Felipe Fraga in the number 74 Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 of Red Bull AlphaTauri AF Corse finished thirteenth in the first of two races in the final round of the DTM season at the Hockenheimring. Teammate Nick Cassidy had to retire due to damage after a collision in the early stages.
Sparks fly at the start. The race featured a rather difficult start. On lap one, several contacts in the middle of the pack led to the entry of the Safety Car to restore safe conditions. However, the two Ferraris were uninvolved. At the restart, a spectacular accident at turn 6 on lap 7 involved several cars. One of these was Dennis Olden’s, which crashed violently into the barriers. The collision caused the number 94 Porsche to lose its engine, which ended up in the middle of the track, hitting Cassidy’s 488 GT3 Evo 2020. Due to the damage sustained, the New Zealander was unable to restart after the lengthy red flag.
The restart. Fraga took advantage of his team’s strategy to delay the compulsory stop. He moved up to third before pitting with nineteen minutes to go. On his return, the Brazilian regained three positions, finishing thirteenth in a race he started from nineteenth. Victory went to poleman Lucas Auer in the Mercedes.
The situation. With only one race to go before the curtain falls on the season, Cassidy lies thirteenth in the drivers’ standings with 64 points, four more than Fraga. AF Corse is fourth in the team standings on 129.
The programme. On Sunday, 9 October, qualifying, starting at 10.10am, will decide the starting grid for Race-2, which kicks off at 1.30pm.