2021 Monza Race 1

2021 Monza Race 1
File:Autodromo Nazionale Monza.png The Monza circuit made its DTM debut at the start of 2021.
Race Information
Date	19 June 2021
No.	270
Event	DTM Monza 2021
Location	Autodromo Nazionale Monza Monza, Lombardy, Italy
Format	50 min
Lap length	5.793 km (3.600 mi)
Distance	28 laps / 161.895 km (100.597 mi)
Qualifying Result
Pole Sitter	Daniel Juncadella
Team	Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM Racing
Time	1:46.560
Fastest Lap
Driver	Liam Lawson
Team	Red Bull AF Corse
Time	1:47.714 on lap 11
Race Result
First	Second	Third
Liam Lawson	Vincent Abril	Maximilian Götz
Winner Team	Red Bull AF Corse
Time	51:25.637
Race Guide
Previous		Next
2020 Hockenheim Race 2		2021 Monza Race 2

The 2021 Monza Race 1, formally known as the 2021 DTM Monza Race 1, was the opening round of the 2021 DMSB Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Championship, staged at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza on 19 June 2021. The race, which was the first DTM race to be held at the legendary Italian circuit, would see the DTM start its new era under its own GT3 Plus ruleset.

Qualifying for the first race of DTM's new era saw Vincent Abril secure a debut pole position, as Mercedes-AMG locked out the first two rows. Daniel Juncadella would share the front row with the Monegasque racer, while Esteban Muth caused a stir by getting the #10 Lamborghini into fifth to be the best non-Mercedes pilot on the grid.

For the first time in almost two decades a DTM race would start with a rolling start, with Abril making the most of pole position to charge into the lead. Behind, Liam Lawson made a good getaway from seventh to dart around Muth to claim sixth behind Philip Ellis, with everyone making it through the Rettifilo without drama.

The early laps saw Ellis become the first retirement of the season when he had a mechanical issue on lap two, while Timo Glock would punt Dev Gore out of the race at the back of the field. Out front, meanwhile, Abril continued to lead the way ahead of Juncadella, Maximilian Götz and the #30 Ferrari of Lawson, with the entire field running in a long train behind the Monegasque racer out front.

Several drivers would opt to make early stops, with Nico Müller, Mike Rockenfeller and Esmee Hawkey the first to stop on lap five to open the pit window. Those in the lead group would opt to run longer with Lawson the first of those to stop on lap nine, with clear air and fresh tyres suddenly proving quicker than running with slipstream in the main pack.

Indeed, clear air would prove crucial to the outcome of the race, for Lawson would not only jump Auer and Juncadella, who both suffered slow stops, but would see Abril exit the pits right ahead of him after the Monegasque's stop on lap eleven. With warm tyres and a better line into the Rettifilo Lawson duly danced the #30 Ferrari past Abril through the chicane to secure the lead, before darting off with his warmed up rubber.

Lawson's lead would grow for two laps as Abril struggled to get his tyres fully up to temperature, before the #5 HRT Mercedes began to chip away at the New Zealander's lead. Behind, Auer was a long way off the lead after a miserable stop due to a sticking wheel nut, while Hawkey had slipped back into the sights of fellow female pilot Sophia Flörsch.

The closing stages saw Alexander Albon prove to be the main source of entertainment, with the Anglo-Thai ace battling up the field with moves on Müller, Juncadella and Kelvin van der Linde in the closing stages to move into fourth. Juncadella and Müller then tangled which resulted in the #51 Audi spinning down to eighth behind Maximilian Buhk, while Juncadella picked up a ten second time penalty for causing the incident.

Out front, meanwhile, Lawson was able to control the gap back to Abril to secure a historic victory, the first for Ferrari, himself, AF Corse and a New Zealand born driver in the first race of the GT3 era of the DTM. Abril was next up ahead of Götz and Albon, while Juncadella's penalty pushed him behind Kelvin van der Linde to sixth. Buhk and Müller were next up ahead of Marco Wittmann, while Rockenfeller rounded out the scorers ahead of Muth.

On the eve of the following meeting at Lausitzring Abril was retroactively disqualified from the results of qualifying and the race, after a post-event investigation found a discrepancy in the #5 Mercedes' post-qualifying fuel sample. Mercedes-AMG Team HRT announced that they would appeal against the disqualification.

Background

For the opening round of the 2021 DTM campaign, the 22nd since the Series' reformation, the season would start at a new venue to the series, with the Autodromo Nazionale Monza hosting the opening round. Using the full Grand Prix layout of the legendary Italian circuit, the DTM would make his debut at Monza, having previously planned to use the circuit in 2020 before the Covid-19 Pandemic ravished that season's calendar. Furthermore, after pre-season testing the series revealed that the races in Monza would be shorter than normal, instituting a 50 minute time limit due to concerns about fuel use.

