First podium finish of the season for KÜS Team Bernhard at the Nürburgring DTM
After a difficult start on Saturday, Laurin Heinrich achieved a second place on Sunday, the first podium finish for KÜS Team Bernhard at the Nürburgring DTM weekend.
Everything has finally clicked into place – the team headed by former endurance world champion Timo Bernhard celebrated its first podium finish of the season in the DTM Sunday race at the Nürburgring (6 August 2023). ‘Soloist’ Laurin Heinrich and his Porsche 911 GT3 R gave the Palatines a second place finish in the pouring Eifel rain. The 21-year-old former Porsche senior thus ensured a more than conciliatory end to the weekend that got off to such a disappointing start. Unusually, the young Kürnach native had to set out alone in the attempt to gain points for the Landstuhl team in the successful Sunday race: his team colleague Ayhancan Güven was unable to start the second race following a serious accident in the Saturday race (5 August 2023) that was not his fault.
A Saturday to forget
Even the qualifying on the Saturday morning did not go entirely to plan for the team: both team drivers failed to achieve a free lap during the twenty-minute session on the very short 3.6-kilometre route. This meant that Heinrich ultimately started the race in 12th place out of a field of 28, and Güven had to make do with 21st place in the sister car. No fewer than 22 cars had times within a second of each other.
During the race on Saturday, which was somewhat chaotic given the alternating sunshine and rain showers, Ayhancan’s event was rudely brought to a premature end. Brand mate Christian Engelhart lost control of his Porsche while braking, span, and smashed full force into Can’s vehicle with starting number 24. Ayhancan was fortunately unharmed (as was Engelhart), but his car was so badly damaged that he was not able to take part in the race on the Sunday.
Team colleague Laurin Heinrich had worked his way from twelfth place up to ninth during the Saturday race by the time that the pit stop window came around. However, at this point the notoriously capricious weather at the ‘Green Hell’ completely disrupted the race’s promising development. An inconveniently timed yellow flag after his pitstop and two additional stops to repeatedly change tyres as a result of the constantly changing weather conditions made a finish with points an impossibility. With 19th place for Laurin Heinrich and a crash, this was a Saturday to forget for the Palatinate racing team.
Die Taktik: Pflichtstopp so lange wie möglich hinauszuzögern
After another difficult qualifying on the Sunday morning, Laurin Heinrich was able to perform well in difficult conditions and just missed out on the top ten with the starting number of 11.
During the race, the Porsche-contracted driver skilfully kept out of all the violent skirmishes as he fought for his place, and was able to make his way up to seventh by his pit stop window in extremely difficult driving conditions. The team’s tactic of delaying Laurin’s pitstop for as long as possible proved to be exactly right, meaning that they were able to change tyres under a yellow flag. After the end of the pitstop window, Laurin made it up to third place and a podium finish. But the hugely motivated DTM newcomer was not happy to stop at this, and resolutely crept his way up to second-placed Lucas Auer in a Mercedes, managing to overtake the Austrian four and a half minutes before the finish to take second. A minute or so before the end, the results were fixed when the safety car was sent out due to an accident and the race ended with a ban on overtaking. KÜS Team Bernhard’s first podium finish of the 2023 DTM season and also the first podium finish in the young racing driver’s DTM career was thus secured, and Nürburgring weekend that began in such disappointing fashion ultimately came to an exciting end.
Laurin Heinrich: ‘My first DTM podium finish – a fantastic result for the team, from eleventh place to second in these difficult conditions. It was a beautiful overtake of Lucas Auer at the end. The result is particularly fantastic given the difficult start to the weekend. Taking this trophy home today is great for the team and for myself. I am truly happy and thankful.’
Team manager Timo Bernhard: ‘Today was a truly exciting race. Laurin’s second place is fantastic. It is hugely important for the team that everything has clicked into place. The strategy was great, Laurin did everything perfectly, and drove a fantastic race in extremely difficult conditions. We consistently made the right decisions today. I am sure that Ayhancan will also be able to follow suit this season. It was rather sad to see him having to just watch, as he is a great team player. He will be able to achieve similar results in the future with our #24.’
The team’s next test is just around the corner: the DTM circus moves onto the Lausitzring from 18 to 20 August. We would like to wish KÜS Team Bernhard continuing luck and success.
Writers: Peter Schäffner/GL
