. Engel led the field and defended his position against his pursuers. He also kept things under control during a safety car period on lap 13 and remained in first place at the restart. The neutralisation pushed the pit stop window back by five minutes. WINWARD reacted to the undercut by their direct rivals and Engel remained in front with another fast pit stop of 7.0 seconds. On lap 19, however, contact through no fault of his own with a car coming out of the pits cost him his chances of victory. Engel was hit on the rear in turn one and spun, losing five seconds. With a fast pace, he fought his way back to second position in the second stint.
After 41 laps, he saw the chequered flag three seconds behind the winner. Stolz finished eleventh after a recovery drive. He received contact to the rear at the start going into turn one and spun around, which initially dropped him to last position. Auer finished right behind him in twelfth place. Sunday ended prematurely for Maini. The Indian, who was in eighth position, spun on the twelfth lap due to a technical issue and retired.
ADAC GT4 Germany: Three podiums for the Mercedes-AMG GT4 at the Nürburgring
Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing was once again represented with a strong line-up in the ADAC GT4 Germany at the Nürburgring as part of the DTM support programme. Five Mercedes-AMG GT4s competed in the field of 24 entrants. In Saturday’s race, BWT Mücke Motorsport and CV Performance Group celebrated a double podium for the Mercedes-AMG GT4 in changeable conditions. Luca Bosco (ITA) and Mattis Pluschkell (GER) took second place, followed by Alex Connor (GBR) and Jan Philipp Springob (GER). On Sunday, Marc de Fulgencio (ESP) and Enzo Joulié (FRA) finished second for BWT Mücke Motorsport.
Race Facts, DTM at the Nürburgring
- 1st pole position for the Mercedes-AMG GT3 in the 2024 DTM season
- 7th podium for Mercedes-AMG on the fifth race weekend (5 x Maro Engel, 1 x Luca Stolz, 1 x Arjun Maini)
- 4th and 5th podium for Maro Engel in the 2024 DTM season
- 3rd pole position overall for Maro Engel in the DTM
- 5th pole position for Mercedes-AMG Team WINWARD in the DTM since 2021
- Fastest pit stop by Mercedes-AMG Team WINWARD in Saturday’s race in 6.4 seconds (Maro Engel)
- Maro Engel takes third place in the drivers’ championship, 12 points behind the leader
Mercedes-AMG maintains second place in the manufacturers’ standings, 3 points behind the leader
