2021 Norisring Race 2

2021 Norisring Race 2
The Norisring hosted the 2021 season finale.
Race Information
Date	10 October 2021
No.	285 (16 of 2021)
Event	DTM Norisring powered by BWT 2021
Location	Norisring Nuremberg, Bavaria, Germany
Format	{{{format}}}
Lap length	2.300 km (1.429 mi)
Distance	67 laps / 154.100 km (95.753 mi)
Qualifying Result
Pole Sitter	Liam Lawson
Team	Red Bull AF Corse
Time	48.622
Fastest Lap
Driver	Nick Cassidy
Team	AlphaTauri AF Corse
Time	49.048 on lap 60
Race Result
First	Second	Third
Maximilian Götz	Lucas Auer	Maximilian Buhk
Winner Team	Mercedes-AMG Team HRT
Time	56:29.301
Race Guide
Previous		Next
2021 Norisring Race 1		2022 Portimão Race 1

The 2021 Norisring Race 2, formally known as the DTM Norisring powered by BWT 2021 Race 2, was the sixteenth and final race of the 2021 DMSB Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Championship, staged on 10 October 2021 at the Norisring in Nuremberg, Bavaria, Germany. The race would prove to be one of the most controversial in DTM history, as Liam Lawson, Kelvin van der Linde and outsider Maximilian Götz battled for the title.

Lawson would start the day with the advantage in the Championship, holding an eighteen point lead over van der Linde, which he extended to nineteen in qualifying by claiming pole position. van der Linde himself would qualify alongside the Champion-elect by securing second on the grid, with Lawson's teammate Nick Cassidy right behind, while Götz found himself in eighth, facing a 22 point deficit before the lights went out.

The start of the race would see the title fight boil over as, for the second race in succession, van der Linde simply threw his #3 Audi down the inside of the #30 Ferrari on the brakes for the first corner. Cutting across the inside of the hairpin left-hander, van der Linde made side-to-side contact with Lawson, forcing the New Zealander wide with teammate Cassidy also losing out.

A gaggle of Mercedes-AMGs would pass the trio, although the consequences of the collision were soon laid bare. Indeed, while van der Linde scampered away from the scene in second, Lawson would find that his steering rack had been bent in the collision, and would need some repairs.

As Lawson limped around at the back of the field, making several early stops to see if the issue could be fixed, Lucas Auer assumed control of the race, leading van der Linde who was very aggressive in his defence. Indeed, van der Linde knew that he could not afford to lose any ground, knowing that he had to win the race to stand any chance of taking the title, although the #3 Audi simply could not escape the Mercedes-AMGs behind him.

That fight soon ended with Philip Ellis moving into second, with he and teammate Auer soon building a significant lead. Those two would subsequently hold the lead through the pitstop phase, Auer still ahead, while van der Linde found himself under attack from Götz for third.

Their battle got more and more heated, with van der Linde going so far as seemingly side-swiping Götz's Mercedes exiting the final hairpin, moments before being slapped with a penalty for taking Lawson out at the start. A few laps later and van der Linde's race was run with a puncture, leaving Götz as the only driver who could overhaul Lawson's Championship lead.

Yet, facing a twelve second deficit to race leader Auer, it seemed as if Götz too was out of the fight, until Mercedes made their own tendentious call. With a handful of laps to go both Auer and Ellis, racing for a completely different team to Götz, were told to slow down and let Götz past, handing both victory and the title to the German racer.

With that the race and the Championship were over, with Götz cruising to victory ahead of Auer to become the 2021 Champion, much to the ire of both Ferrari and the majority of DTM fans. Ellis crossed the line in third but had to serve a time penalty, meaning Maximilian Buhk claimed his maiden podium in third ahead of Mike Rockenfeller. Daniel Juncadella was next up ahead of Arjun Maini, Marco Wittmann, Vincent Abril and Sophia Flörsch, Ellis having wound up in tenth, while Lawson completed the race some 24 laps behind having stayed out throughout with his damaged steering.

Background

There would be no changes made to the Norisring for the final race of the campaign, with the entry list likewise unchanged for the season finale.

Norisring Nuances

There were no changes made to the Balance of Performance calculations ahead of the final race of the season, with the only change coming in the allocation of success ballast.

Outlined below are the BoP calculations and success ballast allocations for the 2021 Norisring Race 2:

2021 Norisring Race 2 BoP
Manufacturer	Weight	Boost/Restrictor
Audi	1,335 kg (—)	2 x 43 mm (—)
BMW	1,335 kg (—)	2.087 bar (—)
Ferrari	1,335 kg (—)	1.638 bar (—)
Lamborghini	1,305 kg (—)	2 x 42.5 mm (—)
Mercedes-AMG	1,335 kg (—)	2 x 37.5 mm (—)
2021 Norisring Race 2 Ballast Allocation
Maximilian Götz	Arjun Maini	Liam Lawson
25 kg	18 kg	15 kg

A Rookie Ruler?

