Lucas Auer secured his place on the top at Lausitzring

In Sunday’s race on the Lausitzring, Lucas Auer (AUT) secured the first BMW DTM win of the season. Auer claimed victory in his BMW Bank M4 DTM ahead of Timo Glock (GER, iQOO BMW M4 DTM). Thanks to a clever tactic and an overhaul on the final lap.

It was Auer’s first-ever win for BMW car and fifth win in the DTM. It was BMW’s 88th win in the DTM. And marked for 22nd times in the first and second places for BMW drivers. Jonathan Aberdein (RSA) was seventh in the CATL BMW M4 DTM on the finishing point. In ninth place was Marco Wittmann (GER, Schaeffler BMW M4 DTM) and tenth position was Sheldon van der Linde (RSA, Shell BMW M3 DTM).

Upon starting on the ninth and seventh grids, Auer and Glock managed to gain few places at the beginning and held pace with the leading squad.

In contrast with their rivals, the pair agreed to change their tire early and made their mandated pit stop on the 10th lap.

The fresh tires enabled the cars to complete the following laps in those crucial seconds. The duo had moved into second and third places once all the drivers had made their pit stop. And they didn’t take much to pass Jamie Green (GBR, Audi) on the lead. Glock was on his way to victory before Auer took a thrilling risk to take over and claim his first victory for BMW.

Timo Glock is the best-positioned BMW driver, with 52 points moving up to the fouth place.

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Rudolf Dittrich: General Manager BMW Motorsport Vehicle Development

“Thrilling right up to the final lap – that was a superlative DTM race. We are delighted with our first win of the season. Congratulations to Lucas Auer, Timo Glock and BMW Team RMG, who did everything right today. The one-two result was an important signal for us. Timo and Lucas were racing with a very good, consistent pace.

However, our strategy was decisive as we found the right time to make the pit stops. Lucas stopped really early and made correspondingly good progress up through the field with Timo. Tire management was the next factor to play a decisive part. Even though Sheldon van der Linde, unfortunately, lost the position he had secured in qualifying, a total of five BMWs finished in the points. That is very encouraging for the upcoming races. We are already looking forward to Assen and being able to welcome our fans back to the circuit there.”

Stefan Reinhold: BMW Team RMG Team Principal

“The show was just right today. We finished off the day with a one-two result. Massive congratulations to the entire team. We had seen that our performance had been a bit lacking recently but we were able to do better in the race and if you refuse to give up, you’ll make it to the front at some point. I am delighted for BMW and for the whole team. I think that Lucas Auer and Timo Glock put on a great show for us right to the finish.”

Marco Wittmann: #11 Schaeffler BMW M4 DTM, BMW Team RMG, Grid: 6^th, Race: 9^th, Drivers’ standings: 6^th, 40 points

“I think that we went with the wrong strategy in the end. We stopped too late. All my fellow drivers ahead of me pitted earlier and came out earlier too. It is then just impossible to make up that ground. It is disappointing really, as we were actually doing well. Congratulations to Lucas and Timo!”

Timo Glock: #16 iQOO BMW M4 DTM, BMW Team RMG, Grid: 7^th, Race: 2^nd, Drivers’ standings: 4^th, 52 points

“Of course, it hurts when you have to surrender victory on the final lap. In the middle part of the race I tried to pull away a bit and increase the gap between me and Lucas. I suddenly got a bit of pick-up that made the car understeer. That allowed Lucas to close the gap and I realized that he still had one DRS opportunity left. He was able to mount an attack at the finish. I could have pushed back against it but overall, I wanted to think about the bigger picture. If I had started a battle with Lucas, the Audis behind us would have nipped past us on both sides with their fresh tires. It was important for me to claim this one-two result for BMW.”

Lucas Auer: #22 BMW Bank M4 DTM, BMW Team RMR, Grid: 9^th, Race: 1^st, Drivers’ standings: 9^th, 35 points

“I am still lost for words. That was the most intense race I have ever experienced in the DTM, as an error could have been fatal. I was able to manage the tires well, the strategy and pit stop were perfect. The car was also spot-on. And putting it all together on the final lap – it doesn’t get any better than that.”

Philipp Eng: #25 ZF BMW M4 DTM, BMW Team RBM, Grid: 12^th, Race: 12^th, Drivers’ standings: 11^th, 20 points

“Firstly, I am delighted for Lucas, Timo and the whole BMW team. Nothing went right for me. I have no idea what caused that. We will definitely have to take a close look at that.”

Jonathan Aberdein: #27 CATL BMW M4 DTM, BMW Team RMR, Grid: 16^th, Race: 7^th, Drivers’ standings: 12^th, 11 points

“Qualifying was disappointing but I am very pleased with our performance in the race. I think we did really well. Sometimes I had the feeling that I had the fastest car on the track. We have to do a bit better in qualifying and then we have a chance of winning.”

Sheldon van der Linde: #31 Shell BMW M4 DTM, BMW Team RBM, Grid: 4^th, Race: 10^th, Drivers’ standings: 10^th, 29 points

“I really lost a lot of time at the start. That was very disappointing and I don’t know exactly what happened. We will have to take a look at that. It really is very annoying, after starting from fourth place. The car went really well today. Lucas won and Timo finished second. Congratulations to both of them. That showed what is possible with our cars.”