2020 Lausitz Race 2

2020 Lausitz Race 2
The short layout at the Lausitzring.
Race Information
Date	16 August 2020
No.	255
Event	DTM Lausitz 2020
Location	Lausitzring Klettwitz, Brandenburg, Germany
Format	55 min + 1 Lap
Lap length	3.478 km (2.161 mi)
Distance	43 laps / 149.554 km (92.928 mi)
Qualifying Result
Pole Sitter	Robin Frijns
Team	Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline
Time	1:15.787
Fastest Lap
Driver	Robin Frijns
Team	Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline
Time	1:16.992 on lap 15
Race Result
First	Second	Third
René Rast	Nico Müller	Marco Wittmann
Winner Team	Audi Sport Team Rosberg
Time	57:09.747
Race Guide
Previous		Next
2020 Lausitz Race 1		2020 Lausitzring Race 1

The 2020 Lausitz Race 2, otherwise known as the 2020 DTM Lausitz Race 2, was the fourth race of the 2020 DMSB Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Championship staged at the Sprint Circuit at the Lausitzring in Klettwitz, Brandenburg, Germany on 16 August 2020. The race would see René Rast secure his first victory of the campaign, and keep it, after defeating Nico Müller in a sprint to the chequered flag in the closest ever DTM finish in the modern era.

Qualifying had seen Robin Frijns continue his incredible one-lap form, the Dutchman securing his third pole in four races ahead of Müller by 0.065s. Rast was next up in third ahead of Ferdinand von Habsburg, while Marco Wittmann and Sheldon van der Linde were the lone BMW interlopers in the top ten in seventh and tenth respectively.

Rast made the best when the race began, shooting past Müller to challenge Frijns for the lead into the first corner. Frijns would, however, have the better line and was able to retain the lead as Rast washed out wide, while Müller slipped back to fourth behind von Habsburg.

Frijns and Rast would continue to fight in the early stages, with Rast finally forcing his way through into turn one on lap three. Behind, meanwhile, von Habsburg would keep Müller behind in the fight for third, while Wittmann elbowed his way up the field with moves on the two Phoenix Audis.

Frijns would opt to make an early stop in a bid to undercut Rast for the lead, and would subsequently move ahead of the #33 Audi with warmer tyres when the German racer pitted a lap later. They continued to hold a healthy margin over the rest of the field as Müller took over the lead, with the Swiss racer staying out until lap 20.

Once Müller stopped the lead was handed back to Frijns, who seemed to be in total control until his pace wavered shortly after Müller's stop. His 2.5 second lead would soon disappear leaving him vulnerable to Rast, who duly darted past on lap 25 before easing clear.

With that Rast was away leaving the attention on Müller as the Swiss racer began carving his way back up the order armed with tyres in superior condition then those around him. Indeed, Wittmann and Frijns would both fall to the #51 Audi before too long, with the Swiss race within a second of Rast as they started the final lap.

Müller would move into striking position towards the end of the final tour, and would steadily draw alongside Rast as they rounded the final corner and onto the start/finish straight. Rast just managed to hang on by 0.089s to secure victory ahead of the Swiss racer, while Wittmann rounded out the podium after passing Frijns. Mike Rockenfeller was next up ahead of Timo Glock and Philipp Eng, Loïc Duval edged out Jonathan Aberdein for ninth, while Ferdinand von Habsburg rounded out the scorers in tenth.

Background

There were no changes made to the Lausitzring's Sprint Circuit ahead of the second DTM race of the weekend, with no threat of rain either on the oval's shorter infield circuit. Likewise, there were no changes to the entry list ahead of the second race, with all sixteen drivers set to start the race.

Müller Mastery

A third straight victory for Nico Müller after the first three races of the season left the Swiss ace in command of the Championship, having claimed 80 points with his three wins. Robin Frijns, meanwhile, had moved up to second, but was already 37 points behind his teammate after just three races. René Rast and Jamie Green were next up ahead of Sheldon van der Linde, who was the only BMW pilot in the top seven as Mike Rockenfeller and Loïc Duval trailed him by just four points.

In the Teams' Championship there was little surprise that Audi Team Abt led the charge, as their two drivers had combined to score 123 points after just three races. Audi Team Rosberg were next up in second, 54 points behind the sister squad, while Audi Team Phoenix completed the top three on 44 points. Likewise, it was an all Audi affair in the Manufacturers' Championship, with the Ingolstadt marque holding 212 points to BMW's 76 points.

Entry List

The full entry list for the 2020 Lausitz Race 2 is displayed below:

2020 Lausitz Race 2 Entry List
No.	Name	Entrant	Constructor	Chassis	Engine	Livery
4	Robin Frijns	Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline	Audi	RS5 Turbo DTM	Audi RC8 TFSI 2.0l I4t
8	Robert Kubica	BMW Team ART Orlen	BMW	M4 Turbo DTM	BMW P48 Turbo 2.0l I4t
10	Harrison Newey	Audi Sport Team WRT	Audi	RS5 Turbo DTM	Audi RC8 TFSI 2.0l I4t
11	Marco Wittmann	BMW Team RMG	BMW	M4 Turbo DTM	BMW P48 Turbo 2.0l I4t
13	Fabio Scherer	Audi Sport Team WRT	Audi	RS5 Turbo DTM	Audi RC8 TFSI 2.0l I4t
16	Timo Glock	BMW Team RMG	BMW	M4 Turbo DTM	BMW P48 Turbo 2.0l I4t
22	Lucas Auer	BMW Team RMR	BMW	M4 Turbo DTM	BMW P48 Turbo 2.0l I4t
25	Philipp Eng	BMW Team RBM	BMW	M4 Turbo DTM	BMW P48 Turbo 2.0l I4t
27	Jonathan Aberdein	BMW Team RMR	BMW	M4 Turbo DTM	BMW P48 Turbo 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
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	Audi Sport Team WRT	Audi	RS5 Turbo DTM	Audi RC8 TFSI 2.0l I4t
99	Mike Rockenfeller	Audi Sport Team Phoenix	Audi	RS5 Turbo DTM	Audi RC8 TFSI 2.0l I4t
Source:

Qualifying

Results

The final qualifying result for the 2020 Lausitz Race 2 are outlined below:

2020 Lausitz Race 2 Qualifying Result
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Time	Gap	Ave. Speed	Grid
1st	4	Robin Frijns	Audi Team Abt	1:15.787	—	165.210 km/h	1
2nd	51	Nico Müller	Audi Team Abt	1:15.852	+0.065s	165.068 km/h	2
3rd	33	René Rast	Audi Team Rosberg	1:15.911	+0.124s	164.940 km/h	3
4th	62	Ferdinand von Habsburg	Audi Team WRT	1:16.124	+0.337s	164.479 km/h	4
5th	28	Loïc Duval	Audi Team Phoenix	1:16.236	+0.449s	164.237 km/h	5
6th	99	Mike Rockenfeller	Audi Team Phoenix	1:16.278	+0.491s	164.146 km/h	6
7th	11	Marco Wittmann	BMW Team RMG	1:16.316	+0.529s	164.065 km/h	7
8th	10	Harrison Newey	Audi Team WRT	1:16.361	+0.574s	163.968 km/h	8
9th	53	Jamie Green	Audi Team Rosberg	1:16.380	+0.593s	163.927 km/h	9
10th	31	Sheldon van der Linde	BMW Team RBM	1:16.477	+0.690s	163.719 km/h	10
11th	25	Philipp Eng	BMW Team RBM	1:16.532	+0.745s	163.602 km/h	11
12th	16	Timo Glock	BMW Team RMG	1:16.597	+0.810s	163.463 km/h	12
13th	13	Fabio Scherer	Audi Team WRT	1:16.634	+0.847s	163.384 km/h	13
14th	27	Jonathan Aberdein	BMW Team RMR	1:16.717	+0.930s	163.207 km/h	14
15th	22	Lucas Auer	BMW Team RMR	1:16.720	+0.933s	163.201 km/h	15
NC*	8	Robert Kubica	BMW Team ART	—			16
Source:

• Bold indicates a driver's best/qualifying time.
• * Kubica failed to set a representative lap time in qualifying but was allowed to start at the Stewards' discretion.

Grid

The starting grid for the 2020 Lausitz Race 2 in shown below:

		22	Lucas Auer	1:16.720			13	Fabio Scherer	1:16.634			25	Philipp Eng	1:16.532			53	Jamie Green	1:16.380			11	Marco Wittmann	1:16.316			28	Loïc Duval	1:16.236			33	René Rast	1:15.911			4	Robin Frijns	1:15.787
	8	Robert Kubica		—		27	Jonathan Aberdein		1:16.717		16	Timo Glock		1:16.597		31	Sheldon van der Linde		1:16.477		10	Harrison Newey		1:16.361		99	Mike Rockenfeller		1:16.278		62	Ferdinand von Habsburg		1:16.124		51	Nico Müller		1:15.852

Race

Results

The final classification of the 2020 Lausitz Race 2 is displayed below:

2020 Lausitz Race 2 Result
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Laps	Race Time	Fastest lap	Pts.
1st	33	René Rast	Audi Team Rosberg	43	57:09.747	1:17.507	251
2nd	51	Nico Müller	Audi Team Abt	43	+0.089s	1:17.668	182
3rd	11	Marco Wittmann	BMW Team RMG	43	+9.567s	1:18.021	15
4th	4	Robin Frijns	Audi Team Abt	43	+12.532s	1:16.992	123
5th	99	Mike Rockenfeller	Audi Team Phoenix	43	+13.731s	1:18.208	10
6th	16	Timo Glock	BMW Team RMG	43	+20.395s	1:18.052	8
7th	25	Philipp Eng	BMW Team RBM	43	+21.193s	1:18.132	6
8th	28	Loïc Duval	Audi Team Phoenix	43	+25.326s	1:17.814	4
9th	27	Jonathan Aberdein	BMW Team RMR	43	+26.597s	1:18.262	2
10th	62	Ferdinand von Habsburg	Audi Team WRT	43	+37.074s	1:17.792	1
11th	13	Fabio Scherer	Audi Team WRT	43	+37.331s	1:17.694
12th	10	Harrison Newey	Audi Team WRT	43	+37.926s	1:18.0179
13th	8	Robert Kubica	BMW Team ART	43	+38.445s	1:18.616
14th	22	Lucas Auer	BMW Team RMR	43	+39.135s	1:17.937
15th	31	Sheldon van der Linde	BMW Team RBM	43	+46.492s	1:17.820
16th*	53	Jamie Green	Audi Team Rosberg	37	Gearbox	1:17.107
Source:

• ³ Indicates a driver was awarded points for qualifying in the top three.
• Bold indicates a driver started from pole.
• Italics indicate that a driver set fastest lap.

Milestones

• René Rast secured his eighteenth victory.

Standings

Despite failing to win for the first time in 2020, Nico Müller would still hold a handsome lead in the Championship, the Swiss ace ending the the second race weekend with 100 points to his credit. That meant that René Rast, the only other race winner in 2020, was 39 points behind in second, while Robin Frijns was 42 points off in third. Jamie Green and Mike Rockenfeller them completed the top five, both with around a third of Müller's points tally, while Marco Wittmann was the first BMW pilot in sixth.

Audi Team Abt would retain a healthy margin in the Teams' Championship, the German squad having again claimed the most points of any team as they moved onto 158 for the season. Audi Team Rosberg were next up in second, 63 points behind, while Audi Team Phoenix completed the top three on 58. In the Manufacturers' Championship, meanwhile, Audi still remained in full control, the Ingolstadt marque having claimed 283 points in the first four races.

2020 Drivers' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Nico Müller 100 ◄0 2nd René Rast 61 ▲1 3rd Robin Frijns 58 ▼1 4th Jamie Green 34 ◄0 5th Mike Rockenfeller 32 ▲1 6th Marco Wittmann 28 ▲3 7th Sheldon van der Linde 26 ▼2 8th Loïc Duval 26 ▼1 9th Timo Glock 22 ▼1 10th Philipp Eng 16 ▲1 11th Lucas Auer 10 ▼1 12th Ferdinand von Habsburg 9 ◄0 13th Jonathan Aberdein 5 ◄0 14th Harrison Newey 1 ◄0 15th Fabio Scherer 0 ◄0 16th Robert Kubica 0 ◄0

2020 Teams' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Audi Team Abt 158 ◄0 2nd Audi Team Rosberg 95 ◄0 3rd Audi Team Phoenix 58 ◄0 4th BMW Team RMG 50 ▲1 5th BMW Team RBM 42 ▼1 6th BMW Team RMR 15 ◄0 7th Audi Team WRT 10 ◄0 8th BMW Team ART 0 ◄0 2020 Manufacturers' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Audi 283 ◄0 2nd BMW 107 ◄0

References

Images and Videos:

• Liveries: byggxx, 'Rennwagen (2020)', dtm.fandom.com/de, (DTM Wiki/de, 2015), https://dtm.fandom.com/de/wiki/Kategorie:Rennwagen_(2020), (Accessed 29/05/2021)

References: