Norisring to forget for Lawson as DTM title slips away

Liam Lawson suffered a bitter conclusion to the last round of the DTM, held today at the Norisring. Setting off from pole, the Red Bull AF Corse driver saw all his hopes of becoming the German series’ youngest ever champion dashed after a collision at the first turn. In a move similar to the one made in Race-1, Kelvin Van der Linde collided with Lawson once again, damaging the steering arm and almost pushing him into the wall.

The marshals considered the South African's behaviour only worthy of a five-second penalty, even though the damage to the Ferrari put Lawson out of contention. Nevertheless, he confirmed his great sportsmanship by completing the race out of respect for the championship without damaging his rivals or provoking extreme situations. Cassidy, held up by his teammate's car in the accident on the first turn, attempted a desperate comeback from the back. Standing in for Alex Albon, the AlphaTauri AF Corse driver took first place before his obligatory stop on lap 56. The New Zealander re-entered the track behind Götz's Mercedes in fifth. After a puncture to the rear left-hand tyre put paid to Kelvin Van der Linde's title chances, the only obstacle between Götz and the title were the cars in between him and first place, all Mercedes. Despite being over twelve seconds down, the German marque's strategy helped Götz to take the lead in just two laps, two minutes from the chequered flag. Cassidy gave it his best shot for top spot but was involved in multiple contacts that forced him to pit with a heavily damaged car. Cassidy's #23 Ferrari was in thirteenth and Lawson's #30 eighteenth. With this result, Götz took the title on 230 points, three lengths ahead of Lawson. Red Bull AF Corse’s nineteen-year-old won the “Junior” title while the Piacenza-based team had already sealed the team title yesterday, with a race to spare. The season's outcome is bitter for the team, which worked hard in its debut year in the German series. However, this does not detract from the drivers and team's excellent results, including four wins, 14 podiums and five pole positions, the last of which was secured this morning.