Lawson has set a near perfect weekend in Austria. Pole and victory on the first day of competition, second place on the grid and victory on the second. With top-level driving in the Ferrari and the perfect work of AF Corse at his pit stop, Liam Lawson has managed to add a fantastic double at the Red Bull Ring to assault the leadership of the DTM, thus becoming the first driver to conquer both races of a championship event under GT3 regulations. Podium for poleman Marco Wittmann and German Maximilian Götz in a frustrating career for Dani Juncadella.
Marco Wittmann made the car wide in the first corner to maintain the first position with his BMW M6 GT3. New Zealander Liam Lawson was not pushing too much either and opted to keep second place, benefiting from the duel between Sheldon Van der Linde and Maximilian Götz for third place. The South African managed to win the game, thus maintaining the order of the grid. Nevertheless, Maximilian Götz took third position on the third lap, since Sheldon Van der Linde suffered some kind of problem in his GT3 That made him fall to the last position before reaching the pits.
The forced passage through the pitlane of Sheldon Van der Linde was quickly supported by the first pit stops of the race. In fact, leader Marco Wittmann was the first driver to change tires. Philip Ellis, Vincent Abril, Timo Glock, Alex Albon, Maximilian Buhk, Timo Glock, Mike Rockenfeller and Estaban Muth also stopped at the same turn as the BMW driver. Like is logic, drivers who stayed on the track answered one turn later, with Liam Lawson leading the way. And the move couldn’t be better for the AF Corse rider, as Lawson managed to get back on track ahead of Wittmann.
Kelvin Van der Linde was at the forefront of the race by opting to extend his first stint, like a Dani Juncadella who placed second. All in all, the DTM leader and the Spanish driver stopped just two laps later, which in the case of the South African was worth him to place himself in virtual seventh position. In the meantime, Nico Müller was only in first place as the only driver without the mandatory stop made. With the Swiss in this position, from behind Dani Juncadella managed to surpass Kelvin Van der Linde in his fight for the seventh virtual place.
As the race approached its final stretch, the distance between Liam Lawson and Marco Wittmann was narrowing. There was also an interesting group bidding for the sixth position with Vincent Abril, Lucas Auer and Dani Juncadella. A battle this second in which Juncadella realized Auer in a maneuver that allowed Kelvin Van der Linde to join the Mercedes drivers. In addition, the South African pilot saw how a 10-second penalty for Dani Juncadella for exceeding the limits of the court it could help him gain an extra position. With the stoppage of Nico Müller, the duel for the victory entered its critical phase.
Despite the final push from Marco Wittmann and the pressure exerted on the leader, Liam Lawson made no mistakes and secured the double ahead of the BMW driver. While the two leaders crossed the finish line 215 thousandths apart, fifteen seconds behind they did. Maximilian Götz. Once the sanctions were distributed to Vincent Abril and Dani Juncadella, the Swiss Philip Ellis scored the fourth position ahead of Lucas Auer. For its part, Kelvin Van der Linde inherited sixth position in a race finish that has left Abril eighth and Dani Juncadella out of the ‘top 10’.
Results race 2 of the DTM 2021 at Red Bull Ring