2020 Nürburgring Race 2

2020 Nürburgring Race 2
The Nürburgring Sprint circuit for 2020.
Race Information
Date	20 September 2020
No.	263
Event	DTM Nürburgring 2020
Location	Nürburgring Sprint Circuit Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany
Format	55 min + 1 lap
Lap length	3.629 km (2.255 mi)
Distance	41 laps / 148.789 km (92.453 mi)
Qualifying Result
Pole Sitter	Robin Frijns
Team	Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline
Time	1:19.117
Fastest Lap
Driver	René Rast
Team	Audi Sport Team Rosberg
Time	1:21.479 on lap 3
Race Result
First	Second	Third
Nico Müller	Robin Frijns	René Rast
Winner Team	Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline
Time	57:09.856
Race Guide
Previous		Next
2020 Nürburgring Race 1		2020 Zolder I Race 1

The 2020 Nürburgring Race 2, formally known as the 2020 DTM Nürburgring Race 2 was the twelfth race of the 2020 DMSB Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Championship, staged at the Nürburgring Sprint Circuit in Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on 20 September 2020. The race would see Nico Müller resume his title bid with a fifth victory of the season, after overhauling teammate Robin Frijns for the lead.

Qualifying had seen Frijns sweep to pole position, as Ferdinand von Habsburg caused a stir by getting his Audi Team WRT car into second alongside Frijns. Championship leader Müller would then share the second row with Rast, while Marco Wittmann led the BMW charge from fifth alongside Sheldon van der Linde.

The start of the race saw Frijns ease into the lead unopposed, as von Habsburg was powerless to prevent Müller from lunging past into the first corner. Behind, Rast fell shy of overhauling the Austrian racer and had to settle into fourth, while Wittmann and van der Linde remained as the lead BMWs ahead of Robert Kubica.

The early laps saw Frijns and Müller ease clear, while Rast would have to wait until the end of lap two to pass von Habsburg, firing past into the chicane. He duly powered away from the #62 WRT Audi to chase the lead duo, with Frijns' initial one second lead over Müller beginning to waver as early as lap five.

By the end of lap six Müller was within striking distance of his teammate, and would duly sent the #51 Audi Team Abt car scything down the inside of the sister #4 car into the first corner. Frijns was unable to react and so forfeited the lead to his teammate, with Müller duly easing clear as the Dutchman came under attack from Rast.

Rast tried to force a move on Frijns for second, but would ultimately find the Dutchman too stubborn an opponent and instead tried to undercut the #4 car with a pitstop. That ploy would fail, however, as Frijns rejoined from his stop two laps later some two seconds ahead, while Müller established a comfortable five second margin at the head of the field.

The pitstop phase ultimately settled the race, with Müller able to simply ease away over the second half of the race to secure victory by almost twelve seconds from Frijns. Frijns himself would escape some eight seconds up the road from Rast before the end of the race, while Rast was an untroubled third ahead of van der Linde and Wittmann. Habsburg was next up having battle back from outside of the top ten to lead Mike Rockenfeller across the line, Timo Glock was a lonely eighth ahead of Loïc Duval, while Jonathan Aberdein rounded out the scorers after a late fight with Harrison Newey.

Background

There were no changes made to the Nürburgring Sprint Circuit ahead of the second DTM race of the weekend, with the entry list and conditions remaining similarly unchanged.

Frijns Formula

Nico Müller had retained the lead in the Championship after his recovery drive, although his advantage had been cut to a relatively light thirteen points. The Swiss ace's teammate Robin Frijns had done the most damage as he claimed his third win of the campaign, while René Rast had also moved close to striking distance in third, 36 off the lead. Loïc Duval was next up ahead of Mike Rockenfeller, while Sheldon van der Linde remained the best of the BMW pilots in sixth.

Audi Team Abt had continued their seemingly inevitable march to the Teams' Championship after their seventh win of the campaign, the German squad having moved onto 419 points for the season. That left them some 186 points clear of second placed Audi Team Rosberg, while Audi Team Phoenix had 166 points to their credit in third. In the Manufacturers' Championship, meanwhile, Audi were already on the verge of the title, the Ingolstadt marque holding 755 points to BMW's 329.

Entry List

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

2020 Nürburgring 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 Nürburgring Race 2 are outlined below:

2020 Nürburgring Race 2 Qualifying Result
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Time	Gap	Ave. Speed	Grid
1st	4	Robin Frijns	Audi Team Abt	1:19.117	—	165.127 km/h	1
2nd	62	Ferdinand von Habsburg	Audi Team WRT	1:19.317	+0.200s	164.711 km/h	2
3rd	51	Nico Müller	Audi Team Abt	1:19.385	+0.268s	164.570 km/h	3
4th	33	René Rast	Audi Team Rosberg	1:19.452	+0.335s	164.431 km/h	4
5th	11	Marco Wittmann	BMW Team RMG	1:19.502	+0.385s	164.327 km/h	5
6th	31	Sheldon van der Linde	BMW Team RBM	1:19.691	+0.574s	163.938 km/h	6
7th	8	Robert Kubica	BMW Team ART	1:19.697	+0.580s	163.925 km/h	7
8th	16	Timo Glock	BMW Team RMG	1:19.717	+0.600s	163.884 km/h	8
9th	22	Lucas Auer	BMW Team RMR	1:19.738	+0.621s	163.841 km/h	9
10th	53	Jamie Green	Audi Team Rosberg	1:19.740	+0.623s	163.837 km/h	15
11th	25	Philipp Eng	BMW Team RBM	1:19.839	+0.722s	163.634 km/h	10
12th	99	Mike Rockenfeller	Audi Team Phoenix	1:19.846	+0.729s	163.619 km/h	11
13th	10	Harrison Newey	Audi Team WRT	1:19.865	+0.748s	163.581 km/h	16
14th	28	Loïc Duval	Audi Team Phoenix	1:19.891	+0.774s	163.527 km/h	12
15th	27	Jonathan Aberdein	BMW Team RMR	1:20.206	+1.089s	162.885 km/h	13
16th	13	Fabio Scherer	Audi Team WRT	1:20.267	+1.150s	162.761 km/h	14
Source:

• Bold indicates a driver's best/qualifying time.

Grid

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

		53	Jamie Green	1:19.740			27	Jonathan Aberdein	1:20.206			99	Mike Rockenfeller	1:19.846			22	Lucas Auer	1:19.738			8	Robert Kubica	1:19.697			11	Marco Wittmann	1:19.502			51	Nico Müller	1:19.385			4	Robin Frijns	1:19.117
	10	Harrison Newey		1:19.865		13	Fabio Scherer		1:20.267		28	Loïc Duval		1:19.891		25	Philipp Eng		1:19.839		16	Timo Glock		1:19.717		31	Sheldon van der Linde		1:19.691		33	René Rast		1:19.452		62	Ferdinand von Habsburg		1:19.317

Race

Results

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

2020 Nürburgring Race 2 Result
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Laps	Race Time	Fastest lap	Pts.
1st	51	Nico Müller	Audi Team Abt	41	57:09.856	1:21.537	251
2nd	4	Robin Frijns	Audi Team Abt	41	+11.790s	1:21.943	183
3rd	33	René Rast	Audi Team Rosberg	41	+19.526s	1:21.479	15
4th	31	Sheldon van der Linde	BMW Team RBM	41	+22.733s	1:22.304	12
5th	11	Marco Wittmann	BMW Team RMG	41	+24.016s	1:22.195	10
6th	62	Ferdinand von Habsburg	Audi Team WRT	41	+25.713s	1:22.382	82
7th	99	Mike Rockenfeller	Audi Team Phoenix	41	+30.162s	1:22.751	6
8th	16	Timo Glock	BMW Team RMG	41	+33.795s	1:22.459	4
9th	28	Loïc Duval	Audi Team Phoenix	41	+40.763s	1:22.363	2
10th	27	Jonathan Aberdein	BMW Team RMR	41	+44.264s	1:22.621	1
11th	10	Harrison Newey	Audi Team WRT	41	+44.645s	1:22.706
12th	25	Philipp Eng	BMW Team RBM	41	+45.058s	1:22.742
13th	22	Lucas Auer	BMW Team RMR	41	+45.523s	1:22.432
14th	13	Fabio Scherer	Audi Team WRT	41	+46.347s	1:22.944
*	53	Jamie Green	Audi Team Rosberg	35	+6 Laps	1:22.370
	8	Robert Kubica	BMW Team ART	8	Gearbox	1:22.621
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.
• * Green was unable to be classified as he failed to complete 90% of the race distance.

Milestones

• Audi declared as the 2020 DMSB Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Championship for Manufacturers' Champions.
  • Audi claimed their sixth Manufacturers' Championship title.
• Ninth victory for Nico Müller.

Standings

Nico Müller's fifth victory of the campaign left the Swiss ace restored his healthy margin atop the Championship as the DTM left the Nürburgring, as he moved onto 242 points for the campaign. That left the Swiss ace eighteen points clear of Robin Frijns in second, while the Dutchman held a 29 point advantage over René Rast in third. Sheldon van der Linde, meanwhile, broke into the top four to lead the BMW charge, overhauling Loïc Duval and Mike Rockenfeller by a single point.

In the Teams' Championship Audi Team Abt continued their seemingly inevitable charge to the title, the German squad having moved onto 466 points for the campaign. Their closest challengers were Audi Team Rosberg, some 218 points behind, while Audi Team Phoenix rounded out the top three, 192 points behind. Audi, meanwhile, were declared as the Manufacturers' Champions after just twelve races, the earliest that the title had been claimed.

2020 Drivers' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Nico Müller 242 ◄0 2nd Robin Frijns 224 ◄0 3rd René Rast 195 ◄0 4th Sheldon van der Linde 88 ▲2 5th Loïc Duval 87 ▼1 6th Mike Rockenfeller 87 ▼1 7th Marco Wittmann 86 ◄0 8th Timo Glock 73 ◄0 9th Jamie Green 53 ◄0 10th Philipp Eng 43 ◄0 11th Lucas Auer 36 ◄0 12th Ferdinand von Habsburg 35 ▲1 13th Jonathan Aberdein 33 ▼1 14th Harrison Newey 1 ◄0 15th Robert Kubica 1 ◄0 16th Fabio Scherer 0 ◄0

2020 Teams' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Audi Team Abt 466 ◄0 2nd Audi Team Rosberg 248 ◄0 3rd Audi Team Phoenix 174 ◄0 4th BMW Team RMG 159 ◄0 5th BMW Team RBM 131 ◄0 6th BMW Team RMR 69 ◄0 7th Audi Team WRT 36 ◄0 8th BMW Team ART 1 ◄0 2020 Manufacturers' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Audi 827 ◄0 2nd BMW 356 ◄0

References

Images and Videos:

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

References: