The new ‘Noris King’: Nicki Thiim also wins the second DTM race

Two pole positions and two race wins: Nicki Thiim enjoyed a perfect race weekend at the DTM at the Norisring. This sees the son of former DTM champion Kurt Thiim crowned the halfway-point champion in this year’s season of Germany’s best-known racing series.

Second place went to ADAC GT Masters champion Finn Wiebelhaus in the Haupt Racing Team’s Ford Mustang GT3. In just his eighth DTM race, the young driver from Hesse secured his second podium finish. He was seconds behind the winning Aston Martin.

Lucas Auer, driving the Landgraf Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3, completed the podium.

Due to a delay in the Porsche Sixt Carrera Cup Germany, the second DTM race at the Norisring started 15 minutes late. Due to the crash in the previous day’s race, the field was reduced by two cars, as both Kelvin van der Linde’s BMW and Maximilian Paul’s Lamborghini were missing.

Right at the start, Maro Engel collided with Matteo Cairoli, causing his bonnet to open slightly and resulting in minor damage to the WINWARD Racing car. Race control deployed the safety car as some debris had to be cleared from the track.

At the same time, rain began to fall on the street circuit, turning the track into a slippery mess.

Nine minutes into the race, Marco Mapelli lost control of his Abt Lamborghini whilst braking for the Grundig hairpin after Matteo Cairoli drove straight in front of his car; he then collided with the Ferrari driver, who spun and subsequently hit Luca Engstler in the second Abt Lamborghini, causing him to spin as well. Cairoli came to a halt in the run-off area and the safety car was deployed onto the circuit.

As the rain continued to fall, race director Sven Stoppe suspended the race. After 13 minutes, the race resumed behind the safety car, which returned to the pits after two laps. Due to the safety car deployment, the race was extended by two laps.

The restart took place once the rain had stopped and the track dried out quickly.

After 20 minutes, Timo Glock spun out at the exit of the Schöller-S in his Dörr Motorsport McLaren 720S GT3 and parked his car in the pits with a suspension failure.

DTM Norisring Race 2 results (Top 10):

1. Nicki Thiim – Comtoyou Racing – Aston Martin Vantage GT3

2. Finn Wiebelhaus – Haupt Racing Team – Ford Mustang GT3

3. Lucas Auer – Landgraf Motorsport – Mercedes-AMG GT3

4. Arjun Maini – Haupt Racing Team – Ford Mustang GT3

5. Jules Gounon – WINWARD Racing – Mercedes-AMG GT3

6. Thierry Vermeulen – Emil Frey Racing – Ferrari 296 GT3

7. Maro Engel – WINWARD Racing – Mercedes-AMG GT3

8. Bastian Buus – Land-Motorsport – Porsche 911 GT3 R

9. Thomas Preining – Manthey Racing – Porsche 911 GT3 R

10. Marco Wittmann – Schubert Motorsport – BMW M4 GT3