After safety car and red flag: Edoardo Mortara wins turbulent Saturday race at Lausitz
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| Edoardo Mortara leads |
Edoardo Mortara emerged as the winner from an action-packed third DTM race of the season. With his Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM, the Italian won the race at the Lausitzring on Saturday. For Mortara, it is the ninth win of his DTM career and the first for Mercedes-AMG. “The first victory with Mercedes-AMG is a very special victory and a very emotional one", Mortara said after the prize-giving ceremony.
“We have fought hard and of course, I am super happy." BMW driver Timo Glock ended up second at Lausitz and thus was able to extend his lead in the DTM drivers’ standings. Meanwhile, Philipp Eng celebrated his maiden podium finish in his third DTM race. The Austrian was classified third. On lap seven, it became apparent how safe the DTM cars are. After contact, Rene Rast slid off the track and barrel-rolled his car. The current DTM champion was unscathed as he stepped out of his Audi RS 5 DTM that was entirely destroyed.
“I feel sorry for the Audi guys," second-placed Glock commented the bad luck for the brand from Ingolstadt as, next to Rast, Jamie Green and Nico Muller also retired after a start line collision. While this accident prompted a safety car intervention, the race was interrupted with the red flag following Rast’s barrel-roll. Glock continued: “With these serious accidents, we have to be glad that nothing happened. Perhaps, I didn’t take enough risk in the closing stages of the race. But I can be happy with second place. I think that we again showed great racing action for the spectators."
For the first time in his career in motorsport, Philipp Eng was allowed to cheer during a DTM prize-giving ceremony. In his third race, the Austrian finished in third place and was accordingly happy. “It only took me little time to find my way in the DTM," Eng said. “The race was exciting and unbelievably thrilling. I would have loved to win, but the podium finish already is extremely cool."
Lucas Auer is another one who would have loved to win. The Mercedes-AMG driver had started from pole position and led the race for a long time. In the closing stages, Auer dropped back to fourth.
In the DTM drivers’ standings after this season’s three of 20 races, Timo Glock remains in the lead. With 62 points, the BMW driver is 17 points ahead of Gary Paffett (45 points). Race winner Edoardo Mortara (37 points) is third.
Action at the Lausitzring continues tomorrow already. The fourth race of the season starts at 13.30 hrs.