Plus Performance

Ahead of the 2021 season the DTM unveiled its new racing formula, which was based heavily on the existing Group GT3 ruleset used by various other series. Dubbed GT3 Plus, the DTM would allow teams to run their GT3 cars with more power than other series, while also using its own balance of performance formula to balance the teams. The DTM would also implement success ballast throughout the season, which was to be applied to the top three finishers in each race, while also signing Michelin to be the series' sole tyre supplier.

Manufacturer Mob

The change to the GT3 ruleset would see a wave of manufacturers join the DTM with customer entries, with Mercedes-AMG notably returning to the series in force after their DTM withdrawal in 2018. They would join Audi, who formally withdrew from the DTM during the 2020 to spark the switch to GT3, and BMW as the German manufacturers in the field, with those two marques fielding five and three cars apiece. They would be joined by a single Lamborghini entry in Monza, while Ferrari made it five manufacturers as their pseudo-factory GT customers AF Corse entered a pair of 488 GT3 Evos in partnership with Red Bull Racing.

Entry List

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

2021 Monza 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:

Qualifying

Results

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

2021 Monza Race 1 Qualifying Result
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Time	Gap	Ave. Speed	Grid
EXC*	5	Vincent Abril	Mercedes Team HRT	1:46.488			1
2nd	8	Daniel Juncadella	Mercedes Team GruppeM	1:46.560	+0.072s	195.709 km/h	2
3rd	22	Lucas Auer	Mercedes Team Winward	1:46.590	+0.102s	195.654 km/h	3
4th	4	Maximilian Götz	Mercedes Team HRT	1:46.832	+0.344s	195.211 km/h	4
5th	10	Esteban Muth	T3 Motorsport	1:46.863	+0.375s	195.154 km/h	5
6th	57	Philip Ellis	Mercedes Team Winward	1:46.890	+0.402s	195.105 km/h	6
7th	30	Liam Lawson	Red Bull AF Corse	1:46.900	+0.412s	195.086 km/h	7
8th	51	Nico Müller	Team Rosberg	1:46.927	+0.439s	195.037 km/h	8
9th	3	Kelvin van der Linde	Team ABT Sportsline	1:46.928	+0.440s	195.035 km/h	9
10th	18	Maximilian Buhk	Mercedes Team Mücke	1:46.993	+0.505s	194.917 km/h	10
11th	9	Mike Rockenfeller	Team ABT Sportsline	1:47.235	+0.747s	194.477 km/h	11
12th	26	Esmee Hawkey	T3 Motorsport	1:47.262	+0.774s	194.428 km/h	12
13th	36	Arjun Maini	Mercedes Team GetSpeed	1:47.363	+0.875s	194.245 km/h	13
14th	23	Alexander Albon	AlphaTauri AF Corse	1:47.397	+0.909s	194.184 km/h	14
15th	11	Marco Wittmann	Walkenhorst Motorsport	1:47.553	+1.065s	193.902 km/h	15
16th	31	Sheldon van der Linde	ROWE Racing	1:47.565	+1.077s	193.880 km/h	16
17th	16	Timo Glock	ROWE Racing	1:47.657	+1.169s	193.715 km/h	17
18th	12	Dev Gore	Team Rosberg	1:47.657	+1.169s	193.715 km/h	18
19th	99	Sophia Flörsch	Team ABT	1:48.087	+1.599s	192.944 km/h	19
Source:

• Bold indicates a driver's best/qualifying time.
• * Abril was retroactively disqualified from the results of qualifying for the 2021 Monza Race 1 for providing an illegal fuel sample after the session.

Grid

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

		99	Sophia Flörsch	1:48.087			16	Timo Glock	1:47.657			11	Marco Wittmann	1:47.553			36	Arjun Maini	1:47.363			9	Mike Rockenfeller	1:47.235			3	Kelvin van der Linde	1:46.928			30	Liam Lawson	1:46.900			10	Esteban Muth	1:46.863			22	Lucas Auer	1:46.590			5	Vincent Abril	1:46.488
						12	Dev Gore		1:47.734		31	Sheldon van der Linde		1:47.565		23	Alexander Albon		1:47.397		26	Esmee Hawkey		1:47.262		18	Maximilian Buhk		1:46.993		51	Nico Müller		1:46.927		57	Philip Ellis		1:46.890		4	Maximilian Götz		1:46.832		8	Daniel Juncadella		1:46.560

