2021 Lausitzring Race 1

2021 Lausitzring Race 1
The DTM made its second bid to use the banked first corner
Race Information
Date	24 July 2021
No.	272
Event	DEKRA Lausitzring Grand Prix 2021
Location	Lausitzring Klettwitz, Brandenburg, Germany
Format	55 min + 1 Lap
Lap length	4.534 km (2.817 mi)
Distance	36 laps / 163.224 km (101.423 mi)
Qualifying Result
Pole Sitter	Sheldon van der Linde
Team	ROWE Racing
Time	1:30.537
Fastest Lap
Driver	Sheldon van der Linde
Team	ROWE Racing
Time	1:32.223 on lap 11
Race Result
First	Second	Third
Philip Ellis	Liam Lawson	Mike Rockenfeller
Winner Team	Mercedes-AMG Team Winward
Time	1:01:00.270
Race Guide
Previous		Next
2021 Monza Race 2		2021 Lausitzring Race 2

The 2021 Lausitzring Race 1, formally known as the DEKRA Lausitzring Grand Prix 2021 Race 1, was the third race of the 2021 DMSB Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Championship, staged at the Lausitzring in Klettwitz, Brandenburg, Germany, on 24 July 2021. The race would be the first DTM race to be staged using the banked oval corner, after a previous attempt in 2003 had to be abandoned after two heavy accidents.

Qualifying had seen the two van der Linde brothers Sheldon and Kelvin duel for pole, with the ROWE Racing backed pilot emerging on top. However, only 0.027s would separate the younger of the van der Linde's from his elder brother in the #3 ABT Sportsline entry, while Mike Rockenfeller and Esteban Muth shared the second row.

The start of the race would see Sheldon van der Linde ease into the lead ahead of elder brother Kelvin, while behind Muth and Liam Lawson darted past Rockenfeller. Behind it was largely grid order, with the field making it through the banked for the first time without issue and onto the back straight.

Instead it would be the start of the third lap when the banked first corner bit, with Esmee Hawkey losing the rear of her Lamborghini and slamming hard into the outside wall. The Safety Car was scrambled to allow the ruined #26 car to be dragged clear from the circuit, with Sheldon van der Linde controlling the restart a few laps later to take control of the race once again.

From then all eyes were on Philip Ellis, with the Anglo-Swiss racer steadily climbing up the order in his #57 Mercedes-AMG, having initially started ninth. Indeed, quick-fire moves on Rockenfeller, a struggling Lawson and Muth would carry Ellis into third, before a lunge on Kelvin van der Linde saw him move into second as the pitstop phase began.

Those exchanges saw Ellis move right onto Sheldon van der Linde's tail, while Lawson was able to rally back from his poor pace towards the end of his stint to leap into third, courtesy of a rapid stop from AF Corse. Ellis and Lawson subsequently managed to both force moves on the #31 BMW to take control of the race, before engaging in a private scrap for victory.

Ultimately, however, Lawson's pace would once again fall away in the closing stages of the second stint, allowing Ellis to escape and build a lead. Behind Sheldon van der Linde picked up a penalty for a pitstop infringement, and would remain under constant pressure from Rockenfeller through to the final laps of the race, with the rest of the top ten also in close attendance led by Alexander Albon.

When the chequered flag did fly it was Ellis who claimed victory, his first and the first for Mercedes since the 2018 Misano Race 1. Lawson was next up ahead of Sheldon van der Linde, although the South African racer's five second time penalty dumped him back down the order. Rockenfeller hence finished in fourth ahead of Kelvin van der Linde, Albon, Lucas Auer, Marco Wittmann and Muth, while Sheldon van der Linde was officially classified in ninth ahead of Maximilian Buhk.

Background

A month after the opening round in Monza the season resumed at the familiar sights of the Lausitzring in Klettwitz, Brandenburg, Germany in late July. However, while the DTM had visited Lausitzring in every season since 2000, and even completed pre-season testing there, the field would experience a variation of the circuit that it had not sampled before. Indeed, for the first time since 2003 the DTM planned to use the banked first corner of the EuroSpeedway rather than the first five corners of the in-field circuit, a change that was identified a couple of weeks before the weekend.