Liam Lawson had taken a step closer to the 2021 title after his pole and podium finish, with a sixth place finish enough for the New Zealander to claim the title in the finale, regardless of what his rivals could do. Indeed, the only drivers who could deny Lawson his maiden DTM title were Kelvin van der Linde, eighteen points behind, and Maximilian Götz, nineteen points back, both of whom would have to finish first or second just to challenge Lawson. Furthermore, Lawson had enhanced his title winning lead in the Junior Championship, with the fight for second between Sheldon van der Linde and Esteban Muth going onto the final day.

In the Teams' Championship the title had been claimed before the final battle of the campaign, with AF Corse having established an unassailable lead of 82 points ahead of the final bout. Team ABT Sportsline, their closest challengers, would hence face a fight for second in the finale, holding a 20 point advantage over Mercedes Team Winward in third. In the Manufacturers' Championship, meanwhile, another impressive haul for Mercedes-AMG had enhanced their title winning advantage, while Ferrari had enhanced their hold on second ahead of Audi.

Entry List

The full entry list for the 2021 Norisring Race 2 is displayed below:

2021 Norisring Race 2 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	Nick Cassidy	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
37	Lucas di Grassi	Team ABT	Audi	R8 LMS 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.
• Numbers with a black background indicate a guest entrant.

Qualifying

Results

The final qualifying result for the 2021 Norisring Race 2 are outlined below:

2021 Norisring Race 2 Qualifying Result
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Time	Gap	Ave. Speed	Grid
1st	30	Liam Lawson	Red Bull AF Corse	48.622	—	170.293 km/h	1
2nd	3	Kelvin van der Linde	Team ABT Sportsline	48.663	+0.041s	170.149 km/h	2
3rd	23	Nick Cassidy	AlphaTauri AF Corse	48.722	+0.100s	169.943 km/h	3
4th	22	Lucas Auer	Mercedes Team Winward	48.755	+0.133s	169.828 km/h	4
5th	57	Philip Ellis	Mercedes Team Winward	48.755	+0.133s	169.828 km/h	5
6th	8	Daniel Juncadella	Mercedes Team GruppeM	48.763	+0.141s	169.800 km/h	6
7th	36	Arjun Maini	Mercedes Team GetSpeed	48.836	+0.214s	169.547 km/h	7
8th	4	Maximilian Götz	Mercedes Team HRT	48.913	+0.291s	169.280 km/h	8
9th	51	Nico Müller	Team Rosberg	48.971	+0.349s	169.079 km/h	9
10th	18	Maximilian Buhk	Mercedes Team Mücke	49.043	+0.421s	168.831 km/h	10
11th	9	Mike Rockenfeller	Team ABT Sportsline	49.048	+0.426s	168.814 km/h	11
12th	5	Vincent Abril	Mercedes Team HRT	49.096	+0.474s	168.649 km/h	12
13th	99	Sophia Flörsch	Team ABT	49.126	+0.504s	168.546 km/h	13
14th	37	Lucas di Grassi	Team ABT	49.152	+0.530s	168.457 km/h	14
15th	10	Esteban Muth	T3 Motorsport	49.215	+0.593s	168.241 km/h	15
16th	11	Marco Wittmann	Walkenhorst Motorsport	49.266	+0.644s	168.067 km/h	16
17th	26	Esmee Hawkey	T3 Motorsport	49.367	+0.745s	167.723 km/h	17
18th	31	Sheldon van der Linde	ROWE Racing	49.369	+0.747s	167.716 km/h	18
19th	12	Dev Gore	Team Rosberg	49.408	+0.786s	167.584 km/h	19
20th	16	Timo Glock	ROWE Racing	49.518	+0.896s	167.211 km/h	20
Source:

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

Grid

The starting grid for the 2021 Norisring Race 2 in shown below:

		12	Dev Gore	49.408			26	Esmee Hawkey	49.367			10	Esteban Muth	49.215			99	Sophia Flörsch	49.126			9	Mike Rockenfeller	49.048			51	Nico Müller	48.971			36	Arjun Maini	48.836			57	Philip Ellis	48.755			23	Nick Cassidy	48.722			30	Liam Lawson	48.622
	16	Timo Glock		49.518		31	Sheldon van der Linde		49.369		11	Marco Wittmann		49.266		37	Lucas di Grassi		49.152		5	Vincent Abril		49.096		18	Maximilian Buhk		49.043		4	Maximilian Götz		48.913		8	Daniel Juncadella		48.763		22	Lucas Auer		48.755		3	Kelvin van der Linde		48.663

Race

Results

The final classification of the 2021 Norisring Race 2 is displayed below:

2021 Norisring Race 2 Result
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Laps	Race Time	Fastest lap	Pts.
1st	4	Maximilian Götz	Mercedes Team HRT	67	56:29.301	49.484	25
2nd	22	Lucas Auer	Mercedes Team Winward	67	+0.869s	49.338	18
3rd	18	Maximilian Buhk	Mercedes Team Mücke	67	+5.339s	49.412	15
4th	9	Mike Rockenfeller	Team ABT Sportsline	67	+6.395s	49.428	12
5th	8	Daniel Juncadella	Mercedes Team GruppeM	67	+9.310s	49.336	10
6th	36	Arjun Maini	Mercedes Team GetSpeed	67	+12.012s	49.361	8
7th	11	Marco Wittmann	Walkenhorst Motorsport	67	+15.932s	49.579	6
8th	5	Vincent Abril	Mercedes Team HRT	67	+17.811s	49.407	4
9th	99	Sophia Flörsch	Team ABT	67	+22.657s	49.564	2
10th*	57	Philip Ellis	Mercedes Team Winward	67	+24.700s	49.215	1
11th	16	Timo Glock	ROWE Racing	67	+24.974s	49.711
12th	37	Lucas di Grassi	Team ABT	67	+41.792s	49.226
13th	23	Nick Cassidy	AlphaTauri AF Corse	66	+1 Lap	49.048	1
14th	12	Dev Gore	Team Rosberg	66	+1 Lap	50.033
15th	51	Nico Müller	Team Rosberg	66	+1 Lap	49.337
16th	31	Sheldon van der Linde	ROWE Racing	66	+1 Lap	49.644
17th	3	Kelvin van der Linde	Team ABT Sportsline	66	+1 Lap	49.255	2
NC	30	Liam Lawson	Red Bull AF Corse	43	+24 Laps	1:09.301	3
Ret	26	Esmee Hawkey	T3 Motorsport	30	Retired	50.579
Ret	10	Esteban Muth	T3 Motorsport	1	Retired	—
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.
• * Ellis served a twenty second time penalty for causing a collision with Cassidy.

Milestones

• Maximilian Götz declared as the 2021 DMSB Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Championship for Drivers Champion.
  • This was Götz's first DTM title.
• Final start for Mike Rockenfeller.
• Götz secured his third victory.
• Third win for Haupt Racing Team as an entrant.
• Maiden podium finish for Maximilian Buhk.
• First fastest lap set by Nick Cassidy.

Standings

The final moments of the final race had settled the 2021 Championship, with Maximilian Götz declared the Champion by three points courtesy of the late inter-manufacturer shuffle. Liam Lawson would end his rookie campaign in second, while Kelvin van der Linde ended the season 22 behind the Champion in third. Lawson would, however, have some solace by claiming the Junior Championship title, beating Sheldon van der Linde by 172 points.

In the Teams' Championship AF Corse were declared as the Champions in their first DTM campaign, the Italian squad having scored 368 points across the campaign. They hence out-scored out-going Champions Team ABT Sportsline by 72 points, while Mercedes Team Winward ended the season in third on 291. In the Manufacturers' Championship, meanwhile, Mercedes-AMG would end the campaign as Champions on 617 points, with Ferrari a distant second on 368.

2021 Drivers' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Maximilian Götz 230 ▲2 2nd Liam Lawson 227 ▼1 3rd Kelvin van der Linde 208 ▼1 4th Marco Wittmann 171 ◄0 5th Lucas Auer 152 ◄0 6th Alexander Albon 130 ◄0 7th Philip Ellis 129 ◄0 8th Mike Rockenfeller 89 ◄0 9th Daniel Juncadella 77 ◄0 10th Nico Müller 56 ◄0 11th Sheldon van der Linde 55 ◄0 12th Arjun Maini 48 ▲1 13th Esteban Muth 41 ▼1 14th Vincent Abril 34 ◄0 15th Maximilian Buhk 28 ◄0 16th Nick Cassidy 11 ◄0 17th Timo Glock 9 ◄0 18th Sophia Flörsch 8 ▲1 19th Marvin Dienst 6 ▼1 20th Esmee Hawkey 2 ◄0 21st Christopher Haase 1 ◄0 22nd Dev Gore 0 ◄0 23rd Markus Winkelhock 0 ◄0 2021 Junior Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Liam Lawson 227 ◄0 2nd Sheldon van der Linde 55 ◄0 3rd Esteban Muth 41 ◄0 4th Sophia Flörsch 8 ◄0

2021 Teams' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st AF Corse 368 ◄0 2nd Team ABT Sportsline 296 ◄0 3rd Mercedes Team Winward 281 ◄0 4th Mercedes Team HRT 262 ◄0 5th Walkenhorst Motorsport 171 ◄0 6th Mercedes Team GruppeM 77 ◄0 7th ROWE Racing 64 ◄0 8th Team Rosberg 55 ◄0 9th Mercedes Team GetSpeed 48 ▲1 10th T3 Motorsport 48 ▼1 11th Mercedes Team Mücke 34 ◄0 12th Team ABT 8 ◄0 2021 Manufacturers' Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Mercedes-AMG 617 ◄0 2nd Ferrari 368 ◄0 3rd Audi 359 ◄0 4th BMW 235 ◄0 5th Lamborghini 48 ◄0

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: