A costly mishap for Mercedes-AMG Team Winward: Both Maro Engel and teammate Jules Gounon were handed a penalty lap during Sunday’s DTM race at the Lausitzring due to a breach of the pit stop regulations. In both stops, the same mechanic failed to maintain constant contact with the wheel. The run through the penalty zone, which accounts for five seconds, dropped Engel from fifth to tenth place, before he eventually finished seventh.
This leaves him one point behind leader Matteo Cairoli and tied with Lucas Auer for second place in the standings. But how did the blunder happen? “Unfortunately, it happened twice today that during the first stop, one of the two fitters basically placed the wheel against his shins,” explains team manager Steve Buschmann.
The so-called “fitter” is the mechanic who attaches the tire to the vehicle after the man with the wheel gun has done his job. “He basically set the wheel down and adjusted his goggles because sweat was running into his eyes due to the heat and so on.”
“Rule is controversial because it does not contribute to safety”
This is prohibited, however, because while front wheels may be laid flat on the asphalt in the working lane before the pit stop, the rear wheel must be “stabilized in its position with at least one hand through own muscular force” and must not be laid flat on the ground. This is clarified in Article 39.1, paragraph f of the DTM regulations.
The incident happened to Gounon and then four laps later to Engel with the same mechanic. Engel was serviced in 6.2 seconds after that, which was actually the fastest pit stop of the day. According to Buschmann, the situation was completely safe: “The cars were far away, it had nothing to do with the pit stop itself.”
Therefore, Buschmann questions the regulation: “The rule is controversial because it actually contributes nothing to safety, but it has existed for several years, everyone knows about it, and today we also had the fact that one of the pit lane cameras was directly opposite us. I dont want to imply anything, but I can imagine that this happened several times in the pit lane today due to the heat and the external conditions.”
Why the rule was introduced
The rule was introduced after the 2023 season opener at Oschersleben, when a Manthey mechanic adjusted his suit and took his hand off the tire, resulting in a penalty lap for Thomas Preining. The rule makers wanted to prevent a wheel from rolling away and being hit by a car.
“The person it happened to today was not with us back then,” explains Buschmann. “The rule was known, we practice that too – also the moving out and so on. It was simply a blackout twice today,” explains the Winward team manager.
“There is no point in arguing about whether the rule makes sense, because it is the same for everyone – so you have to stick to it,” he clarifies.
Why Engel had luck in misfortune
How does Engel react to this? “It is a shame that we received a pit stop penalty, but rules are rules.,” says the Mercedes-AMG factory driver. “The team works tirelessly to deliver at the highest level during every pit stop, but mistakes can happen in motorsport. What matters is that we stick together as a team.”
The fact that Engel, who traveled to the Lausitzring as the DTM leader, is still within striking distance of the top despite a disappointing weekend – on Saturday he finished only 15th after an unlucky race – is due to a lucky coincidence. Because apart from Cairoli, Engels direct rivals Lucas Auer (11th), Ben Dorr (16th), Marco Wittmann (8th), Thomas Preining (10th), and Kelvin van der Linde (9th) also failed to score big points.
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: motorsport.com