Banks and Fans

The decision to use the oval variation of the Lausitzring's Grand Prix circuit caught several teams out, none of whom had tested that specification of the circuit, although Michelin were adamant that their tyres would survive the extra strain. Indeed, the DTM's previous attempt to use the banking in 2003 had ended after Free Practice for the race, when Laurent Aïello and Christian Abt both had huge accidents attributed to tyre failures. The change was made in a bid to continue the DTM's pursuit of becoming the fastest GT3 based series in the world, and promote more overtaking.

Elsewhere, the Lausitzring, as well as the trip to Zolder in August, were selected to be the first rounds of the season to feature fans in attendance, as Germany attempted to ease its Covid-19 restrictions. 10,000 fans per day would be granted access to the Lausitzring for the DTM's visit, although they would all have to prove that they had either been vaccinated, have a recent negative test result or have recovered from the virus. Furthermore, facemasks were mandatory unless fans were sat in their seats in the grandstands, while the paddock remained off limits for the whole event.

BoP Bounces

For the third race of the campaign various modifications were made to the Balance of Performance calculations, intended to better balance the field in terms of straight-line speed around the banked Lausitzring circuit. The main changes saw Mercedes-AMG get a 20 kg weight break, offset by a 0.5 mm air restrictor reduction, while Audi were handed a 20 kg increase, but with a 0.5 mm increase in their two air restrictors. Ferrari would receive a 25 kg weight reduction, but with a 0.036 bar reduction in turbo pressure, Lamborghini took on 5 kg but had received a 0.5 mm increase in their air restrictors, while BMW were the only manufacturer whose BoP formula was unchanged.

Outlined below are the BoP calculations and success ballast allocations for the 2021 Lausitzring Race 1:

2021 Lausitzring Race 1 BoP
Manufacturer	Weight	Boost/Restrictor
Audi	1,315 kg (▲ 20 kg)	2 x 43.5 mm (▲ 0.5 mm)
BMW	1,335 kg (—)	2.135 bar (—)
Ferrari	1,315 kg (▼ 25 kg)	1.622 bar (▼ 0.036 bar)
Lamborghini	1,305 kg (▲ 5 kg)	2 x 42.5 mm (▲ 0.5 mm)
Mercedes-AMG	1,335 kg (▼ 20 kg)	2 x 37.5 mm (▼ 0.5 mm)
2021 Lausitzring Race 1 Ballast Allocation
Kelvin van der Linde	Nico Müller	Lucas Auer
25 kg	18 kg	15 kg

Rookie Rulers

Kelvin van der Linde led the charge as the DTM's first visit to Monza came to an end, the South African ace having moved onto 40 points with his maiden pole position and victory. Day one leader Liam Lawson had hence slipped back to second, thirteen off his replacement at the head of the field, while Nico Müller sat in third on 24 points. Alexander Albon was next up in fourth, a point further behind, while Lawson led the Junior Championship with a fourteen point lead over Sheldon van der Linde.

In the Teams' Championship AF Corse led the charge after the opening weekend, two points ahead of Team ABT Sportsline. Mercedes Team Winward were next up in third ahead of Team Rosberg, with ten teams having scored. In the Manufacturers' Championship, meanwhile, Audi had moved to the top of the table, four ahead of Mercedes-AMG.

Entry List

The full entry list for the 2021 Lausitzring Race 1 is displayed below:

2021 Lausitzring Race 1 Entry List
No.	Name	Entrant	Constructor	Chassis	Livery
3	Kelvin van der Linde	Team ABT Sportsline	Audi	R8 LMS Evo
4	Maximilian Götz	Mercedes-AMG Team HRT	Mercedes-AMG	GT3-Evo
5	Vincent Abril	Mercedes-AMG Team HRT	Mercedes-AMG	GT3-Evo
8	Daniel Juncadella	Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM	Mercedes-AMG	GT3-Evo
9	Mike Rockenfeller	Team ABT Sportsline	Audi	R8 LMS Evo
10	Esteban Muth	T3 Motorsport	Lamborghini	Huracán GT3 Evo
11	Marco Wittmann	Walkenhorst Motorsport	BMW	M6 GT3
12	Dev Gore	Team Rosberg	Audi	R8 LMS Evo
16	Timo Glock	ROWE Racing	BMW	M6 GT3
18	Maximilian Buhk	Mercedes-AMG Team Mücke Motorsport	Mercedes-AMG	GT3-Evo
22	Lucas Auer	Mercedes-AMG Team Winward	Mercedes-AMG	GT3-Evo
23	Alexander Albon	AlphaTauri AF Corse	Ferrari	488 GT3 Evo 2020
26	Esmee Hawkey	T3 Motorsport	Lamborghini	Huracán GT3 Evo
30	Liam Lawson	Red Bull AF Corse	Ferrari	488 GT3 Evo 2020
31	Sheldon van der Linde	ROWE Racing	BMW	M6 GT3
36	Arjun Maini	Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed	Mercedes-AMG	GT3-Evo
51	Nico Müller	Team Rosberg	Audi	R8 LMS Evo
57	Philip Ellis	Mercedes-AMG Team Winward	Mercedes-AMG	GT3-Evo
99	Sophia Flörsch	Team ABT	Audi	R8 LMS Evo
Source:

• Numbers with a green background indicate an entrant in the Junior Championship.

Qualifying

Results

The final qualifying result for the 2021 Lausitzring Race 1 are outlined below:

2021 Lausitzring Race 1 Qualifying Result
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Time	Gap	Ave. Speed	Grid
1st	31	Sheldon van der Linde	ROWE Racing	1:30.537	—	182.948 km/h	1
2nd	3	Kelvin van der Linde	Team ABT Sportsline	1:30.564	+0.027s	182.893 km/h	2
3rd	9	Mike Rockenfeller	Team ABT Sportsline	1:30.641	+0.104s	182.738 km/h	3
4th	10	Esteban Muth	T3 Motorsport	1:30.710	+0.173s	182.599 km/h	4
5th	30	Liam Lawson	Red Bull AF Corse	1:30.744	+0.207s	182.531 km/h	5
6th	36	Arjun Maini	Mercedes Team GetSpeed	1:30.756	+0.219s	182.506 km/h	6
7th	23	Alexander Albon	AlphaTauri AF Corse	1:30.860	+0.323s	182.298 km/h	7
8th	16	Timo Glock	ROWE Racing	1:30.869	+0.332s	182.279 km/h	8
9th	57	Philip Ellis	Mercedes Team Winward	1:30.874	+0.337s	182.269 km/h	9
10th	18	Maximilian Buhk	Mercedes Team Mücke	1:30.897	+0.360s	182.223 km/h	10
11th	22	Lucas Auer	Mercedes Team Winward	1:30.940	+0.403s	182.137 km/h	11
12th	5	Vincent Abril	Mercedes Team HRT	1:31.008	+0.471s	182.001 km/h	12
13th	8	Daniel Juncadella	Mercedes Team GruppeM	1:31.041	+0.504s	181.935 km/h	13
14th	11	Marco Wittmann	Walkenhorst Motorsport	1:31.052	+0.515s	181.913 km/h	14
15th	4	Maximilian Götz	Mercedes Team HRT	1:31.057	+0.520s	181.903 km/h	15
16th	51	Nico Müller	Team Rosberg	1:31.254	+0.717s	181.510 km/h	16
17th	99	Sophia Flörsch	Team ABT	1:31.314	+0.777s	181.391 km/h	17
18th	26	Esmee Hawkey	T3 Motorsport	1:31.408	+0.871s	181.205 km/h	18
19th	12	Dev Gore	Team Rosberg	1:31.786	+1.249s	180.458 km/h	19
Source:

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

Grid

The starting grid for the 2021 Lausitzring Race 1 in shown below:

		12	Dev Gore	1:31.786			99	Sophia Flörsch	1:31.314			4	Maximilian Götz	1:31.057			8	Daniel Juncadella	1:31.041			22	Lucas Auer	1:30.940			57	Philip Ellis	1:30.874			23	Alexander Albon	1:30.860			30	Liam Lawson	1:30.744			9	Mike Rockenfeller	1:30.641			31	Sheldon van der Linde	1:30.537
						26	Esmee Hawkey		1:31.408		51	Nico Müller		1:31.254		11	Marco Wittmann		1:31.052		5	Vincent Abril		1:31.008		18	Maximilian Buhk		1:30.897		16	Timo Glock		1:30.869		36	Arjun Maini		1:30.756		10	Esteban Muth		1:30.710		3	Kelvin van der Linde		1:30.564

Race

Results

The final classification of the 2021 Lausitzring Race 1 is displayed below:

2021 Lausitzring Race 1 Result
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Laps	Race Time	Fastest lap	Pts.
1st	57	Philip Ellis	Mercedes Team Winward	36	1:01:00.270	1:32.505	25
2nd	30	Liam Lawson	Red Bull AF Corse	36	+1.682s	1:32.592	18
3rd	9	Mike Rockenfeller	ABT Sportsline	36	+5.833s	1:32.356	151
4th	3	Kelvin van der Linde	ABT Sportsline	36	+6.789s	1:32.734	122
5th	23	Alexander Albon	AlphaTauri AF Corse	36	+7.797s	1:32.585	10
6th	22	Lucas Auer	Mercedes Team Winward	36	+9.019s	1:32.780	8
7th	11	Marco Wittmann	Walkenhorst Motorsport	36	+9.336s	1:32.873	6
8th	10	Esteban Muth	T3 Motorsport	36	+9.649s	1:32.509	4
9th	31	Sheldon van der Linde	ROWE Racing	36	+10.314s	1:32.223	23
10th	18	Maximilian Buhk	Mercedes Team Mücke	36	+24.388s	1:32.929	1
11th	16	Timo Glock	ROWE Racing	36	+26.444s	1:32.667
12th	12	Dev Gore	Team Rosberg	36	+34.073s	1:33.331
13th	51	Nico Müller	Team Rosberg	36	+34.090s	1:33.292
Ret	36	Arjun Maini	Mercedes Team GetSpeed	36	Retired	1:32.806
Ret	5	Vincent Abril	Mercedes Team HRT	20	Retired	1:33.089
Ret	8	Daniel Juncadella	Mercedes Team GruppeM	11	Retired	1:32.983
Ret	4	Maximilian Götz	Mercedes Team HRT	10	Retired	1:35.557
Ret	99	Sophia Flörsch	ABT Sportsline	4	Retired	1:33.501
Ret	26	Esmee Hawkey	T3 Motorsport	2	Accident	1:35.611
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

• First DTM race to be staged on the banked version of the Lausitzring.
• Second pole position for Sheldon van der Linde.
• Maiden victory for Philip Ellis.
  • Also Ellis' first podium finish.
• First victory for HTP Motorsport as an entrant.
• Mercedes secured their win as a manufacturer.
  • Also Mercedes' first win as a manufacturer since the 2018 Misano Race 1.

Standings

Kelvin van der Linde had retained the lead in the Drivers' Championship, although his advantage had been reduced to nine points after the opening bout at Lausitz. Liam Lawson had done the damage, the New Zealander having continued his early season form, while behind race winner Philip Ellis had shot up to third. In the Junior Championship Lawson continued to head the charge ahead of Sheldon van der Linde, holding more than twice the South African racer's points.

In the Teams' Championship Team ABT Sportsline had moved to the top of the Championship, having moved onto 76 points for the campaign. That meant that they were level on points with AF Corse at the head of the field, although the German squad were deemed to be ahead on countback. In the Manufacturers' Championship Audi and Mercedes-AMG shared the lead on 100 points, with the former marque ahead on countback.

2021 Drivers' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Kelvin van der Linde 54 ◄0 2nd Liam Lawson 45 ◄0 3rd Philip Ellis 33 ▲8 4th Alexander Albon 31 ◄0 5th Lucas Auer 25 ▲1 6th Nico Müller 24 ▼3 7th Mike Rockenfeller 22 ▲5 8th Maximilian Götz 20 ▼3 9th Marco Wittmann 20 ▼2 10th Sheldon van der Linde 18 ▼1 11th Daniel Juncadella 13 ▼3 12th Maximilian Buhk 9 ▼2 13th Esteban Muth 7 ◄0 2021 Junior Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Liam Lawson 45 ◄0 2nd Sheldon van der Linde 18 ◄0 3rd Esteban Muth 7 ◄0 4th Sophia Flörsch 0 ◄0

2021 Teams' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Team ABT Sportsline 76 ▲1 2nd AF Corse 76 ▼1 3rd Mercedes Team Winward 58 ◄0 4th Team Rosberg 24 ◄0 5th Mercedes Team HRT 20 ◄0 6th Walkenhorst Motorsport 20 ◄0 7th ROWE Racing 18 ▲1 8th Mercedes Team GruppeM 13 ▼1 9th Mercedes Team Mücke 9 ◄0 10th T3 Motorsport 7 ◄0 2021 Manufacturers' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Audi 100 ◄0 2nd Mercedes-AMG 100 ◄0 3rd Ferrari 76 ◄0 4th BMW 38 ◄0 5th Lamborghini 7 ◄0

Only point scoring drivers and teams are shown.

References

Images and Videos:

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

References: