After taking the DTM lead with a second-place finish on Saturday, Lucas Auer’s Sunday at Zandvoort went south. During the safety car restart, the Landgraf Mercedes driver had just overtaken Nicki Thiim for seventh place when the Comtoyou Aston Martin driver sent him into a spin, dropping him to the back of the field.
“A really great move,” the Austrian fumed in an interview with ran.de after being hit in the rear by Thiim. “Important for both of us – definitely. Now we’ve finished second to last and last. There’s nothing more to say; after that, it was a day to forget.”
The sarcasm highlights the current mood of the usually cheerful Mercedes-AMG driver. Auer eventually fought back to 13th, salvaging three points, while Thiim finished 18th. The Dane had to serve three trips through the penalty zone – a time loss equivalent to 15 seconds.
“Had a massive tank-slapper”: Thiim explains the mishap
Race Director Sven Stoppe didn’t even bother referring the case to the stewards – the situation was that clear-cut for him. “I’m disappointed in myself; I made a huge mistake at the restart,” the Dane admitted, noting that he went into the gravel even before the final corner.
Just before the contact: Auer won the duel, Thiim started sliding
Photo: ADAC Motorsport
This allowed Ben Dörr to slip past, and Auer capitalized as well. Once the Austrian was clear, Thiim says he “had a massive tank-slapper in the first corner. So I hit Lucas, which I’m obviously super-sorry for.” After that he had “damage – and then the race was done.”
With front-end damage and three penalty laps, “which i obviously deserve”, the outcome was inevitable. For those unfamiliar with the term: a “tank-slapper” refers to a moment where a driver nearly loses control of the car and has to correct aggressively, which in this case caused Thiim to slide into Auer’s car.
Auer after clear-the-air talks: “He likely had pickup on his tires”
Auer and the “Viking” cleared the air after the race, with Thiim taking full responsibility. “At the restart, he already went wide. He probably had a lot of pickup on the tires,” Auer noted after the conversation, suggesting that rubber debris on the tires had compromised Thiim’s grip. “It happens. It’s the worst-case scenario for him and for me, but that’s racing.”
Despite the unfortunate Sunday in the Netherlands, Auer – who secured two seconds and a third in the first three races of the season – sits second in the overall standings behind fellow Mercedes driver Maro Engel (Winward).
Next up is the Lausitzring, where Auer claimed the first of his eleven DTM victories back in 2016. “Coming back there is always special for me,” he said, looking forward to the next weekend with positive vibes. The championship runner-up is widely considered a Lausitzring specialist.
“It’s a very good track for me – and I’m looking forward to it,” he says. Meanwhile, Thiim sits ninth in the standings following his ninth-place finish on Saturday.
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