July 8, 2024
Bad luck for the Mamba at the Norisring high speed spectacle
The Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER with driver Lucas Auer was unable to fight for victory at the racing festival on the Nuremberg street circuit.
Ludwigsburg, July 8, 2024 – Plenty of action on the race track, and fierce battles for positions between some of the best racing drivers in the world in their spectacular GT3 cars by seven different brands. In addition, an impressive spectator backdrop with a total of 110,000 motorsport fans around the 2.16-kilometer street circuit on the banks of Dutzendteich in Nuremberg, many of whom were attending with the yellow-and-green MANN-FILTER caps and flags, plenty of shows and entertainment off the track – in general, the fourth race weekend of the 2024 DTM season at Norisring had everything a racing fan could wish for.
All that was missing was a top result for the Mercedes-AMG GT3 with start number 22, Lucas Auer's Mamba, so loved by fans. Unfortunately, the 29-year-old Tyrolean and his Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER were denied just such a top result. A retirement after a collision through no fault of his own in the first race on Saturday was followed by an eleventh place finish the next day, which did not satisfy ambitious "Luggi".
MANN-FILTER Mamba at Norisring
The first race only lasted a few hundred meters for Auer, who started from ninth position on the grid. "During one of the typical Norisring contacts between cars traveling around the first bend, the right rear tire burst. After the necessary pit stop, we initially tried to continue, but more components must have failed, so we had to retire," complained the 2022 DTM runner-up.
In a fiercely contested second qualifying session, in which the top 18 GT3 cars were separated by barely more than three tenths of a second, as on the previous day, Auer had secured a slightly better starting position for Sunday's race with eighth place on the grid and also moved up two more positions after a superb start. But then the Mamba unfortunately lost positions instead of gaining them on the way to the finish line. “In general, we were missing that certain something throughout the weekend,” Auer admitted. "In the qualifying sessions, we were unable to reach our full potential on both days. I wasn't fast enough in the race today. I had serious issues with the brakes. We need to take a closer look at this because today the gap was simply too big."
In view of Auer’s team mate Maro Engel’s second place at his 100th DTM start on Sunday, the overall conclusion of WWR team boss Christian Hohenadel was positive: "We did well throughout the weekend. I am very pleased for Maro that he was able to finish his anniversary race on the podium. We need to thoroughly analyze why Luggi did not perform as strongly as we are used to from him. The good news is certainly that we have made a big step forward in terms of pace. I feel confident about the second half of the season."
Filippina Manou, MANN-FILTER Sponsorship Manager, adds: "It was another great weekend for MANN-FILTER. The atmosphere at the only DTM inner-city race of the year, more than 100,000 fans along the track and the many guests we were able to welcome here in Nuremberg once again made the race weekend very special. Unfortunately, from a sporting point of view, the two races did not go as well as we would have liked. Luck was just not on our side this time. We are looking ahead to the Nürburgring Truck Grand Prix and the GT World Challenge races in Hockenheim and at Nürburgring, when further highlights await the yellow-and-green high speed family."
DTM will now be taking a six-week summer break. The fifth race weekend of the 2024 season will take place at Nürburgring from August 16 to 18.
