2019 Hockenheim Finale Race 1

2019 Hockenheim Finale Race 1
The Hockenheimring hosted the 2019 finale.
Race Information
Date	5 October 2019
No.	250
Event	DTM Hockenheim Finale 2019
Location	Hockenheimring Hockenheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Format	{{{format}}}
Lap length	4.933 km (3.065 mi)
Distance	38 laps / 187.454 km (116.478 mi)
Qualifying Result
Pole Sitter	René Rast
Team	Audi Sport Team Rosberg
Time	1:45.552
Fastest Lap
Driver	Nico Müller
Team	Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline
Time	1:30.927 on lap 25
Race Result
First	Second	Third
René Rast	Marco Wittmann	Mike Rockenfeller
Winner Team	Audi Sport Team Rosberg
Time	1:01:00.948
Race Guide
Previous		Next
2019 Nürburgring Race 2		2019 Hockenheim Finale Race 2

The 2019 Hockenheim Finale Race 1, otherwise known as the DTM Hockenheim Finale 2019 Race 1, was the seventeenth and penultimate race of the 2019 DMSB Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Championship, held at the Hockenheimring in Hockenheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, on 5 October 2019. The race, which was the 250th full-Championship race to be staged as part of the modern iteration of the DTM, would see René Rast secure his seventh win of the campaign.

The race would see three "wildcard" entries from the DTM's sister series, the Super GT Championship, with Honda, Lexus and Nissan all sending a single car to compete in the DTM finale. Their cars would be driven by Jenson Button, Ryō Hirakawa and Tsugio Matsuda respectively, with all three using DTM's standard Hankook tyres.

Qualifying would show the potential of at least one of the GT500 drivers, as Button claimed an impressive sixth on the grid for his DTM debut. However, the wet and cold conditions would not cause too much of a shake-up to the overall order, as Champion Rast secured pole ahead of Marco Wittmann of BMW.

The circuit had dried by the time the field assembled for the start, although the grid would be modified due to mechanical woes for two drivers. Aston Martin were forced to withdraw Ferdinand von Habsburg from the race after an engine failure, while Matsuda had to be dragged back to the pits after a driveshaft snapped while he was on his way to the grid.

Regardless, there would be no stopping Rast at the start, with the freshly declared Champion easing clear to leave Wittmann to fend off the attentions of Mike Rockenfeller. The elder German subsequently scythed past the #11 BMW on the run to the Mercedes Arena, while stablemates Loïc Duval and Timo Glock fought for fifth.

The top three drivers soon broke clear, with Rast establishing a lead, while Wittmann retaliated with a lunge at Rockenfeller through turn seven that put him back into second. Behind, Duval was holding up several drivers behind him, including a now eighth placed Button whose pace was as strong as the leaders in the opening laps.

After being passed by Wittmann, Rockenfeller would become the first of the lead drivers to stop, with Wittmann stopping on lap sixteen, emerging ahead. Rast stopped a lap later and just managed to emerge ahead but with cold tyres, although Wittmann's hopes of making a move stick were curtailed by the Safety Car.

The source of the SC would be Wittmann's stablemate Philipp Eng, who had stopped at the Parabolika after an engine failure. Rast subsequently controlled the restart well to secure the lead, while Wittmann claimed second as Rockenfeller came under attack from Glock.

With that the top two broke clear, and with no-one to trouble him from behind Witmmann would attack Rast, and duly elbowed his way ahead. However, Rast's Audi had consistently shown itself to have better traction, and with the aid of Push-to-Pass and DRS, duly scrambled back ahead of the BMW on the following tour.

The pair would run nose-to-tail through to the chequered flag, with Rast ultimately securing victory ahead of Wittmann. Behind, Rockenfeller rejoined in a distant third ahead of Robin Frijns and Duval, while Paul di Resta secured seventh for Aston Martin. Bruno Spengler was next up ahead of Button, ineligible for Championship points, meaning Joel Eriksson and Jake Dennis claimed the remaining points.

Background

The official poster for the 2019 Season Finale.

René Rast was declared as the Champion with two races to spare, moving onto an unassailable tally of 279 points for the season. Nico Müller would hence have to settle for second, a mark he would secure if Marco Wittmann failed to outscore him by 42 points at the season finale. Mike Rockenfeller, meanwhile, was a point ahead of Philipp Eng in the fight for fourth, while Robin Frijns was five off the Austrian in sixth.

