The DTM race on the Nürburgring began with a crazy chaos after the start: Carbon parts flew through the air when braking, only moments later, Mirko Bortolotti (Abt-Lamborghini) and Fabio Scherer (HRT-Ford) circulated in the AMG arena.
“It was just a crazy start,” says HRT Ford pilot Arjun Maini. “It went to the first curve to the first or fifth. I was slightly touched on the side, then lost control of the car and could no longer brake. I drove into another.”
“I guess it was quite entertaining for the spectators, but it was quite chaotic from the car,” adds the Indian, who even had to park his Ford Mustang GT3 later due to the damage in the front area and did not see the target flag.
BMW pilot races sees the race management as the culprit
René Rast was triggered in the second curve: The Schubert BMW driver hit the Abt-Lamborghini from Bortolotti and sent the Italian into a spin. And Ford Pilot Scherer? The Swiss only turned because he wanted to avoid contact with the two scales, but was otherwise completely uninvolved.
“The start was really great and then has [Bortolotti] Get René’s stroke, “said Abt sports director Martin Tomczyk to Ran.de.” I only saw the onboard, where he was clearly at the back of Mirko. “
And rest? “I first have to provide an overview of what’s going on here,” the BMW pilot remained reserved during the demolition. “There is a lot of talk, I somehow try to understand what is happening a bit.”
After the race it was clear to the sports commissioner what had happened: after a thorough evaluation of the video material and a hearing from the drivers and participants, they came to the conclusion that Auto #33 caused the collision with Auto #01 “.
Therefore, they decided to punish this incident with three penalty relapse, which were converted into a time penalty of 15 seconds after the race and added to Rast for the race time. The hard sentence has to do with destroying Bortolotti the race.
The BMW pilot therefore loses seventh place and is ultimately evaluated in the 14th position. The triple DTM champion did not want to comment on Motorsport-Total.com, which suggests that he is not particularly happy with the punishment.
So the race had to be interrupted
For Bortolotti, the race was ended after the collision. “He destroyed my car,” scolded the current DTM champion on the radio. “Either a tire damage at the back left or something is wrong.” Already in the TV picture there was a massive loss of fluid.
“The car went out, I think because somehow a cooler hose was defective after the hit and so he unfortunately had to end the race early,” added Tomczyk. The problem: Bortolotti drove half a round before turning on his damaged Abt Lamborghini.
Therefore, a slippery track stretched over the first half of the race track. “It was throughout the first sector and a little in the direction of the second sector,” reports racing winner Jack Aitken. “It was a lot. I was told that it was not an oil, but water.”
“Suddenly it was very slippery,” adds Ricardo Feller at Ran.de, whereby the Land-Audi pilot spoke of “lots of oil or petrol”. Which liquid it was ultimately remains unclear for everyone involved. The only thing that was certain is that it was the reason for the interruption of the race.
The race management reacted with the red flag to thoroughly clean the route. Because how slippery the trail was, Manthey-Porsche-Pilot Morris Schuring felt: he got into the slip and cleared his teammate Ayhanancan Güven, for whom it was after work.
So there was a collision between angel and venue
A collision, on the other hand, has nothing to do with the start of the start between the rest and Bortolotti, is the incident between Thierry Vermeulen (Emil-Frey-Ferrari) and Winward-Mercedes-Pilot Maro Engel, which occurred a few curves later and ended with a rotary in the gravel bed for the Dutch.
“Sorry to Thierry. That was my mistake, in any case,” Engel takes all the fault of the incident on his cap. “I was pushed down in the curve in front of it and then simply underestimated how much dirt and dirt I picked up on the tires.”
Therefore, the AMG pilot could no longer brake in time, which led to the collision with ven least. “Sorry on the spot. And of course an annoying day,” sums up Engel, who only had to compete three penalty loops and ultimately had to park his AMG with “a damage to the steering”.
AMG pilot Jules Gounon is unhappily involved
Annoying: Winward teammate Jules Gounon was also involved in the incident. “Really very unhappy for me,” says Gounon in the DTM stream. “What should you do? Either you drive left or right. I drove left because there was a car next to me, and now my front is destroyed.”
Gounon was unable to end his race as a result of the damage and had to park his Winward Mercedes early on the box. But the AMG pilot is not alone: a total of six pilots did not finish the chaotic demolition race on Saturday. A lot of work is waiting for the mechanics of all teams …