DTM
Liam Lawson tightens his grip on the DTM championship thanks to a pair of strong drives in the penultimate round at Hockenheim, Germany.
Two strong results at Hockenheim helped Liam Lawson to extend his lead in the DTM Drivers' Championship standings ahead of the season finale in one week's time at the Norisring. The 19-year-old New Zealander now heads to the final round 14 points clear of his closest rival. He still has plenty to do, but the rookie is in the driving seat in the championship.
Lawson's team-mate Alex Albon climbed to fifth in the championship thanks to a skilful display in Saturday's race, which saw the Thai driver finish in second place. He was then sixth on Sunday, gaining crucial points to help Red Bull AlphaTauri AF Corse remain on course to take the Teams' Championship thanks to a healthy lead of 68 points.
Coming into the weekend, the objective was simple for Lawson, he wanted to leave Hockenheim with as many points as possible. Behind the wheel of his Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 in its eye-catching Red Bull livery, he narrowly missed Saturday's podium after he was passed by Mike Rockenfeller late on, the German taking advantage of his significantly fresher tyres.
On Sunday, Lawson qualified in third and moved up one place during the 55-minute race to secure second – his ninth podium (including three wins) out of 14 races this season.
"I had a really good start and could defend third. The first couple of laps were tough, but then I was able to pass Kelvin van der Linde. I guess he misjudged the braking and touched me, but I managed to pass him again in the pits," said Lawson. "Overall my race pace was really good. It's great to come to the final two races at the Norisring leading the championship, but things change every weekend. Today, we had the weight advantage, next time Kelvin will have the weight advantage."
Meanwhile, Albon caught the eye on Saturday, taking his Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 in AlphaTauri colours all the way to second place. Albon extracted the maximum life from his tyres to make his way up the grid after qualifying in ninth. He followed that with another important points haul on Sunday by finishing sixth.
"What made our race great yesterday was our problem today. We used new tyres for our second stint yesterday and took advantage of it, but that also meant that we had to do our first stint today on used tyres, which made it really difficult," Albon explained. "After our pitstop, my pace was really strong again, but I had to carry extra weight and had quite a lot of damage on the car as well, so P6 was all I could do. All in all, it was a decent weekend."
There are just 96 points on offer for the Teams' Championship at the final round at the Norisring next weekend, putting AF Corse in a strong position. With 56 points on offer in the Drivers' Championship, another solid set of results should see Lawson finish on top in his rookie season in just one week's time.
DTM Championship Rd 7 Race 1 results
- Kelvin van der Linde (RSA) – Team ABT Sportsline
- Alex Albon (THA) – Red Bull AlphaTauri AF Corse
- Mike Rockenfeller (GER) – Team ABT Sportsline
- Liam Lawson (NZL) – Red Bull AlphaTauri AF Corse
- Maximilian Götz (GER) – Mercedes-AMG Team HRT
DTM Championship Rd 7 Race 1 results
- Lucas Auer (AUT) – Mercedes-AMG Team Winward
- Liam Lawson (NZL) – Red Bull AlphaTauri AF Corse
- Maximilian Götz (GER) – Mercedes-AMG Team HRT
- Philip Ellis (SUI) – Mercedes-AMG Team Winward
- Dani Juncadella (ESP) – Mercedes-AMG Team HRT
- Alex Albon (THA) – Red Bull AlphaTauri AF Corse
DTM Championship 2021 Drivers' Standings (After 7 of 8 rounds)
- Liam Lawson (NZL) – Red Bull AlphaTauri AF Corse 206 points
- Kelvin van der Linde (RSA) – Team ABT Sportsline 192
- Maximilian Götz (GER) – Mercedes-AMG Team HRT 180s
- Marco Wittmann (GER) – Walkenhorst Motorsport 165
- Alex Albon (THA) – Red Bull AlphaTauri AF Corse 130
DTM Championship 2021 Teams' Standings (After 7 of 8 rounds)
- Red Bull AlphaTauri AF Corse 336 points
- Team ABT Sportsline 268
- Mercedes-AMG Team Winward 252
- Mercedes-AMG Team HRT 208
- Walkenhorst Motorsport 165