Audi Team Rosberg led the charge in the Teams' Championship leaving the penultimate round of the season, holding 394 points ahead of the finale. They could therefore claim the title in the first race at Hockenheim, with Audi Team Abt the only team that could feasibly deny them the title. In the Manufacturers' Championship, meanwhile, Audi had moved onto 993 points for the season, while BMW held 515 points.

Entry List

The full entry list for the 2019 Hockenheim Finale Race 1 is displayed below:

2019 Hockenheim Finale Race 1 Entry List
No.	Name	Entrant	Constructor	Chassis	Engine
3	Paul di Resta	R-Motorsport I	Aston Martin	Vantage DTM	HWA AFR Turbo 2.0l I4t
4	Robin Frijns	Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline	Audi	RS5 Turbo DTM	Audi RC8 TFSI 2.0l I4t
7	Bruno Spengler	BMW Team RMG	BMW	M4 Turbo DTM	BMW P48 Turbo 2.0l I4t
11	Marco Wittmann	BMW Team RMG	BMW	M4 Turbo DTM	BMW P48 Turbo 2.0l I4t
16	Timo Glock	BMW Team RMR	BMW	M4 Turbo DTM	BMW P48 Turbo 2.0l I4t
21	Pietro Fittipaldi	Audi Sport Team WRT	Audi	RS5 Turbo DTM	Audi RC8 TFSI 2.0l I4t
23	Daniel Juncadella	R-Motorsport II	Aston Martin	Vantage DTM	HWA AFR Turbo 2.0l I4t
25	Philipp Eng	BMW Team RMR	BMW	M4 Turbo DTM	BMW P48 Turbo 2.0l I4t
27	Jonathan Aberdein	Audi Sport Team WRT	Audi	RS5 Turbo DTM	Audi RC8 TFSI 2.0l I4t
28	Loïc Duval	Audi Sport Team Phoenix	Audi	RS5 Turbo DTM	Audi RC8 TFSI 2.0l I4t
31	Sheldon van der Linde	BMW Team RBM	BMW	M4 Turbo DTM	BMW P48 Turbo 2.0l I4t
33	René Rast	Audi Sport Team Rosberg	Audi	RS5 Turbo DTM	Audi RC8 TFSI 2.0l I4t
47	Joel Eriksson	BMW Team RBM	BMW	M4 Turbo DTM	BMW P48 Turbo 2.0l I4t
51	Nico Müller	Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline	Audi	RS5 Turbo DTM	Audi RC8 TFSI 2.0l I4t
53	Jamie Green	Audi Sport Team Rosberg	Audi	RS5 Turbo DTM	Audi RC8 TFSI 2.0l I4t
62	Ferdinand von Habsburg	R-Motorsport II	Aston Martin	Vantage DTM	HWA AFR Turbo 2.0l I4t
76	Jake Dennis	R-Motorsport I	Aston Martin	Vantage DTM	HWA AFR Turbo 2.0l I4t
99	Mike Rockenfeller	Audi Sport Team Phoenix	Audi	RS5 Turbo DTM	Audi RC8 TFSI 2.0l I4t
Super GT Guest Entries
No.	Name	Entrant	Constructor	Chassis	Engine
1	Jenson Button	Team Kunimitsu	Honda	NSX-GT GT500	Honda HR-417E 2.0l I4t
35	Tsugio Matsuda	Lexus Team KeePer TOM'S	Lexus	LC 500 GT500	Lexus RI4AG 2.0l I4t
37	Ryō Hirakawa	Nismo	Nissan	GT-R Nismo GT500	Nissan Nismo NR20A 2.0l I4t
Source:

Qualifying

Results

The final qualifying result for the 2019 Hockenheim Finale Race 1 are outlined below:

2019 Hockenheim Finale Race 1 Qualifying Result
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Time	Gap	Ave. Speed	Grid
1st	33	René Rast	Audi Team Rosberg	1:45.552	—	156.002 km/h	1
2nd	11	Marco Wittmann	BMW Team RMG	1:45.679	+0.127s	155.815 km/h	2
3rd	99	Mike Rockenfeller	Audi Team Phoenix	1:45.783	+0.231s	155.662 km/h	3
4th	27	Jonathan Aberdein	Audi Team WRT	1:45.928	+0.376s	155.448 km/h	4
5th	28	Loïc Duval	Audi Team Phoenix	1:45.939	+0.387s	155.432 km/h	5
6th	1W	Jenson Button	Team Kunimitsu	1:46.206	+0.654s	155.042 km/h	6
7th	16	Timo Glock	BMW Team RMR	1:46.315	+0.763s	154.883 km/h	7
8th	4	Robin Frijns	Audi Team Abt	1:46.351	+0.799s	154.830 km/h	8
9th	31	Sheldon van der Linde	BMW Team RBM	1:46.383	+0.831s	154.784 km/h	9
10th	47	Joel Eriksson	BMW Team RBM	1:46.628	+1.076s	154.428 km/h	10
11th	51	Nico Müller	Audi Team Abt	1:46.789	+1.237s	154.195 km/h	11
12th	62	Ferdinand von Habsburg	R-Motorsport II	1:46.791	+1.239s	154.192 km/h	12
13th	23	Daniel Juncadella	R-Motorsport II	1:46.986	+1.434s	153.911 km/h	13
14th	76	Jake Dennis	R-Motorsport I	1:46.988	+1.436s	153.908 km/h	14
15th	7	Bruno Spengler	BMW Team RMG	1:47.026	+1.474s	153.854 km/h	15
16th	3	Paul di Resta	R-Motorsport I	1:47.090	+1.538s	153.762 km/h	16
17th	25	Philipp Eng	BMW Team RMR	1:47.548	+1.996s	153.107 km/h	17
18th	53	Jamie Green	Audi Team Rosberg	1:47.590	+2.038s	153.047 km/h	18
19th	21	Pietro Fittipaldi	Audi Team WRT	1:47.792	+2.240s	152.760 km/h	19
20th	37W	Ryō Hirakawa	Lexus Team KeePer TOM'S	1:49.181	+3.629s	150.817 km/h	20
21st	35W	Tsugio Matsuda	Nismo	1:49.349	+3.797s	150.585 km/h	21
Source:

• ^W Indicates that a driver was considered a wildcard entry and hence was ineligible to score points.
• Bold indicates a driver's best/qualifying time.

Grid

	Pos.	Pos.
	Driver	Driver
	______________
Row 1	1	______________
	René Rast	2
	______________	Marco Wittmann
Row 2	3	______________
	Mike Rockenfeller	4
	______________	Jonathan Aberdein
Row 3	5	______________
	Loïc Duval	6
	______________	Jenson Button
Row 4	7	______________
	Timo Glock	8
	______________	Robin Frijns
Row 5	9	______________
	Sheldon van der Linde	10
	______________	Joel Eriksson
Row 6	11	______________
	Nico Müller	12
	______________	Ferdinand von Habsburg*
Row 7	13	______________
	Daniel Juncadella	14
	______________	Jake Dennis
Row 8	15	______________
	Bruno Spengler	16
	______________	Paul di Resta
Row 9	17	______________
	Philipp Eng	18
	______________	Jamie Green
Row 10	19	______________
	Pietro Fittipaldi	20
	______________	Ryō Hirakawa
Row 11	21	______________
	Tsugio Matsuda†	22
	______________

• * von Habsburg was unable to start the race after an engine failure.
• ^† Matsuda started the race from the pitlane after a driveshaft failure.

Race

Results

The final classification of the 2019 Hockenheim Finale Race 1 is displayed below:

2019 Hockenheim Finale Race 1 Race Result
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Laps	Race Time	Fastest lap	Pts.
1st	33	René Rast	Audi Team Rosberg	38	1:01:00.948	1:31.376	253
2nd	11	Marco Wittmann	BMW Team RMG	38	+1.693s	1:31.135	182
3rd	99	Mike Rockenfeller	Audi Team Phoenix	38	+10.697s	1:31.872	151
4th	4	Robin Frijns	Audi Team Abt	38	+17.795s	1:31.879	12
5th	28	Loïc Duval	Audi Team Phoenix	38	+24.224s	1:32.578	10
6th	16	Timo Glock	BMW Team RMR	38	+25.760s	1:32.015	8
7th	3	Paul di Resta	R-Motorsport II	38	+26.439s	1:32.547	6
8th	7	Bruno Spengler	BMW Team RMG	38	+27.270s	1:32.644	4
9th	1W	Jenson Button	Team Kunimitsu	38	+31.492s	1:32.698
10th	47	Joel Eriksson	BMW Team RBM	38	+31.868s	1:33.141	2
11th	76	Jake Dennis	R-Motorsport II	38	+37.997s	1:32.992	1
12th	53	Jamie Green	Audi Team Rosberg	38	+38.442s	1:32.544
13th	37W	Ryō Hirakawa	Lexus Team KeePer TOM'S	38	+40.958s	1:32.536
14th	27	Jonathan Aberdein	Audi Team WRT	38	+46.931s	1:32.192
15th	21	Pietro Fittipaldi	Audi Team WRT	38	+59.196s	1:32.211
16th	31	Sheldon van der Linde	BMW Team RBM	38	+59.602s	1:32.198
17th	51	Nico Müller	Audi Team Abt	38	+1:01.596	1:30.927
Ret	35W	Tsugio Matsuda	Nismo	21	Driveshaft	1:33.619
Ret	23	Daniel Juncadella	R-Motorsport II	20	Retired	1:33.328
Ret	25	Philipp Eng	BMW Team RMR	17	Engine	1:33.366
DNS	62	Ferdinand von Habsburg	R-Motorsport II
Source:

• ³ Indicates a driver was awarded points for qualifying in the top three.
• ^W Indicates that a driver was considered a wildcard entry and hence was ineligible to score points.
• Bold indicates a driver started from pole.
• Italics indicate that a driver set fastest lap.

Milestones

• Audi Sport Team Rosberg declared as the 2019 DMSB Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Championship for Teams Champions.
• René Rast secured his seventeenth victory.

Standings

René Rast had already secured the Championship before arriving in Hockenheim, although he had still enhanced his title winning tally to 307 points. Nico Müller, meanwhile, had held onto second, a position which he would secure if Marco Wittmann failed to outscore him by 21 points in the final race of the season. Fourth, meanwhile, was occupied by Mike Rockenfeller, while Robin Frijns had moved into fifth ahead of Philipp Eng.

In the Teams' Championship Audi Team Rosberg had all secured the title, for they had secured an unassailable lead of 48 points ahead of the final race. Indeed, while Audi Team Abt would be able to claim a maximum of 48 points in the final race, they would still lose the title on count-back, with Team Rosberg holding seven wins to their three. In the Manufacturers' Championship, meanwhile, Audi had smashed through the 1,000 point barrier for the first time, while BMW were in danger of having scored half as many points as their rivals.

 

2019 Drivers' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st René Rast 307 ◄0 2nd Nico Müller 223 ◄0 3rd Marco Wittmann 202 ◄0 4th Mike Rockenfeller 161 ◄0 5th Robin Frijns 151 ▲1 6th Philipp Eng 144 ▼1 7th Loïc Duval 135 ◄0 8th Jamie Green 105 ◄0 9th Bruno Spengler 104 ◄0 10th Jonathan Aberdein 67 ◄0 11th Joel Eriksson 53 ◄0 12th Timo Glock 45 ▲1 13th Sheldon van der Linde 42 ▼1 14th Daniel Juncadella 23 ◄0 15th Pietro Fittipaldi 22 ◄0 16th Paul di Resta 21 ◄0 17th Jake Dennis 13 ◄0 18th Ferdinand von Habsburg 3 ◄0 19th Andrea Dovizioso 0 ◄0

2019 Teams' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Audi Team Rosberg 422 ◄0 2nd Audi Team Abt 374 ◄0 3rd BMW Team RMG 306 ◄0 4th Audi Team Phoenix 294 ◄0 5th BMW Team RMR 189 ◄0 6th BMW Team RBM 95 ◄0 7th Audi Team WRT 79 ◄0 8th R-Motorsport I 34 ◄0 9th R-Motorsport II 26 ◄0 2019 Manufacturers' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Audi 1059 ◄0 2nd BMW 549 ◄0 3rd Aston Martin 45 ◄0

References

Images and Videos:

• DTM, 'Waking up on a Monday morning', twitter.com, (Twitter: DTM, 30/09/2019), https://twitter.com/DTM/status/1178609562607378433, (Accessed 13/04/2020)

References: