The second half of the 2021 DTM season has started at the Red Bull Ring. The Austrian track has hosted a first competitive day in which they have disputed the free ones of a date that started with surprises. In fact, Maximilian Paul made his series debut with the fastest time in FP1 at the controls of the third Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo from the T3 Motorsport team. In the second session, the German was left with honey on his lips and could not repeat first place after being outscored by one tenth by Liam Lawson.
Maximilian Paul is the only ‘new face’ in the fifth event of the DTM. Far from the four guests the series had at the Nürburgring, Paul is the only driver at the Red Bull Ring in this condition at the wheel of a Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo from the T3 Motorsport team. And as a cover letter, Maximilian has signed the best record of FP1 after signing a time of 1: 29.520. Just 160 thousandths behind the rookie was Alex Albon, while Nico Müller finished third. The Indian Arjun Maini has been fourth, while Liam Lawson has closed the ‘top 5’.
Liam Lawson himself was in charge of leading the times table at the end of FP2. The AF Corse driver posted a time of 1: 29.275 at the wheel of his Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo to beat Maximilian Paul by an exact tenth. The German was like this one sigh of signing a brilliant double in free practice on his debut, although that does not hide his great performance. For its part, Maximilian Götz managed to take a step forward during the dispute for free seconds and was third behind the wheel of the HRT team’s Mercedes-AMG GT3.
Vincent Abril and Philip Ellis were in charge of closing the ‘top 5’ of the second practice session finishing almost two tenths behind the leader. With three Mercedes-AMGs in the top five, Marco Wittmann had to settle for sixth place at the controls of the first of the BMW. In Spanish key, Dani Juncadella finished FP2 in thirteenth position 0.7 seconds behind the head. The Catalan rider thus ended the day with a performance similar to the one he signed hours before in FP1, session in which Dani was twelfth with the Mercedes # 4 of the GruppeM Racing team.