The DTM is entering the heated championship phase. At the sixth race weekend at the Sachsenring (August 22-24), the drivers are aiming to secure the best possible starting position for the final sprint for the title. The last race weekend at the Nürburgring already demonstrated that the on-track duels are getting more heated.
Lucas Auer (Mercedes-AMG Team Landgraf) has so far appeared unfazed. The Austrian travels to the track near Chemnitz as the frontrunner in his Mercedes-AMG GT3, but is only narrowly ahead of Briton Jack Aitken (Emil Frey Racing) in his Ferrari 296 GT3.
Leader Auer has shone this season with nerves of steel and tactical maturity. The 30-year-old is expecting another tough encounter at the Sachsenring.
“It’s a cool circuit with big elevation changes and high-speed corners,” Auer said. “The action will be aggressive again on the track, although the tone is a bit rougher in the second half of the season. But that’s exactly what makes the DTM so special.”
The DTM test day with all 24 drivers last Sunday showed that Mercedes-AMG is a force to be reckoned with at the Sachsenring: Auer’s fellow Mercedes-AMG driver Jules Gounon (Mercedes-AMG Team Mann-Filter) from France set the fastest time ahead of championship third-placed Jordan Pepper (ZA/TGI Team Lamborghini by GRT) in a Lamborghini and Porsche works driver Thomas Preining (A/Manthey EMA).
Just eight points behind Auer, second-placed Aitken is waiting for a mistake from Auer. The 29-year-old with Formula 1 experience is one of the favorites at the Sachsenring and could wrest the lead from Auer for the second time this season.
Aitken already won at Sachsenring last year and also performed strongly at the official test.
While Pepper, who finished third overall, scored solid points in the Eifel, René Rast (Bregenz), who is fourth in the standings, arrives in Saxony with an extra dose of self-confidence.
The three-time champion, driving a Schubert Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 Evo, recently shone with a stellar performance in his second win of the season and is looking to build on that at the Sachsenring. “Our biggest problem in the past was that we almost always started the race from far back and had to struggle to get back up. It would be a huge step forward if we could start from the top ten in the next few races,” Rast explains his game plan. Preining also wants to attack at the front: the Austrian proved last year that he is fast at the Sachsenring by setting a new lap record in qualifying.
The winding Sachsenring west of Chemnitz is unique on the DTM calendar, with its large elevation changes and a maximum gradient of 12.8 percent.
The track layout is characterized by fast corners and blind crests. As a motorcycle circuit and host of the Liqui Moly Motorcycle Grand Prix Germany, the track surface offers comparatively high levels of grip. Local favorite Maximilian Paul (Paul Motorsport) knows this.
“Tire wear is quite high on my home track, and usually only allows for one fast lap in qualifying. So you have to nail everything. I’m really looking forward to the weekend with my fans,” says the Dresden native.
