Race report
DTM Norisring
Norisring DTM: Gotz wins title after Mercedes imposes team orders
Maximilian Gotz was crowned the 2021 DTM champion in a controversial season finale at the Norisring after Mercedes elected to use team orders, denying pre-race favourite Liam Lawson of the title.
Rachit Thukral
Edited: Oct 11, 2021, 2:14 PM
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Despite Lawson running outside the top 10 after being hit by Kelvin van der Linde at the start, his buffer in the championship standings was enough to clinch the title by seven points as the race reached its final stages.
But with less than a handful of laps to run, Mercedes asked both long-time race leader Lucas Auer and Philip Ellis to let Gotz through and take the win, with the two extra places he gained helping the German to sensationally snatch the title by three points from Lawson.
Story of the race
In a repeat of Saturday's opening encounter, van der Linde tried to dive past polesitter Lawson under braking for Turn 2 - this time by taking the inside line into the hairpin.
But the two drivers came to blows at the apex, with van der Linde running deep into the corner and leaving both Lawson and Nick Cassidy wide off the track.
The AF Corse duo had to wait for the rest of the field to pass by before they could reverse their cars, dropping to the rear of the pack and without a chance to mount a fightback
To make matters worse, the Kiwi reported a broken steering that forced him to make several unscheduled pitstops, before rejoining the track with a car that was lapping 20 seconds off the outright pace.
With Lawson out of the running and van der Linde losing time in the incident, Auer seized the lead from fourth on the grid and Ellis moving up to second to establish a Winward Mercedes 1-2.
Heading into the final laps of the race, Auer sat a comfortable six seconds clear of Ellis, with Gotz running some way behind the duo in third.
But in a remarkable late twist, both Auer and Ellis slowed down to let Gotz through, with the German driver taking the lead on lap 64 of 67 to clinch the title.
The results means Mercedes has won both the drivers' and the manufacturers' championship on its return to the DTM, with only the Red Bull / AF Corse team denying it a clean sweep of titles.
Auer was eventually classified second, having relinquished what could have been a third victory in as many rounds, with a five-second penalty for a pitstop infringement and a collision with Cassidy leaving Ellis in 10th - and promoting Mucke Mercedes' Maximilian Buhk to the final spot on the podium.
Abt Sportsline's Mike Rockenfeller was classified fourth in his last DTM appearance as an Audi driver, ahead of GruppeM's Daniel Juncadella and GetSpeed's Arjun Maini, while Walkenhorst driver Marco Wittmann was classified seventh in the farewell DTM outing for the BMW M6.
The top 10 was rounded out by HRT's Vincent Abril, the Abt Audi of Sophia Floersch and Ellis.
Van der Linde slipped outside of the points and finished down in 17th after picking up a late puncture, likely after contact with Gotz while battling for third position.
Gotz was trying to take advantage of van der Linde's cold tyres on his out lap, but the Audi driver cut across the track coming out of Turn 7 - leading to the two drivers making contact.
A heartbroken Lawson limped home 24 laps down in 18th, with the damage he picked up at the start leaving him 20s slower than the leaders.
Race results:
Cla Driver Car Gap 1 Maximilian Götz Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 2
Lucas Auer Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 0.869 3
Maximilian Buhk Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 5.339 4
Mike Rockenfeller Audi R8 LMS Evo 6.395 5
Daniel Juncadella Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 9.310 6
Arjun Maini Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 12.012 7
Marco Wittmann BMW M6 GT3 15.932 8
Vincent Abril Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 17.811 9
Sophia Flörsch Audi R8 LMS Evo 22.657 10
Philip Ellis Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 24.700 11
Timo Glock BMW M6 GT3 24.974 12
Lucas di Grassi Audi R8 LMS Evo 41.792 13
Nick Cassidy Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 1 Lap 14
Dev Gore Audi R8 LMS Evo 1 Lap 15
Nico Müller Audi R8 LMS Evo 1 Lap 16
Sheldon Van Der Linde BMW M6 GT3 1 Lap 17
Kelvin van der Linde Audi R8 LMS Evo 1 Lap 18
Liam Lawson Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 24 Laps 19
Esmee Hawkey Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 37 Laps 20
Esteban Muth BMW M6 GT3 66 Laps View full results
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