Race

Results

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

2021 Monza Race 1 Result
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Laps	Race Time	Fastest lap	Pts.
1st	30	Liam Lawson	Red Bull AF Corse	28	51:25.637	1:47.714	25
2nd	4	Maximilian Götz	Mercedes Team HRT	28	+2.636s	1:48.244	181
3rd	23	Alexander Albon	AlphaTauri AF Corse	28	+7.076s	1:48.434	15
4th	3	Kelvin van der Linde	Team ABT Sportsline	28	+16.378s	1:48.418	12
5th*	8	Daniel Juncadella	Mercedes Team GruppeM	28	+17.563s	1:47.996	103
6th	18	Maximilian Buhk	Mercedes Team Mücke	28	+17.615s	1:48.280	8
7th	51	Nico Müller	Team Rosberg	28	+19.402s	1:48.524	6
8th	11	Marco Wittmann	Walkenhorst Motorsport	28	+20.517s	1:48.492	4
9th	9	Mike Rockenfeller	Team ABT Sportsline	28	+23.181s	1:48.978	2
10th	10	Esteban Muth	T3 Motorsport	28	+24.955s	1:48.777	1
11th	31	Sheldon van der Linde	ROWE Racing	28	+28.170s	1:48.771
12th	22	Lucas Auer	Mercedes Team Winward	28	+28.738s	1:48.095	2
13th	36	Arjun Maini	Mercedes Team GetSpeed	28	+29.162s	1:48.285
14th	26	Esmee Hawkey	T3 Motorsport	28	+38.640s	1:48.953
15th	99	Sophia Flörsch	Team ABT	28	+40.821s	1:48.994
16th	16	Timo Glock	ROWE Racing	28	+45.789s	1:49.207
DSQ†	5	Vincent Abril	Mercedes Team HRT	28	+1.630s	1:48.244
Ret	12	Dev Gore	Team Rosberg	2	Collision	1:50.638
Ret	57	Philip Ellis	Mercedes Team Winward	1	Mechanical	—
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.
• Numbers with a green background indicate an entrant in the Junior Championship.
• * Juncadella served a ten second time penalty for causing a collision with Müller.
• ^† Abril was retroactively disqualified from the race after he was found to have a discrepancy in the fuel sample he supplied after qualifying.

Milestones

• First DMSB Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Championship race to be staged at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza.
• First race for the DTM using GT3 Plus regulations.
• Debut race for Vincent Abril, Alexander Albon, Maximilian Buhk, Philip Ellis, Sophia Flörsch, Dev Gore, Esmee Hawkey, Liam Lawson, Kelvin van der Linde, Arjun Maini and Esteban Muth.
• Maiden entries for AF Corse, GruppeM Racing, Haupt Racing Team, HTP Motorsport, ROWE Racing, T3 Motorsport, Team GetSpeed and Walkenhorst Motorsport as entrants.
• Ferrari and Lamborghini made their debuts as manufacturers in the DTM.
• First race for Mercedes-AMG as a manufacturer since the 2018 Hockenheim Finale Race 2.
• Fourth pole position for Daniel Juncadella.
  • This was Jucadella's first pole position since the 2018 Brands Hatch Race 1.
• First pole position for GruppeM Racing as an entrant.
• First victory for Lawson.
  • Lawson became the first New Zealand born driver to secure victory in the DTM.
  • Also Lawson's maiden podium, fastest lap and points finish.
• AF Corse secured their maiden victory as an entrant.
  • First win for Ferrari as a manufacturer.
• Maiden podium finish for Albon.
• First points finishes for Kelvin van der Linde, Buhk and Muth.

Standings

Liam Lawson would lead the 2021 Championship after the opening round of the season, his maiden victory leaving him six clear at the head of the field. Behind, Maximilian Götz occupied second ahead of Alexander Albon after Vincent Abril had been thrown out of the results of the race having initially held 21 points for pole position and victory. In the Junior Championship, meanwhile, Lawson would also lead the charge after the opening day, 24 ahead of Esteban Muth, the only other scorer.

In the Teams' Championship AF Corse held an early lead with their duo of Lawson and Albon, having claimed a double podium in the opening race. Mercedes Team HRT were next up in second, 21 off the lead, while Team ABT Sportsline completed the top three. In the Manufacturers' Championship Mercedes-AMG led the early charge with 42 points, two more than Ferrari in second.

2021 Drivers' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Liam Lawson 25 ◄0 2nd Maximilian Götz 19 ◄0 3rd Alexander Albon 15 ◄0 4th Daniel Juncadella 13 ◄0 5th Kelvin van der Linde 12 ◄0 6th Maximilian Buhk 8 ◄0 7th Nico Müller 6 ◄0 8th Marco Wittmann 4 ◄0 9th Mike Rockenfeller 2 ◄0 10th Lucas Auer 2 ◄0 11th Esteban Muth 1 ◄0 2021 Junior Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Liam Lawson 25 ◄0 2nd Esteban Muth 1 ◄0 3rd Sheldon van der Linde 0 ◄0 4th Sophia Flörsch 0 ◄0

2021 Teams' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st AF Corse 40 ◄0 2nd Mercedes Team HRT 19 ◄0 3rd ABT Sportsline 14 ◄0 4th Mercedes Team GruppeM 13 ◄0 5th Mercedes Team Mücke 8 ◄0 6th Team Rosberg 6 ◄0 7th Walkenhorst Motorsport 4 ◄0 8th Mercedes Team Winward 2 ◄0 9th T3 Motorsport 1 ◄0 2021 Manufacturers' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Mercedes-AMG 42 ◄0 2nd Ferrari 40 ◄0 3rd Audi 20 ◄0 4th BMW 4 ◄0 5th Lamborghini 1 ◄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: