Does the McLaren staff Dorr Motorsport owe its first DTM victory to none apart from the stranded Timo Glock? The previous Formulation 1 pilot parked his McLaren on the monitor through the Saturday race on the Lausitzring in lap eleven as a consequence of a technical defect, which led to a controversial Full-Course-Yellow part. This gave Glock’s teammate Ben Dorr a decisive benefit – and later the win.
Ben Dorr, who gambled on slicks regardless of the rain after ranging from tenth on the grid, was in ninth place earlier than the pit stops – 6.6 seconds behind chief Nicki Thiim, who had additionally opted for slicks. And the McLaren staff’s subsequent gamble was additionally about to repay.
Whereas chief Thiim reacted to the stops of pursuer Lucas Auer, who wished to do away with his rain tires, Ben Dorr waited one lap longer. At that time, his staff was speculating that race management would neutralize the race due to Glock’s automobile and referred to as the teenager in on the finish of lap 13.
Full-Course-Yellow gained Ben Dorr round 25 seconds
The timing couldn’t have been higher. Earlier than the cease, Dorr was 1.485 seconds behind Abt-Lamborghini driver Marco Mapelli and 0.785 seconds behind Marco Wittmann in third, however 0.961 forward of Ricardo Feller. Race director Sven Stoppe referred to as out FCY with a ten-second countdown – and instantly after the McLaren driver crossed the essential first Security Automotive line, the pit lane was closed.
Simply how shut it was is proven by the assertion from Wittmann, who was the one one of many quartet to not pit and due to this fact didn’t profit: “Ultimately, we might have made it too, after all, as Ben and Ricardo had made it. However for us, it was a bit too dangerous. We’re speaking about two seconds.”
Earlier than that, Stoppe had intentionally waited for Thiim, Thierry Vermeulen, and Maximilian Paul to depart the pits in time so they might not have a bonus. Nonetheless, because of the ten-second countdown earlier than the FCY, the subsequent trio slipped into the pit entry. Ben Dorr’s cease virtually would not have counted as a compulsory cease.
Because it turned out, he, like Mapelli and Feller, had a bonus of round 25 seconds over Thiim and firm as a result of, at 60 km/h within the pit lane, he was solely barely slower than the drivers on monitor who needed to preserve 80 km/h.
Dropped again through the cease: Dorr overtook Feller after FCY
The Dorr mechanics labored shortly in 7.5 seconds, however have been 0.8 seconds slower than Feller’s usually good Manthey crew, inflicting the McLaren driver to fall behind the Porsche. When the FCY was lifted, Dorr out-accelerated the Swiss driver on the start-finish straight and moved into second.
Ben Dorr, who had solely not too long ago achieved the primary McLaren podium in DTM historical past at Zandvoort, completed second, 1.864 seconds behind Mapelli. When Mapelli and Feller have been subsequently handed 15-second penalties for violating the pace restrict through the FCY part triggered by Glock, Ben Dorr was declared the winner over 4 hours later.
Ben Dorr will get the trophy for his first victory with delay
Foto: ADAC Motorsport
When did Dorr understand {that a} prime outcome was doable? “Proper after the pit cease,” he says. “The three of us got here out, and there was a 20-second hole behind us. It was clear then that the three of us can be on the rostrum. However everybody was equally quick – and nobody might overtake.”
Why a comparability with Crashgate 2009 falls brief
However why did Timo Glock not park his McLaren off the monitor, however on the left-hand fringe of the circuit? For some, ideas of Crashgate 2009 in Singapore have been triggered, when Renault driver Nelson Piquet Jr. deliberately crashed into the wall, triggered a Security Automotive, and made teammate Fernando Alonso – who had already accomplished his cease – the winner.
Nonetheless, the scenario will not be comparable, because the Alonso transfer was deliberate, whereas with Dorr, at most, the truth that Glock didn’t park his automobile off the monitor performs a job. And the unfortunate driver clarifies that as nicely.
“I got here into the pits behind Kelvin van der Linde and went out on slicks, then the automobile shut off,” Glock defined, visibly pissed off instantly after the race. Might he not have pushed off the monitor? “No, the engine did nothing anymore, I could not shift both. I attempted to do an influence cycle, to restart once more, however the automobile did not react.”
In distinction to his teammate, Glock had began on rain tires and had labored his manner ahead from the final grid spot to twelfth place, however then fell again to 18th on the drying monitor. In response to the staff, the explanation for the retirement was a faulty sensor cable to the information logger, which brought about a brief circuit.
Dorr: “Truly no probability of a podium”
Instantly after the race, Glock was not even conscious that his misfortune was his teammate’s luck. “No concept, I wasn’t taking note of that,” he solutions. Ben Dorr needed to wait over 4 hours after the top of the race to search out out that he was the winner and had written DTM historical past with the primary McLaren triumph.
“The staff supervisor got here to me with a smile – then I already knew what he was going to inform me,” Dorr revealed to ran.de, describing how he realized of the victory. “It’s kind of of a disgrace that it solely got here out after the actual fact, however that is indescribable.”
Earlier than the race, he wouldn’t have thought such a outcome doable. “We aren’t that sturdy right here this weekend. We already knew in qualifying that it will be troublesome. Tenth and twenty first locations by Timo confirmed that we truly don’t have any probability of a podium. However sure, with technique and the climate, it was sufficient in spite of everything. We turned a foul weekend into an ideal one.”
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